Once more: gyming to improve power

There's a rumour telling about building a new velodrome to where I live. Could be or not and probably years away but anyway there is an interest raising in my head about trying track next summer. Kilo would be a natural event because I am too bad with my bike handling skills to ever attend to a group event and probably lack the "heart" for pursuit.

So to the gym I go. I lack in standing start department (best standing start peak power so far is ~1500w and I can put out more in a seated small ring sprint) so extra strength would be handy. Also the sad reality is that with our winter it is practically impossible to do any on bike sprint exercises soon. (I really cannot imagine all out sprinting on trainer). My initial plan is to do plyometrics/jump exercises (one legged jumps, alternate jumps, drop jumps, I have a pretty good routine on these because as a junior I was a highjumper) once a week and hit the gym once. Rest of the time spending on metabolics/FTP/SST-department.

The core of the gym routine would be jump squats, lunges and deadlift. The questions that came to my mind:
- does it sound reasonable at all?
- how deep squats? All the way or mimicing the cycling angles
- how much weight to use? (during my gym days I read anything between 30-80% of 1 RM for explosive training)

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"It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

Sounds reasonable

The deadlifts (if you have good form and you probably do by the sounds of former post) are good because it is a controlled movement and the lunges are good because they are a controlled movement.

The jump squats are good, but I come from a school of the thought to be extra cautious with ballistic type of movements. Kind of like the old gym saying control the leg press sled because allowing your knees to lock out quickly and then the sled comes back down on your legs while locked out is not going to be all that great for the longevity of your knees. If you get my drift. However, many people are doing ballistic type of movements these days.

A few other things to consider are one legged leg press with full range of motion and bench step ups using a weighted bar (it is like lunges but more power is needed through the hips) if you want to add some more variety.

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I have to admit, I'm not very familiar with jump squats. Is there any reason for choosing to do them over power cleans or some olympic lifts? Is it just the familiarity issue or are jumping squats better?
As far as weight, someone might have a handy formula to suggest a weight dependant on your 1RM, but if you don't know what your 1RM is, or if you're untrained, then I think you'd probably be wise to follow the old advice and try to find a weight you can lift for sets of 3 to 5 reps. Start light, do a set of five, and then add 5-10 lbs, then try again. Keep adding weight until it's hard. Depending on how well trained your legs are for weightlifting right now, you may or may not be able to add more weight next week.

Meaning if they're well trained you won't be able to add weight as easily? Or vice versa.

Usually beginners find it easier to add weight to a movement. The CNS is still adjusting to the needs of that particular movement. In a lot of beginner programs, you add 5 or more pounds to your lifts each time you do them for the first month or so.

I am afraid I should first spend half a year training technique for olympic lifts. Moreover the explosive part in eg. clean is the pull not the squat (power clean could indeed replace deadlift at some point).

Yes, that definately is my starting point but I meant specifically jump squats. I don't think it is so easy with explosive movements (or is it?) that you just add weight because at some point the whole idea of explosiveness (cycling specific velocity) dissappears.

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"It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

I hear you, we're not getting younger here. I don't say that I am old and fragile yet but have to admit that the idea on invincibility and indestrutibility that I had used to live with has had a couple of reality checks when 40 gets closer and I have heard similar stories from my friends .
It is just that I'd like to be able to replicate the cycling specific conditions (movement angles and velocities) as much as possible.

One legged press is a good idea, thanks!

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"It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

I don't mean to intrude on the OP, but does anyone have a good schedule they recommend, that would specifically help me train for cycling in the gym? I'm just finishing up my 1st cycling season (in which I've improved alot as far as strength and endurance) but now I'm looking to start a good off-season winter training plan.

Thank you,
-Greg

There is a catch/regular forum reader joke in the Title of this thread. For endurance cycling in general gyming is not your optimal training option (you may read as much as you like from this thread: gyming to improve power) but only if you are aiming to improve in very short, specific events eg. Kilo or match-sprint.

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"It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

The classic indoor winter training routines for cyclists consists of various intervals on a trainer (with your own bike mounted) or a gym bike. I prefer a gym machine with an electronic load that allows you to set and maintain a consistent power output, but if you're not a gym member, using your own bike at home mounted in a trainer stand works great as well. As long as your trainer allows you to select a consistent training load from session to session, you're good.

The old-school Blackburn Wind Trainer is my choice because the load provided by the fan and flywheel is consistent and realistic. (On these, you change the load by shifting gears, just like on the road). It's noisy, but if you train in a cool garage, who cares? Having an HRM helps to gauge your effort level.

In an hour, you can warm up, do 2x20 intervals, and cool down. You can find threads here about various "zone" workouts and how to set your own load (power) levels. Doing fairly-hard intervals twice a week is enough; the other days you can do easy "recovery" or "endurance" rides.

The reason heavy strength training doesn't help road cycling is that endurance work requires the Type I muscle fibers and the aerobic energy system, while strength uses the Type II. We all are born with a mix of these two; high Type II percentage makes for a natural sprinters, while high Type I favors endurance for sustained climbing and high crusing speeds hour-after-hour. Type I muscles contain mitochrondria for efficient aerobic energy production via the central cardio-vascular system, while Type II relies mostly on the anerobic energy stored in the muscle cells themselves....great for 3-5 reps, but pretty-much dead weight up the hills

Found a nice article in case someone else is interested: http://kaizenfitness.typepad.com/fil...resistance.pdf

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"It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

My favorite exercise when I go the gym is bulgarian front squats. It really fries my core and all the way from the front quad to the tailbone.

Frost, just make sure that this thread doesn't turn into a "How to Get Injured for Dummies" thread (I think we have one already). Be wise and respectful of your age (which I know is not 18).

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Well, it depends on the movement you're doing. If you're doing power cleans, it's impossible to not do them explosively. If you're not explosive, you won't get the weight up to your shoulders.

Now, with jump squats, I think you'd be fine to up the weight the same way you do for any other lift as long as you can, but I'm not sure how afraid you should be of failure.

Looks like you found the right article.

Along with what you have read, I would still consider a high bench step ups. The article talked about glute strength and this would also be a good movement for the hips flexors. You can either do those with a weighted bar, dumbbells or just body weight. Of course with your height you may have trouble finding a bench high enough. This movement will hit the same muscles as the one legged leg press, but again this may be an option if you need to cycle some of the activities.

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