Winter is traditionally the time of year when cyclists and other summer-season endurance athletes divide their training time between sport-specific workouts and some form of strength training. And while researchers continue to debate whether strength training improves performance in endurance sports, there’s no doubt that it’s a smart choice for overall health. The real problem is time, and as the days get shorter and we head into the holiday season, you may be forced to choose between your sport-specific goals and your desire to lift weights.
In deciding whether to include gym work into your training program, you have to take a look at the total amount of time you have to devote to training during the week. Every hour you spend in the gym is one less hour you have to spend on your bike, running, or swimming. And if your work and family schedules leave you with fewer than eight or nine training hours each week, you’re better off staying out of the gym.
Strength training is effective for increasing muscular strength, improving the integrity of connective tissues (tendons and ligaments), and increasing bone mineral density. However, as an endurance athlete with limited training time, you have to consider whether these benefits will improve your sport-specific performance more than spending that time on your bike, on the trail, or in the water.
Staying out of the gym doesn’t mean you have to miss out on all the benefits of resistance training. There are ways to incorporate resistance training into your sport-specific workouts: hill running and walking bleachers for runners, and swimming with paddles for swimmer are just a few examples. Though I don’t have room to cover specific exercises for all sports, the following on-the-bike resistance workouts provide cyclists with a lot of benefits without adding a lot of hours to your total training load.
On-the-bike resistance workouts:On-the-bike resistance workouts generally involve the use of large gears and low cadences in order to set up an “overgeared” situation. By increasing the tension you’re pushing against, you’re placing a heavy load on your leg muscles during each pedal stroke, much like you do when lifting weights. Two examples of highly effective on-the-bike resistance workouts are PowerStarts and MuscleTension Intervals:
PowerStarts:Shift into a large gear (53x12–15) and slow down to a very low speed (1–2 mph). With your hands in the drops and one pedal in the 2 o'clock position, you’re going to jump out of the saddle and pound on the pedals to accelerate as rapidly as you can for 10–12 seconds. The point of the effort is to produce a great deal of power in order to accelerate against a high resistance, so once you’re spinning the gear quickly, the effort is over. Shift into an easy gear and spin for five minutes of recovery. Start with one set of four PowerStarts, and progress to two sets of six.
MuscleTension intervals:These intervals are best performed on a gentle grade (about 5%) between 5 and 10 minutes long. Shift into a large gear that allows you to maintain a steady effort at a cadence of about 50–55 rpm. For the duration of each interval, you’re going to want to stay seated, with your hands on the tops of your bars. This overgeared climbing puts a lot of tension on your leg muscles and helps enhance muscle fibre recruitment. Most of the time, your nervous system only recruits a portion of the total fibres in muscle; these intervals help train your body to spread the work over a greater proportion of available fibres. The more muscle fibres you recruit, the more power you can produce. Start with two 5–minute MuscleTension intervals, separated by 10 minutes of recovery. Gradually increase the length of the efforts to 10 minutes, and then start adding additional intervals.
And for a twist… single-speed mountain biking:Part of the allure of going to the gym is that it adds variety and a change of scenery for cyclists who spend the rest of the year patrolling the same dozen routes around town. One other way to add a new twist to your training, and gain strength and power in the process, is to ride a single speed mountain bike.
Single-speed mountain biking has enjoyed a cult following for a long time, and has become more popular over the past several years. Not to be confused with a fixed-gear bicycle, a single-speed has a freewheel that allows you to coast, but only one gear and no option to shift into an easier or harder cog. A common setup is a 2:1 gear ratio, which you can make with a 34–tooth chainring and a 17–tooth cog or a 36–tooth chainring and an 18–tooth cog. To make it a bit easier to go uphill, you can increase the size of the cog so the ratio is more like 1.8:1 (34x19, for instance)
Having only one gear forces you to think ahead, as preserving momentum is often the only way to avoid having to get off and walk to the top of a hill. Whenever the trail tips upward, you will find yourself overgeared, much like during a MuscleTension Interval. The terrain will dictate how much time you spend pushing against a lot of resistance, but over the course of a one- or two-hour single speed ride, you can accumulate a lot of high-power, low cadence resistance work.
Single-speed mountain biking provides a less structured, yet highly effective method for developing leg strength and power that easily transfers over to your road cycling. Carmichael Training Systems coaches who utilize this type of training with their road racing cyclists find their athletes see dramatic improvements in their ability to accelerate from low speeds, like out of tight corners in criteriums and turnarounds in time trial events. Visit your local bike shop for information about setting up a single speed for yourself.
While lifting weights can be an effective way to gain strength and power, many athletes don’t have enough total training time to divide between the bike and the gym. If you have 10 hours or more to devote to training each week, weight training may be a viable option for you. For those of you with less time, focus on sport-specific training. As an added bonus, now that you don’t need that gym membership, you’ll have more cash for yourself.
Chris Carmichael is the founder of Carmichael Training Systems and coach to 7–time Tour de France Champion Lance Armstrong. To find out what CTS can do for you, visit
www.trainright.com.
Disclaimer:The scientific information found on the powerbar.com website is derived from the following sources unless otherwise stated:
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Expert Panel:Trent Stellingwerff PhD, BSc, Senior Research Scientist – Performance Nutrition, Nestlé Research Center
Christopher D. Jensen PhD, MPH, RD Nutrition & Epidemiology Researcher
Tricia L. Griffin RD, CSSD, POWERBAR Sports Nutritionist