Having been away from this forum for a good while, I was kinda weirded out that ten years on the discussions on training are still pretty much the same. I started this thread in the hope that I and others can shed some light on some basic underling principles.
1) Muscles are really dumb, they learn what you teach them, nothing more. So cross training or gym training to be better on a bike only makes sense if you want to isolate and build a specific atrophying muscle. Otherwise you are better off training on the bike.
Why ? Because muscle conditioning is extremely activity velocity duration specific.
2) Road cycling is predominately an aerobic activity. For this you need to condition (train) your heart and lung function, condition (train) your glycogen (fuel) stores as well as the muscles that are conditioned for cycling activity. For this we need to build mitochondria in the muscles. Mitochondria enable the cells in the muscles to work aerobically (with oxygen). To keep this simple and easy to comprehend I will state that mitochondria are generally associated with slow twitch muscle fibres.
3) Your body builds mitochondria in the muscles when you work (train) for extended periods, as the body wants to be energy efficient The aerobic system is many times more efficient than the anaerobic energy system. When you park your bike and sit in a chair your body will dismantle the mitochondria as they are consuming glycogen that your body wants to conserve.
4) Fast twitch muscle fibres are anaerobic and work without oxygen, they use up to 70 times more glycogen than the aerobically fuelled muscle fibres and are generally able to produce more power for very short periods (minute or so).
You are never working only aerobically or anaerobically. The two systems work together. Your body has an active anaerobic system that recycles byproducts and clears toxins that are built up in the muscles when worked hard anaerobically.
5) When you go to the gym and build a big muscle (hypertrophy) you are thickening up the fast twitch muscle fibres. These are guns that are heavy to carry around and you may only get to fire on the odd occasion. Chances are they will slow you down.
1) Muscles are really dumb, they learn what you teach them, nothing more. So cross training or gym training to be better on a bike only makes sense if you want to isolate and build a specific atrophying muscle. Otherwise you are better off training on the bike.
Why ? Because muscle conditioning is extremely activity velocity duration specific.
2) Road cycling is predominately an aerobic activity. For this you need to condition (train) your heart and lung function, condition (train) your glycogen (fuel) stores as well as the muscles that are conditioned for cycling activity. For this we need to build mitochondria in the muscles. Mitochondria enable the cells in the muscles to work aerobically (with oxygen). To keep this simple and easy to comprehend I will state that mitochondria are generally associated with slow twitch muscle fibres.
3) Your body builds mitochondria in the muscles when you work (train) for extended periods, as the body wants to be energy efficient The aerobic system is many times more efficient than the anaerobic energy system. When you park your bike and sit in a chair your body will dismantle the mitochondria as they are consuming glycogen that your body wants to conserve.
4) Fast twitch muscle fibres are anaerobic and work without oxygen, they use up to 70 times more glycogen than the aerobically fuelled muscle fibres and are generally able to produce more power for very short periods (minute or so).
You are never working only aerobically or anaerobically. The two systems work together. Your body has an active anaerobic system that recycles byproducts and clears toxins that are built up in the muscles when worked hard anaerobically.
5) When you go to the gym and build a big muscle (hypertrophy) you are thickening up the fast twitch muscle fibres. These are guns that are heavy to carry around and you may only get to fire on the odd occasion. Chances are they will slow you down.