Lifting

So, I will stubbornly stick to this idea, but I swear that leg presses will increase the amount of watts that one can generate inside the lactic acid threshold. However, I believe that I have over done this portion of the training and now am afaird to get into the saddle. (Actually, I don't beleive that I can at the moment) Does anyone incorporate leg presses into training during the season?

Thank you,

I don't think much of leg-presses at all to be honest. Many cyclists do them but I found them pretty useless.

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"Everybody has a philosophy. However, what philosophy you have is a matter of choice, and most people don't make a conscious choice with regard to what philosophy they accept."

Rather than start an all-new thread, suggest you check out the sticky thread at the top with 355 posts for more on this old favorite topic. In terms of controversy and staying-power, it's right up there with "double vs triple", "AL vs steel", or "best chain lube".

Well, just go ahead with leg presses and test and report regularly, e.g. weekly, here what are your cycling Watts over e.g. 1 min, 5 min and 20 minutes and what are your leg press achievments of the week.

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I was doing dumbbell squats and found them helpful. Used 15kg dumbbell in each hand and had built up to around 80 in sets of 10. Really g0t my breathing going as they're using the thighs so much. On the bike I definity felt stronger especially up hills. I usually only did them once or possibly twice a week and at the start of the week as I had a race at the end of the week. Unfortuanately I stopped(like my riding) when I got the flu so am getting back into it now.
I say go for it if you find them helpful.
The other poster is right re the pros and cons but I've found it only a pro.

I thought much the same thing, that squats, leg presses etc would really benefit my cycling but in hindsight I feel it was more of a mental thing - "I'm doing all these weights so I MUST be riding stronger"

After looking at all the 'controversy' on these threads I decided to see what would happen if I stopped doing (leg) weights.

Couple of things I noticed were that my legs felt a bit fresher ALL the time, my riding didn't (seem to) suffer and I had a bit more time on my hands to do other things

One thing that made a HUGE difference to my training, and subsequent racing was purchasing a power meter and incorporating LOTS of L4 efforts (2*20:00, 3*20:00, 6*10:00 etc) and the change in my riding has been unbelievable - riding longer and harder at a much lower perceived effort (and lower HR as well) and being able to race HARD (and get results )

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Pinarello Paris FP Carbon

what might have been happening here is that you were probably over-doing the weights and overtraining...

I found that doing leg presses, leg curls, and calf raises (you could add squats but I hate them so I avoid them...) ONCE a week 3 sets of 10 (up to 12 for the leg presses) were the ticket... if you can go a bit harder then you want to do less than the 3 sets maybe cut down to 2.

take the next day off then fit your cycling training in the rest of the week as you see fit...

Im kind of surprised by your post, considering the avatar you have is a pic of
Mike Mentzer. Is that because of his adoptiong of Ayn Rands philosophy or of
his training philosophy?

he was a proponent of "HIT" training based on nautilus principles (actually a mutation of it...).

MY02 wrote:

There's your answer Minaert.
I was a powerlifter when I was young. Anyway, 7 years ago I joined my local gym here in Japan, and I can honestly say I haven't spent even 5 seconds on leg work - never touch the legs! And recently I've cut my upper body work by two thirds. (only do it at all to keep a decent shape)

This topic has been debated ad nauseam in this forum, and I think the general concensus is weight training is not necessary for gaining improvement on the bike. People who keep on insisting that weight training does this or that for them, are perhaps searching for some unobtainable Holy Grail of cycling.
Without doing a single leg press my cycling has improved and continues to improve way beyond what I ever dreamt of.

TIME SPENT PUMPING UP THE LEGS COULD BE BETTER SPENT ON THE TRAINER IN THE GYM. TYSON

You only need a certain level of strength to turn the crank of a bike, especially during climbing when it gets harder.
If you surpass the level of strength you need in such situations, the legs could become too mucular and pedal speed could be reduced. You don't really need to leg-press or squat huge weights.
I guess the trick is to have just the amount of power in your legs that's necessary for the task at hand.
Style is also a factor. Personally I feel I'm faster when I climb seated and push a bigger gear as I notice my speedo wil register another 1 or 2 miles per hour when I really grind a gear. Some cyclists, however, simply stand up and race ahead.

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"Everybody has a philosophy. However, what philosophy you have is a matter of choice, and most people don't make a conscious choice with regard to what philosophy they accept."

Ditto. Just would emphasize that the intervals themselves are real hard work, but that's where the dicsipline comes in. If I know ~24 hours ahead that I am going to do a couple 20's, or several 5's, the focus comes easier. Can't escape it.

I wouldn't discount how much shorter, higher intensity, intervals are like weight lifting. Those final moments of searing lactic acid buildup take the same kind of will power and effort to overcome.

Joe Friel's Cyclist Bible book may be dated, but he recomends weights as an integral part of at least winter training. He further suggests it is more important for older cyclists (masters) to fight the inevitable age-related strength loss. I was planning on getting/making a squat rack until I read this thread.

Off to the sticky..

This is bull****, I'm 64 and don't think I'm losing any strength, in fact I'm getting stronger without a single leg press or any other leg exercise (except leg work on the bike) Grrrrr!

And what's more as a number of people have pointed out; it doesn't take much leg strength to turn a crank. Old ladies on their shopping bikes here in Japan have enough leg strength to get those old bikes motoring.

compared to whom?
and unless you plan on racing or you are very weak and you want to
participate in group rides without feeling embarrassed, does it matter?
just compete with yourself.

Wow, I only made through about 4 pages of the "gyming" thread and a couple things are immediately clear to me:

1 - We're 10+ posts into a lifting thread and Ric Stern hasn't posted once!

2 - More cyclists like to compare themselves to the pro's than fat, sedentary, couch potatoes when evaluating the usefullness of weight training.

If weight training benefits untrained, 0 hours, per week types and hurts highly trained 20-35 hour per week types, I am not sure what to conclude for the rest of us. At <10 hour a week, and certainly during the off season, I am closer to sedentary in this respect and still think (high rep) weight training will help.

It only helps the sedentary folks in that it at least gets them off the couch for a couple hours a week, but that really constitutes an *increase* in their activity rather than comparing one mode of exercise vs another. Even for recreational and moderately trained riders, the important comparison is that an equal time spent *riding* will do more *for improving cycling performance* than the same amount of time spent lifting. IOW, if you want to be a better rider, don't skimp on your ride time in an effort to get to the gym.