Upper Body and Power

acoggan

Yes, I would be willing to bet on that.

acoggan

As Ric rightly points out, the forces exerted during cycling are relatively low, at least compared to the maximum that our muscles may generate. However, they aren't always so low that your body weight alone is enough to keep your pelvis firmly in the saddle. It is at this point, when pedaling forces begin to approach body mass, that we find ourselves starting to slide around, rock from side to side, etc., and have the urge to grip and pull on the handlebars. Doing so may, or may not, allow you to direct more of the power/force generated by your leg muscles into the pedals, but make no mistake, that power/force is coming from your legs, not your arms. As I indicated, the *only* way this would not be true would be if your hip joint were moving relative to the b.b., thus allowing the upper body's efforts to be "pass through" the pelvis. Even in such a scenario, however, the vast majority of power will still be emanating from the legs, simply because those muscles are larger and act over a much larger range of motion (compared to wiggling your hips). Indeed, it has been shown in studies using inverse dynamics that the assumption of fixed hip position vs. actually measuring and including its motion in the calculations has no significant impact on the final results re. segmental power.

acoggan

I imagine that Ric said "likely" because it is based on a logical extrapolation of the known adaptations to resistance training - which it is.

Don Shipp

The obvious answer is that if resistance training was helpful to competetive cyclists, then they would do it. If they are doing it, they can't be doing much because they all have skinny arms.
Cyclists train the muscles that they use and neglect the ones they don't. Any unnecessary muscle is dead weight and competes with the others for oxygen and fuel, reducing performance.

Don Shipp

Weight training would be injurious to cyclists if they trained hard on the bike and hard in the gym: it would just be too much.
Reducing road work to allow you to train with weights as well would reduce race performance.
If you are not competing, then do both, but don't overdo it.

RapDaddyo

I agree. Today called for climbing intervals on a rolling hills course (grades ranging from 2% to 10%). I didn't wrap my fingers around the bars or hoods, so as to avoid the tendency to pull with my arms. It forced me to focus exclusively on applying power from the waist down. I was definitely able to generate as much power and my back didn't get sore. I think it's just a matter of avoiding the instinct to try to use my upper body. Until it's second nature, I'll continue to avoid wrapping my fingers around the bars and hoods. I don't think I'm pushing too much gear as I'm still spinning at 80+ cadence.

Don Shipp

Are we discussing only competetive cycling here, or cycling generally?
Personally I believe that a balanced excercise program for overall fitness would include some upper body training, although not necessarily with weights. But competetive cyclists only have reason to exercise the muscles they use in racing.
The original question mentioned pulling on the bars to help climb hills; this is a matter of technique and weight training to enable a stronger pull would be less effective than correcting the technique or training on the bike by climbing more hills.
What sort of data are you asking for?

ServiceDano

well, my joking and silliness aside, I do think a strong upper body is very usefull in some places cycling. Especially mtb biking, dont know if that counts for this thread, but the feet of travel you get out of your arms helps dramatically if you have stronger springs. Plus anything you need to lift your wheels over is easier if you are stronger. On the road I would tend to think the balance you get from a non-emaciated upper body would help, and if you are racing in a tight pack, well, I would rather stronger arms to stabalize the inevitable jostling. If not racing, then technique is not as important as fun, and out of the saddle sprinting is fun, and its about feel too, if you feel stronger everywhere, your brain would be more likely to apply more power than if it felt weak somewhere. I have no data, no research or studies, and I understand how little arms work into the act of pushing a bike along, but I know riding is almost always better these days after I've gained strength in my arms from the gym(the bike is my lower body work out). but I dont race, and dont plan to

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vl1016

I would tend to agree with the mountainbiking thory above (most mountain bikers I've seen are pretty built upper body-wise), and it also seems to me that sprinters are often larger in their upper bodies than other races.