Road Cycling - Leg Work.

I've put in a little over a thousand miles since the first of May. I've taken my legs from wastelands to just starting to show some real definition. And in the process have dramatically improved my indurance and climbing ability. Which was the original goal...

However, I can't seem to get past this strength point. And recently, it feels and looks like I'm going backwards.

Is it right to assume that I need to cross train a little to complete or enhance my legs for riding? What type of work do you guys recomend I try. (knowing I don't have access or time to get to a gym.)

Or could I just continue to work the snot out of my legs and end up with those chisled legs I see Koffee swooning about...:eek:

Sorry this probably belongs in the fitness area.

Thanks for help.
R

If you don't have access to a gym, you might check out some books on doing exercises without equipment. You could also get a weight bench with a leg lift attachment, and do both the bike and weights.

Are you just riding or do you do intervals. Try finding a hill that's about a mile long. Do 2 minutes in a gear that only allows you 50-60 RPM then do a gear that allows 90-100 RPM. DO this for an hour or more and see what happens. You can do similar with an indoor trainer as well.

I've heard of intervals, but will admit to not know what it is. I do something similar when I ride - For the first mile or two, gentle warm-up. Then try and push some big gears for a mile or two, then pull back and recover for a while and then repeat... sometimes big gears and other times smaller gears but both at about the same 20-23mph speed...

I think I need to get in some more hills again. When I was doing them, I seemed to have better gains.

But I like the idea of the leg work on the bench - will look into that as well.
Thanks

If you want the strengthen your legs, I would suggest doing thing on the bike.

Things do not transfer very well from one sport to another.

I did some weight training a number of years back. There were a lot of body builders in that gym. At first, I could not lift that much with my legs. But it took only a few weeks of work for them to "learn" how. I had the muscle, just had to get it adapted a bit. Anyway, I had piles of leg strength but the weight work really did not help my cycling. The movements were different.

It was fun to go out on a bike with a nationally competitive body builder. They could get up to 24 mph spun out in their big gear and then I could drop them. They just could not crank out RPMs to save their lives.

Obviously, the body builders had the muscle and strength to go over 24 mph. They just did not have the training at that motion.

I would suggest coming up with bike drills to improve your strength.

Pat's right. Stick to the bike. The only cross training I did when I was racing was that I'd do some running in the winter to suplement my 30-40 minutes on the mag trainer. I did it to try and improve my aerobic conditioning. It seemed to work.

in weight lifting it's known as plateauing... one way to avoid it is to constantly increase your workout load to deal with your body's changes...

I'd recommend a bit of cross-training - exercises that will help build up leg muscles without going to a gym are e.g. sprinting up flights of stairs, running with intervals (sprint 100 metres, walk back, I would do it about 5 - 10 times) things like squat jumps.

Doing a different exercise will change the load on your legs and work muscles that are not emphasised when cycling. This will help overcome the 'plateau' that you are in - although don't worry it's a well known response to training and arises as muscles adapt to the load placed on them. It's more to do with changing the type of work your muscles do than simply increasing it.

I suggest doing dynamic exercises because they should make your power output more 'explosive' which is probably more useful to a cyclist than just getting stronger. The other thing is that to build strength you have to resist the urge to try and build up your endurance at the same time and focus your sessions on one or the other.


I hope some of that helps.

Team

Done properly rollerblading will help develop massive quads
(think speed skaters like Eric Heiden here), the key being
doing it right.
The other cross training that I think may be helpful is
rowing, at least it seems that way to me (on an intuitive
level).

Marty

Speed training and intervals. You have develped your aerobic base, now you have to develop speed and power.

hills are definitely good strength training.....high torque, low cadence....

Any suggestions on a good read and guide in establishing training programs, intervals, etc. Can't see myself doing this on my own and I don't have a roadie friend to help. Short of signing up for CTS. Any suggestions on the DIY programs?

the thing about flat riding is that often instead of pushing ourselves harder, we will choose to gear down, slow down, or both to keep effort low. when you do a really tough hill, you will be moving the crank really slow in the lowest gear, and it will still kill you to get up the hill.

Read some of Chris Charmichaels stuff (Serious Cycling etc.)

Go to the health and nutrition links and do a search.

i beg to differ on the subject of crosstraining. i am riding with a guy in his 1st year of riding, only has 1700 miles to date and can dust people. how? 20 years of hockey.
i am going to get my 1st real dose of cross this winter, as i will be getting on their program.

i'm not sure (from reading raedeke's post) if he just wants definition and nice looking legs or wants them as by products of his larger goal of riding faster/longer, etc.

lunges with dumbells, squats or just sitting against a wall will substitute fine as a start.
recovery off the bike and getting down to an ideal weight will help as well.

i have problems with endurance, but from looking at my HRM i am not blowing myself up...i lack leg strength. this is especially evident on hills. there is little you can do during the season once you've maxed out your potential on the bike.
so its leg presses, squats and spin class for me sooner than later, with some running thrown in and we'll see what happens.