Gyming to improve power - part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDawlrIeaVM

Discuss.

Swampy,

I should be the last to talk about strength training given my current condition but to call that strength training is kind of silly. I mean really, was he using like a 15lb dumbbell on those rows..lol. I believe my wife could do more weight for more reps. Even in my current condition I could go heavier and longer.

Other than the step ups where I have no idea how much weight he is using the other stuff is kind of useless IMHO. If this is a cyclist's idea of strength training, I think as Alex and many others here have said "no need". It is doing nothing for you.

Also the side lunges I know I guy who could easily do like 4 plates a side with much more ROM.

-js

I think most of these riders are actually doing weights as a means of trying to maintain muscle mass and vigor.

First exercise, I like it. Never tried it though (I will).

Seems to be targeting lower back region with some plio flavor to it.

Exercise with the bench is pretty much what I do the most. If I had to keep only one, it would be this one. It is much softer on knees than traditional lunges and even squats, with less stress on lower section of quadriceps and more stress on glutes.

I have trouble seeing the direct benefits of improving adductors.

The rowing exercise for core stability, it looks brilliant. Don't be fooled by the apparently "light" dumbell, this exercise doesn't target latisimus dorsi. For these masses to be exercised, more stability would be required.

Back to exercise #1, really it deserves to be tried. Since it is a composite exercise (total body power as they say), I am sure different results are achieved depending on where the emphasis is put. For instance, if you lift heavier and bend the knees little more, it probably targets the legs much more. If you bend over little more, then the lowerback gets stressed much more.

There should be an apostrophe after "Armstrong".

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If training with weights were any benefit to being a better cyclists than it would seem like I could potentially be the better of those in my group, but I have yet to see my 27 years of dedicated lifting to be of any benefit to cycling. At all

I wish it were true because then my current training with weights 5 days a weeks would be of some benefit, but my personal oberservance has been that I see no transfer of strength in relation to power output. Unless I am doing something wrong I cannot even seem to transfer my leg strength to sprinting. The only time I have experienced strength on the bike is while mountain biking. Only in time limits of seconds my core, upper body and lower body strength may have been utilized to muscle through or up over an obstacle if I did not have momentum to carry me over the object like a log jump or something similiar. However, lighter cyclists can power over these objects just as well being that they have less mass to carry over the object and perhaps have more bike finesse skills to carry them through the course.

Handling the bike for stability can be delt with as easily by the lightest and less muscular female or male rider.

Now that I have been cycling since 2004, I still consider myself a weight lifting enthusiast first, but this love for lifting seems to come at a price with my cycling group especially when it comes to climbing routes. At 5'6" and a fairly lean 170 lbs my mass is a lot of extra weight going up those extended climbs. I am typically the last one up the hill and though I may be able to generate some descent power on the flatter terrain the light climbers can get so far ahead of me that I would need pro level power output to catch them. Even on the flats I would imagine my power output has to be even greater because my upper body size and width creates more drag.

In summary my lifting adds nothing to cycling and my observance if lifting does anything it distracts from being a better cyclists. Even core strength is not that necessary for cycling.

Now on the other side of things I lift because no matter what I do and how dedicated I could be to cycling my genetics are not geared toward endurance sport. For instance Marion Jones was a world class sprinter so one can say she is a good runner, but just because she runs does not make her a good endurance athlete. I doubt Marion Jones could ever do well in a marathon or be a world class endurance athlete. She found her niche for her genetics and excelled. For me I would not give up lifting because my genetics will not allow me to be a good cyclist so why give up lifting? My personal goal is to be fit. To have good core strength, to have good overall strength and to have some cardio fitness. If I were a competitive cyclists I would concentrate on cycling.

I state this again as a very dedicated advocate for lifting and maintaining strength training, but I have not yet witnessed the ability or the need to transfer strength training to the bike. I wish it were true that lifting helped.

Just my opinion

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That's why he'll get his butt kicked next month. BTW, shouldn't it be called "Lance Armstrong's weight loss program"?

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Lance has alway been pretty 'ripped' and from what I've read he's been doing similar work since 96/97... I think he's handed out enough butt kicked whilst doing this.

Watched about 10 seconds before that kettleball video on the far right (second one down) distracted me. Discuss.

How would you describe the form used?

Much better than LA's

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I was hoping not to go there again:

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... yeah, the centrifuge chicken guy who constantly had his but handed to him by Lance. Typical mold of a 'pure climber' but was never the best in time trials pretty much to the point of sitting on the floor several times on key occaisions.

I could have posted that naked pic of Lance again but it's almost as bad as that photo of Ras.

Actually, he wasn't that bad of a TT-ist (Tour de France top 20) when he had some extra blood. Didn't Alberto Cotrabandor win a prologue earlier this year? I specifically recall rolling my eyes when I saw that. Oh yeah, Paris-Nice.

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Yeah, but Contador was the under 23 Time Trial Champion of Spain back in 2001. Ras could hardly keep his time trial rig upright at the end of the 2005 tour.

while lifting weights may not add to any cycling specific muscle adaptations, it does build muscle mass, does it not? with the possibility of changing the fibers into a slow twitch type with aerobic pace base miles? i'm not a physical therapist but lifting weights, while not cycling specific adaption, must have at least some effect while preparing and/or keeping in shape in the off-season, or trying to reignite muscles you may not have used for a very long time due to being sedentary or injury.

but i must disagree with felt_rider about having a strong core not necessary. for me, i have a disc problem in my lower back where, if i go for any amount of cycling above 3 hours, produce some pretty mean stiffness and soreness, with some shooting pains on the occasion. with a strong core workout scheduled into my training, i'm able to at least reduce some of the pain and inflammation associated with being bent over on the bars for hours on end. and while you may say, in any healthy individual core may not be needed and i am a special case scenario, if it helps me, it should in fact help any healthy individual.

If we are talking high level competitive cyclists (like LA in his weight training video in this thread) there is no need for additional muscle mass. Look at the best marathon runners in the world. They are very frail looking individuals.

It does not take muscular strength to control a road bike and strength is not the same as power. People really seem to get the two confused even at the higher level of trainers seem to loose sight of the difference.

Actually we both agree that having a strong core is very important to general living, but again this thread is about a high level competitive athlete. High level competitive athletes are not always the healthiest people around (the picture of Rass is proof). Their goal is to win. I am not critizing your post because you have found a need for a strong core and that it helps you personally, but the truth is many can be very high level cyclists and never train their core at all.

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