Training for a climber
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Depending on what you mean by climbing hills - do you mean hills < 60-secs, 60 - ~ 360 to 600 secs, or > 600-secs, the training would need to be different.
Briefly, durations of < 60-secs will be trained best by improving anaerobic capacity, for, e.g., 30-secs on/off.
60 - 360/600 secs will be best trained by targetting VO2 max (and MAP), for, e.g., 3 - 8-mins @ ~ 80-110% MAP, but will also be increased by training at LT power and TT power.
For long hills (e.g., > 600-secs) you'll be best of targetting LT and TT power with long efforts (15 - 30-mins).
Of course, ability on hills is also determined by your overall mass, but this generally isn't as important as people tend to think (especially for the sort of mass changes people are interested in).
You should also avoid weight training, as this will have a negative impact on HC ability.
Ric
I doubt that muscle mass is a consideration for limiting climbing ability in most people. Using light weights (<50% body weight) is effective in strengthening core muscles used in climbing.
An example of these kinds of workouts would be using a 10lb plate, held behind your head and performing 100 squats.
There's many more areas for improving overall climbing ability, like walking stair-steps two at a time etc..... Think up your own.
An example of these kinds of workouts would be using a 10lb plate, held behind your head and performing 100 squats.
There's many more areas for improving overall climbing ability, like walking stair-steps two at a time etc..... Think up your own.
I don't understand how doing squats (or other weight training) will have a positive effect on hill climbing (or any other aerobic cycling activity). Training needs to be specific to the goal, as adaptations occur at specific joint and angle velocities.
Besides, cycling (endurance) just isn't strength limited (for virtually most people). Why cut into cycling time with stair walking?
Ric
anything you can do to lose weight..while at the same time gaining power will improve climbing by increasing power to eight ratio. power to weight ratio is the ultimate benchmark for the climber. Most great climbers do not emphasize weight training...although they may include it in the off season. Hard training on the bike is itself 'resistance' training..or very specific weight training for the cyclist. Anyway, train hard...and clean up your diet. You want to come into your primary competitions very lean and mean. Ar trainright.com..Coach Chris Carmichael has a video available about climbing technique an training.
Weight training wouldn't be beneficial for several reasons, these can be read here in a full article, http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?id=strengthstern
Briefly, however,
1) endurance cycling (i.e., anything past ~ 60-secs) isn't limited by the forces that can be generated. In other words, anyone who is healthy and age matched can generate the same forces as a racing cyclist. For example, i can generate the same force and the same power as e.g., LA. Even untrained unfit people can already generate these forces. It's sustaining these forces and powers for long periods of time
2) endurance cycling requires very low forces, even uphill, up a steep hill. pretty much the highest force you can generate is a standing start sprint, which would well exceed the force and power of going uphill
3) during normal cycling, e.g., 20mph level road, thermoneutral environment, forces on the pedal at ~ 70 - 100 revs/min will be ~15 - 20 lb
4) the effect of weight training is hypertrophy. as this occurs there's a greater distance for the O2 to transit to the mitochondria. this is the opposite of what is required for aerobic performance
5) there's mitochondrial dilution as hypertrophy occurs, again bad
6) increased contractile proteins means greater mass to drag uphill
7) increases in strength (or aerobic fitness) are specific to the joint angle and velocity in which they were trained. so even if more strength was good (which it isn't for endurance cycling) it's unlikely to be useable strength, or only a small fraction of it. for instance in track sprinters, they gain masses of extra strength but only a small amount is transferred to cycling ability
Ric
ric
I like your thinking, since looking at my own progress over the past year I would say that the biggest asset I now have is an ability to maintain a level of effort for longer. This I attribute to a greater aerobic capacity and muscle conditioning.
I dont think I am any stronger than when I started but I can maintain the effort in a long flat ride for much longer, or hold my LT up a 25 minute hill climb for example.
I still find I hit the wall when trying to join the group sprint after 80-90kms of pacy riding. I suppose the answer is more kms.
Is it true that a forty plus year old takes longer to build fitness given the same exercise level as a say 20 year old.
The other gain I have had which helps hills is to have dropped 10ish kilos (by cycling not dieting) over the last year. You certainly notice the hills that where daunting now seeming much less scary.
keep up the good forum
I like your thinking, since looking at my own progress over the past year I would say that the biggest asset I now have is an ability to maintain a level of effort for longer. This I attribute to a greater aerobic capacity and muscle conditioning.
I dont think I am any stronger than when I started but I can maintain the effort in a long flat ride for much longer, or hold my LT up a 25 minute hill climb for example.
I still find I hit the wall when trying to join the group sprint after 80-90kms of pacy riding. I suppose the answer is more kms.
Is it true that a forty plus year old takes longer to build fitness given the same exercise level as a say 20 year old.
The other gain I have had which helps hills is to have dropped 10ish kilos (by cycling not dieting) over the last year. You certainly notice the hills that where daunting now seeming much less scary.
keep up the good forum
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