Originally Posted by
aikigreg
You'll find most here won't recommend it in any form, but IMPO, it's absolutely essential for us non-pros to be liftinf for health and well being. All year long. Period.
I agree with this. My cycling is much improved and I'm much more comfortable on distance rides since I began weight training. If you want to get into it, I recommend finding a trainer who works with cyclists who can set you up with a lifting plan. My full routine is done 2-3 times a week and I'm in the gym for under 90 minutes. It includes legs, core work and upper body lifting. He puts me through phases which are about 1 month each, 1 for building strength, 1 for building power, 1 for endurance, and 1 for general maintenance/adaptation. Each phase has the workouts set by strength tests done before each phase to set the weights.
When I first started lifting, I didn't use a trainer and found it didn't help nearly as much as the plan including these different phases.