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Old 12-07-07, 08:58 AM
  #13  
vuduchyld
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Just a couple of points I would like to try to re-state in a more clear fashion than I did above:

1) Maximum strength relates just to the amount of weight you can move. In weightlifting terms, when people refer to power...I don't know the exact equation, but maybe power equals weight times distance traveled divided by time. So if the time it takes to move a weight goes UP, the power measurement goes DOWN. When you are doing 30% of 1rm, again, bar SPEED is very important. You might be able to do 20 reps with 30% of your 1RM. But once you are past, say, 5 reps, the power you apply will drop markedly.

2) There is almost always some benefit to training in modalities that you have not trained. Again, looking at interval training...it's great to do interval training for most athletes. If you're doing 80 mile road races, spending SOME time on interval training is going to pay dividends. You probably would not want to stop doing some longer, slower distance rides. Of course, if you are racing only in the velodrome and your races never lasted more than, say, ten minutes, the percentage of time you spend on intervals would be MUCH higher than for a road racer. The percentage of time you spent doing aerobic base-building work would be much lower.
If you are training your muscles to be stronger, it would probably pay to do train in several different ways. There are no magic bullets. If you're training aerobic/anaerobic energy systems, the same holds true. The perfect training plan would probably include SOME combination of ME, DE, strength-endurance work AND also long, slow distance (steady state) and interval work for energy systems. That perfect plan would probably be periodized over a 12 month period with certain times of the year focusing on certain modalities.

With regard to strength training, frequently, the BEST thing you can do is...whatever it is you are NOT doing right now. It's good to make changes in your set-rep scheme and movement patterns every 4 weeks. It's also not a bad idea to take an un-loading week every 4-6 weeks where you back way off on weight and/or volume.

One friend I talked to this morning made a couple of suggestions that made some sense.

1) Cyclists should do quite a bit of unilateral work in the weight room, especially lower body. Squats are great, of course, for developing strength, but he suggested single-leg squats, bulgarian split squats, and various types of lunges (reverse lunges, for example).

2) Most people who lift weights get out of balance by doing more pushing movements than pulling. That could be horizontal pushing or vertical pushing. He suggests for cyclists who spend a lot of time pushing or locking out anyway that they should make sure to do pulling exercises such as bent rows, pullups, and such.

3) He loved my idea of power cleans from the hang. He said that deadlifts are a great bang-for-the-buck exercise for a cyclist, as well. He also loved the thought of overhead squats.

pcates, if you tell me exactly what off-bike training you are doing right now, I might be able to suggest a couple of minor tweaks. When it comes to on-bike training, I would have NO IDEA, I can promise you that.
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