Originally Posted by bbrauer .
Boy! I'd have to rate that post as about an 8-10 on the Borg Scale of Perceived Condescension. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif
Well I have done more than read abstracts off Pubmed.
I'm sure you're a fine coach, and by all means continue practicing a system that works for your athletes, but I've found that these types of internet arguments are less an endeavor in knowledge sharing and more an exercise in comparative quantitative penis analysis for the sake of ego enhancement.
All the studies you have listed below each have flaws that don't actual provide any support to your argument.
In my experience - and I've been in the game a long time, too - strength training done sensibly and with a particular objective does indeed convey benefits to the endurance athlete that don't necessarily translate to increased performance in his respective discipline,
If it's not making you a faster bike rider then why do it?
but create a better, overall, more balanced athlete that is able to withstand the rigors of his sport and resist breaking down because of specific overuse issues and muscle imbalances.
I did a lit review and muscle imbalances don't feature in the causes of non traumatic cycling injury. Poor bike set up, too high or too low a cadence and improper progression of training.
This has been borne out in practice, forms the basis of all strength and conditioning regimens as well physical therapy, is supported by the literature, and is just simply common sense.
Study more!
A cyclist I know was training a year ago - commuting to work, actually - got out of the saddle to perform a jump and heart a pop and felt a burning sensation in is abdominal area. A year later, he's scheduled to have surgery for a hernia that won't heal. You think if his core was stronger that would've happened?
Sorry I don't base my coaching off one case study!
Some good news, however. I recently rode a local 9-mile off-road hillclimb that I've been doing for the better part of 15 years. It's always caused my lower back to fatigue and for me to lose power and even stop. My back felt fantastic this last ride. Was able to comfortably attack the last section, and my only limiter was aerobically. I honestly haven't been riding much outside anymore, and certainly don't do as many sustained hillclimbs. What's the difference? - I'd most certainly say it's the strength endurance of my core that I've developed.
I don't base my coaching off anecdotes either.
I'm not a zealot with regards to the notion that weight lifting improves endurance performance or TT performance. In fact, in my experience, there are other things one ought to be doing in the saddle to develop cycling specific strength. However, this got me interested in checking out the latest research on the subject, and what I found opened my eyes a little. Tell you what. I'll post some links to share and I'll let other readers here check out the links and come to their own conclusions.
Most used poorly randomised groups, low study numbers and measures that are not relevant to cycling performance.
Actually, what I found that was particularly interesting about these studies as opposed to previous studies on the subject was that: a. they were quite recent; and b. They studied trained athletes and competitive cyclists. The major flaw with previous studies on the subject was that they used untrained subjects.
Where you would expect to see bigger improvements in performance because of greater capacity to improve but this was not the case.
Some interesting stuff.
All been covered before. Might I suggest reading the entire paper.
