Originally Posted by DrWJODonnell
I do mostly "single leg stuff" when I am taking care of legs. As to balance, I have always worked on balance with wobble boards, physioball, bosu, swiss disc, etc, so I have never had any trouble with balance doing one legged squats. And yes, the workout is rough, mostly because you are working every aspect of the core and legs in doing the ride with the weights.
Merlin, I am sorry but I have to address this. There is a common misconception among the cycling community that lifting weights is not going to help, with many people thinking it will actually hurt performance. While there is truth that it CAN cause injuries if you are not smart, it is ridiculous to imply that the only thing that is necessary to be a good bike rider is to ride the bike. Therefore, football players should just play football, basketball players should just play basketball, and soccer players should just play soccer. The advances in sports today would not be possible without the tremendous advances in weight training (with regards to knowledge) and sadly too many in cycling ignore this fact.
Weight lifting does not mean you must gain weight with strength. Powerlifters often build tremendous strength at very light bodyweights. So do gymnasts and dancers. Yes they lift weights too. The bicycle inherently leads to deficiencies in muscle balance due primarily to positioning, but also from people not addressing appropriate form. These imbalances can improve with weight training which does improve performance on the bike. Are there going to be the Lawrence Taylors of the world who are just naturals? Sure. Is that most people? Of course not. And who can't help but wonder how much better he could have been HAD he lifted weights.
The reason pro cyclists don't lift wieghts during the season. Twofold. One is superstition. Read Lance Armstrong's war to get a small sampling of the ridiculous superstitions that cyclists hold on to. In addtion, many believe you have to get big (heavy) muscles when you work out (a fallacy). The other reason is because many pro cyclists are racing constantly during the season, and lifting requires a certain amount of recovery that can be gotten if you are training, but not when you are racing balls to the wall 3 days or more per week. At that point, most of them will end up with overtraining injuries. Also, if not carefully done, weights can destroy a knee and end a cycling career. Smart training avoids this.
Finally, I know that I will continue to improve. I push out 350 watts during a TT but I am 76 Kg. My sprint is a paltry 1000watts. Not that impressive in the grand scheme of things. I will continue to lift and continue to develop strength even during the racing season, because I know that regardless of how many wins I get now, it is all training for the future and the important ones are the wins yet to come.
Sorry for the rant.