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10
Apr
Response to facebook poll, “Do you strength train in the gym during the cycling season, to maintain offseason strength gains?”
In regards to the Facebook poll on strength maintenance training in the season.
I believe that correct use of weights in the gym that is converted into bike strength makes sense, esp. for guys like me that aren’t naturally strong but have lots of endurance, i.e slow twitch muscle fiber or poor neuromuscular strength, and for people new to riding or getting back in shape. One of the first things Lance did in his comeback training was regaining muscular strength by weight lifting. Don’t believe me check this out
I was asking cycling friends in Facebook because I’m having trouble fitting in even one strength maintenance session a week, as it leaves me sore and interferes with my bike schedule it seems. I’m concerned about losing strength gains from the off-season if I don’t strength train to maintain it during the season.
My concern is that I would loose what I gained this winter if I don’t continue, but I think what I’m finding is that I’m riding harder now and that riding itself when you’re hammering at a new harder level is enough to maintain strength during the season, you’ll probably loose a some maximum strength, but that is probably good as you want to convert it into muscular endurance anyway for the most part, unless you’re track sprinter or something.
The authorities on training agree that you have to do at least some strength training in the season to maintain gains made in the off-season, but I think that if you’re racing and training hard enough, you can get by without it perhaps.
What I’ve been doing is reducing the volume and frequency of strength training in the gym, but I think I need to also reduce the intensity just enough so that I’m not sore the next day, the point is not to break down muscle to get stronger but to maintain it’s ability to generate force, and also to keep neuromuscular coordination efficiency. I think this can be done by doing a weight that lets me do about 15 reps, and making sure I’m not going to muscle failure, and only doing the minim 3-4 sets and doing it only once per week. I think the critical thing to modulate is the intensity, and I think it’s different for different people, so I might only need to do 15 reps of 50% 1RM (one rep max) where another person might need to do more or less to maintain. I would decide by how sore you are the next couple days and also when you do your training fitness progress tests, I would check your 1RM and see how much you’re losing, if you’re losing too much you might need to do more? But I think this also has to be taken with a grain of salt as it depends what type of physiology you have, what type of event you’re training for etc.
So someone that is a slowtwich fiber dominant person, training for an iron-man probably can get a away with doing less weight then someone that is a track sprinter. But I believe everyone should be training strength and endurance and maintain it through the season, regardless of their individual specality, it’s just a matter of how much focus and time you’d put into one vs. the other that matters.
2 users commented in " Response to facebook poll, “Do you strength train in the gym during the cycling season, to maintain offseason strength gains?” "
I believe everyone that rides a bike will improve and be more comfortable and injury free on the bike by strength training.
But to see real on bike performance changes you first need the raw strength and muscle to start with like a block of clay, you’ll see hints of power and speed on the bike even during this part of the year usually the winter, but you won’t be able to go long and hard yet, only harder then before but for short periods of time. Then you start molding that raw strength into more specific “strength endurance” the ability to repeat your new found higher speed for longer and longer distances.
Through the year you should always be working on cadence and pedaling technique, hard days or easy days, you want to always try improving the cadence you’re comfortable holding. Even a slight improvement in cadence
when you’re in a big gear equals a lot more watts then your realize. The difference between 85RPM and 90 or 95RPM when you’re in the 53×14 etc. is very substantial and easy to see with a powermeter.
It’s easier to learn to pedal faster in a big gear then it is to all of sudden add boat loads of raw strength so you can mash an even bigger gear at 85RPM.
So if you give equal focus to leg speed, and leg strength you will see a gain in power output without a doubt. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses some people need to do more cardio and have naturally strong legs
some people need to work on their cadence, others all three. But one thing is for certain, if you only work on strength, or cadence or distance and don’t integrate them and give them equal attention or more attention to your weakness then you won’t reach your potential. If you’re super strong and fast for a couple miles and then get dropped, or if you can ride double centuries but can’t keep up when the pace gets faster then training would be very different in either case.
i think a lot depends on the kind of riding you do. I personally do a bit of weights work when i need a day off the bike. i can be a bit of a change from the usual indoor interval session.