bigger = faster??



steve kaspar

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Apr 28, 2009
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like any athlete, i am always trying to find out ways to improve.
on a weightlifting site i visit, a great coach insists the bigger the athlete, the stronger more powerful..
i guess bigger muscles= more power for faster riding..
a strength powerlifting coach, that always seems to say cyclists should listen to his advice and get bigger..
personally i lift weights to be stronger, and have been since i was a kid..
whatever sport i played i lifted to help me get strionger in the sport i was playing.
i read books where weights arnt the best thing for cyclists. i also read where in the winter your supose to do squats and leg presses. about 50/50 on coaches saying to lift and dont lift..
i remember andy hamsten saying he lifted for upper body training, not to get bigger, but overall strength, and did his power strength leg training on the bike.
i remember the dane, jesper skibby saying for 12 years he rode t his suppleness disapearing..
as a lowly cat 2 racer, i will continue to lift, doing my dips, pushups, pullups abs and benches and hang cleans as hard as i can, but legs, i stick to riding and training hard, with the racing too..
is it foolish not to get bigger per this coach? i told him in an email if bigger means faster stronger, why did mark cavandish beat thor every day with 200 to go when the were both even..
thors a lot bigger..
cavandish beat thor every sprint. he says a bigger motor gonna beat a smaller one . to do lots of lifting..

typical racing for me is 35-80 miles of rolling or flat..no 10 mile climbs at all.
i'm 6' 150#..been this way the last 40 years...any opinions?
thanks
steve
 
I guess that's why he's a "strength powerlifting" coach and not a cycling coach.

Not all that many interested in the weight lifting for bike debate anymore, it's been done to death a thousand times and there are plenty of threads on it.

Endurance cycling (i.e. anything at or longer than an individual pursuit) is an aerobic sport. Powerlifting is not.
 
steve kaspar said:
like any athlete, i am always trying to find out ways to improve.
on a weightlifting site i visit, a great coach insists the bigger the athlete, the stronger more powerful..
i guess bigger muscles= more power for faster riding..

There used to be a featured thread here, its a good read if you skip over the personal attacks made by certain people.
 
re: reading my first post.. a point about jesper skibby, a danish pro from a few years back. he said that for a dozen he rode year round. one year he tried to lift for his legs and he felt his suppleness in his pedal stroke disapearing..
i'll look up the old thread.
i even asked this coach why did one of the smallest guys after 2 1/2 weeks of racing, win the final tt. a race that usually favors bigger guys..
( if indeed bigger means faster stronger) i didnt get a reply..
anyway, thanks for the posts.
i'll continue with my weight training, trying to have a balance in my body, and i'll probably always stay 6' 150#...and i'll keep looking for ways to improve, even though at 54, its getting tougher all the time..
thanks again
steve
 
I think Alex answered it the best. This is a powerlifting coach and I wonder if he has ever attempted an aerobic activity to the level most of us on this forum discuss. I come from the same or similar background as the coach and it only took my first couple of road rides to realize all the muscle I was carrying was just extra baggage.

I still lift 5 days a week, I am still muscular compared to most cyclists (5'6", light framed, 170 lbs - was 190 when I started cycling in 2004) and I still get dropped on a regular basis by the skinny guys. :D
 
steve kaspar said:
re: reading my first post.. a point about jesper skibby, a danish pro from a few years back. he said that for a dozen he rode year round. one year he tried to lift for his legs and he felt his suppleness in his pedal stroke disapearing..
i'll look up the old thread.
i even asked this coach why did one of the smallest guys after 2 1/2 weeks of racing, win the final tt. a race that usually favors bigger guys..
( if indeed bigger means faster stronger) i didnt get a reply..
anyway, thanks for the posts.
i'll continue with my weight training, trying to have a balance in my body, and i'll probably always stay 6' 150#...and i'll keep looking for ways to improve, even though at 54, its getting tougher all the time..
If you want to become faster, then I suspect that if you can manage to become more aero that you may see the results you are looking for ...
 
Bigger = faster works well in track sprinting or keeping the wife happy but doesn't always equate that well to road cycling unless your name is Fabian...
 
The conversation last night following another severe beating that I took recreationally racing around a single track mountain bike trail, the guy who beat me by a minute was saying that there should have been no way that he should have beaten me because of the size and muscularity of my legs.:) While he was giving me tips he must of mentioned the size of my legs at least 6 times. I tried to break in and tell him that the appearance of my legs does not equate to power output on a bike.
 
swampy1970 said:
Bigger = faster works well in track sprinting or keeping the wife happy but doesn't always equate that well to road cycling even if your name is Fabian...

fixed.
 
steve kaspar said:
i even asked this coach why did one of the smallest guys after 2 1/2 weeks of racing, win the final tt. a race that usually favors bigger guys..
( if indeed bigger means faster stronger) i didnt get a reply..
I coach a 60kg rider who set a new world masters hour record earlier this year. 48.317km.
 
Chris Boardman who holds the ultimate hour record (56.3km) and 4km pursuit record (4.11) was under 70Kg and is about knee high to a grasshopper.
 
Look at Brad Wiggins: skinny as a beanpole yet multiple pursuit champ (world and Olympic) and now 4th in the Tour de France.

Even Fabian Cancellara isn't that muscular.
 
tonyzackery said:
Absolutely! Bigger ALWAYS means faster...










p.s. if you're going downhill:D

Would beg to differ. I coach some Pro Downhill Cyclists and there seems to be an optimal weight. Some I have to bring down and others I have to build up. Like any athlete there is an optimum level of muscle and fat for Elite Performance.
 
Sometimes. Not always. All else being equal, or close to equal, speed is simply a power to weight ratio. But it is a fallacy to assume size = power. Case in point of fact I saw a detailed work up/comparison of a pro-tour racer and a Denver Broncos defensive lineman, interestingly enough these two guys with totally different builds actually leg pressed the exact same weight.

On a flat course the stronger rider will go faster, wind resistance and friction won't be that much a factor and weight is a non issue on a flat. Mass of course affects acceleration but that is a whole different story.
On a climb its not so cut and dry, Lance and Indurain are two examples of bigger guys who generated so much power that they climbed very well despite the extra 10-15 lbs they carried, though for most of us mortals we strive to build strength without adding bulk.
 
wayledft said:
Case in point of fact I saw a detailed work up/comparison of a pro-tour racer and a Denver Broncos defensive lineman, interestingly enough these two guys with totally different builds actually leg pressed the exact same weight.

Uh, please provide this "work-up/comparison" for review. A pro cyclist leg pressing the same weight as an NFL d-lineman? I don't think so. Maybe, just maybe, the same relative weight, but DEFINITELY not the same absolute weight...There may be an anomaly (i.e. Cancellara/Hushovd, are pro cyclists that I think may be able to leg press some pretty good poundage) or two on both ends of the weight lifting spectrum, but your statement demands qualification...

Furthermore, this situation - if correct - would be the vast exception and nowhere near the norm; not even close...
 
I got it at the sea otter in '02 or'03 so finding it may take a while but I will be only too happy to. Hopefully you'll forgive me for this but not only does my post not "demand" anything further than what I typed. If you want to argue the point provide a counter example rather than intuition and indignation. Again I don't think this is at all counterintuitive, in collage I took a weight training class with about half the football team including both lines and I regularly had to increase the weight on the leg press after those guys. Squats and anything upper body I couldn't hold a candle.
 
^^^Ahhhh, Internet forums - where the unsubstantiated claim and unverified anecdote flourish...

Hey man, not trying to start anything with you. Unbeknownst to you, I played in the NFL and therein lies the reason I'd like to see the information you base your assertion(s) on...

Good luck finding your "detailed work up/comparison" as I'd really like to see it...seriously...