Training & Nutrition - Tel me.. do you lift weights or not?

Perhaps I've told you that I've started a weight lifting routine about 6 weeks ago and have finally settled on a number of exercises that work muscle groups in upper body and legs with some free weights (bars for squat & bench press & dumbbells triceps) , a few machines (seated leg curl) and some abdomen/back exercises (back extensions/ab crunch).

Totally unrelated to this, I'm doing 2-3 spinning lessons each week after which we stretch. Probably because of the stretching, I pulled a small muscle in the heel...

When I told about it to a guy who's a coach for young road racers.. he said that weight lifting was totally nonsense for women like me who are long-distance cyclists...

So, I would like to know whether YOU lift weights and also what kind of riding you do.. does it benefit your cycling as well or do you do it for general strength?

As for me, I do the leg exercises for strength in cycling, but the upper body exercises are done because I hope that more muscle will cause me to shed fat faster.. after all more muscle means more fat to burn..
Apparently he was thinking of the scrawny upper bodies of a typical cyclist.. i heard that Armstrong used to be TOO muscular up above.. only after his disease he was scrawny enough in his upper body to compete...

Ivana

Yep. I do a number of weight routines to strengthen my uppter body, particularly my back and shoulders. Where does it help? On climbs and sprints...

I used to lift some weights but I'm a bit of a skinny b anyway (I've shown photo's of me in a kilt in another thread!) and it was really just a way to tone my chest and upperbody. I use the bike for leg and cardiovascular fitness.

I lift weights, & I'm a female road racer (track, too, but I concentrate on the endurance events there, also).

Leg exercises help me with sprinting & climbing where raw power is needed.

The upper body exercises have helped me a lot with being comfortable on the bike for long distances. This is especially important for women, because we're naturally weaker up top. Before I started lifting, I suffered from a sore back, shoulders, and arms. That discomfort has totally gone away now & I'm free to ride until my legs give out on me.

About Lance. I'm almost positive he does some kind of weight lifting during the off season if not during the season, too.

velo

(Hey, good choices on exercises! A lot like my program.)

Originally posted by fietser_ivana
...scrawny upper bodies of a typical cyclist..
I do think that one can get out of balance. Remember, exercising the upper body will pay off as you start to age, if you keep it up.
You don't have to be muscle-bound, but adding strength is smart.

I started using Friel's Training Bible to plan my work outs this year, and weight training is part of the schedule. After about eight weeks, my riding partners say they see a difference in my riding. -- For women, Friel actually recommends weight training both in and off season (with different loads, reps, etc. at different periods of the year), so I'm going to give that a try this year. -- I would suggest that, if you're going to weight train, that you find a plan that is specific for cyclists.

Also, weight training can help strengthen the core muscles of the torso that some tend to neglect in favor of arm and leg work.

Also also, I second the comment that weight training becomes more important as we get older, since the body, left to its own devices, tends to lose muscle as it ages. Weight training counteracts that tendency.
--JJ

Every cycling training book worth its salt will tell you to supplement your cycling with 2-3 workouts per week doing weights. This is more so in the off-season when you can't get out and ride due to crappy weather. During the race season however, from April to September/October (depending on where you live), weight training is perhaps carried out only once a week at the most. The rest of the time you should be out riding :) .

Weight lifting is definitely not nonsense, it should be part of your training plan. Just don't get too regimented into a plan though, try to keep it flexible. If the weather is good - ride, if it is crap then do weights or spin, whether you do endurance or not. Cyclists are not trying to be Champion body-builders, they just strengthen what they have already got to make it more efficient.

So carry on what you are doing, especially with lower weights/higher reps during the off-season and gently increase the weights and lower the reps during the season.

Where did that guy learn to coach?
Lifting is VERY important for ANY serious cylcist, not only to improve performance but to PREVENT injuries that occur from muscle imbalance and other reasons. The most important areas to work to alleviate muscle imbalance are: hamstings, front of neck, abdomen and inside quad head.

I lift and should lift more than I do.

Ride Stronger
Pat

Originally posted by pat5319
Where did that guy learn to coach?
Lifting is VERY important for ANY serious cylcist, not only to improve performance but to PREVENT injuries that occur from muscle imbalance and other reasons. I lift and should lift more than I do.

Ride Stronger
Pat

Thanks. That guy is coaching mostly young people, so he didn't think about lifting as a way to increase bone density.
He wrote to me that they vehemently oppose to young people training with weights as there ligaments weren't up to it..

Since 11 days I have a severe foot pain because I tore (?) a ligament when I overstretched after a spinning class.
He says it wasn't the stretching, but the weight lifting.. I'm convinced it's the stretching that caused it..

However, after the initial muscle pain, I'm now experiencing joint/ligament pain.. it seems that my muscles are big enough, but I'm a small-framed person with very small hands/feet, who's quite obese as well!
My muscles can pull/push large weights (at least, compared to other women in the gym), but my ligaments now complain too much.. so much that it almost (i say almost not completely) scares me enough to stop the strength training..

At least, that's what I would do if I'd be listening to that coach!
My weight lifting buddies tell me that I'll just need to take it easy in order to adapt until I have stronger ligaments/joints..

Do you have joint/ligament pain as well, rather than muscle pain?

Ivana

I almost started lifting weights, but decided to do some power and lactate tests before hand. Mostly as a reference, to see how much work I needed. I did the same test Joe Friel recommends, which is a 30 second pull on a computrainer on a 3% grade. According to Friel's chart, any peak power above 950 is excellent, and avg power for the 30secs over 700 is excellent. I scorred 1043/770 respectively. So I decided to not lift weights, and instead put all my efforts into aerobic fitness (base, base, and more base). In 2 months I increased my aerobic fitness by 11%, lost 5 lbs (170 now, I'm 6'3"), and managed to keep my peak power close to what it was before 1014/730 respectively.

So I'm happy with the results, but I'm curisous if others think I'm foolish for not lifting.

I do lift weights. I do it to help my riding... but I'm not all that scientific in my approach or reasoning.:rolleyes:


I have seriously cycled and lifted since high school, and I am 41 now. During the late 70's I was told ( by Davis Phinney and Nelson Vales) that weight training should be a part of your training regimine. I only lift to strengthen my upper body, and let cycling work my legs... although I have been known to throw in a few sets of squats once in a while. I keep my weight workouts to about 30 min., 4 days a week, while I ride everyday, if I can.:D

Yes, I think lifting is a good idea... but not for any scientific reasoning, I just ride. It makes sense to me, that a stronger upper body will greatly assist the legs in cycling. :p

When I told about it to a guy who's a coach for young road racers.. he said that weight lifting was totally nonsense for women like me who are long-distance cyclists...

as most people here have said, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. there's a ton of research to support the benefits of weight training for competitive cyclists.

yes, it's true that for Road Racing you don't want to add any upper body *bulk* b/c this creates extra wind resistance (wider shouders) and extra weight to push with your legs --- for MTB this is not true or very much less so since upper body strength is very important for bike handling

strength training for the legs is important for competitive cycling... i'm not an expert here, but the way i know it is train hard on the weights during the off season in the winter and then just do maintenance stuff maybe once a week when you're riding a lot -- weights break down the muscles and it takes about 2 days to build back up, so obviuosly you can't do heavy leg workouts 3 days a week AND ride too... you'll be continually tearing down the muscles and they'll never rebuild and grow

as someone also said, some basic strenght training for the upper body is a good idea to fight fatique on the bike and prevent back problems - strong muscles make it easy on joints

as far as Lance is concerned::: after his cancer where he lost so much weight from kemo treatment he rebuilt with much less *mass* (he started as a triathlete with lots of upper body strength) -- so after the cancer he rebuilt with a still strong but much smaller upper body so he has less weight to pull all those miles - imagine taking an extra 15 lbs off the weight of your bike!!! ---- if you're just doing some basic upper body stuff you shouldn't bulk up too much, especially as a female...


Probably because of the stretching, I pulled a small muscle in the heel...
again, i'm not an expert, but probably not -- stretching before you warm up when you're cold could cause a muscle pull, but streching after your workout is very unlikely to pull a muscle... pulled muscle is basically using the muscle in a way beyond what it's used to that the muscle can't handle - in your case either lifting weights too heavy too soon (you need to work up gradually) or bad form in something like a fall on the bike or doing squats the wrong way -- can be hard to idnetify exactly...

the streching *after* spinning also sounds like a good thing

sounds to me like you're doing about the right things::
** do heavy leg workouts in the off season 2 times a week
** do lighter weight, higher rep leg workouts 1-2 times a week during the riding season
** do your allround/upper body workout all year, maybe once a week or twice a week if you have time
** also make sure you're doing interval training, sprints and hills rather than just lots of miles --- training intensity is very important

I do weight training to fight osteoporosis, to decrease the chance of injury in a fall, and to build up, or at least preserve, what little upper body strength I have. I focus on arms, shoulders, and abs, plus the inner quads, for kneecap stabilization.

I lift moderately with free weights, mostly dumbells,
with 20lb weights I do a circuit set like this
30 upright flys which go straight into
30 tricep extensions which go straight into
30 curls and then rest and do the circuit again.

Lately I have taken to more heavy weights, 35lb dumbells but working on the curls more with that weight, sets of 18 and then a cool down with some 25lb weights and then the 20lbs to finish off.

While at work, when I'm waiting on a long report I run each morning, I bring two chairs at angles to each other and let my body sink between the two and do a set of 40 dips between the chairs, letting my legs lay behind me limp and not assisting the dips, really works the triceps and chest! I try to do two or three sets of those through out the day, get some strange looks from people walking by but I tell them, I can either stand there with a donut waiting on the printer or do this! I chose doing the dips, fast and gives a great workout. I don't have a gym close by so I make do with what I can.

In the mornings before getting out of bed, I do a set of 200 crunches and 50 leg raises, makes the wife smile but I don't really care, the bed makes it a little easier on my back to do the crunches.

G2

hey Gary,

i haven't flown much recently, but i developed a whole routine for dips and push-ups and such for AIRPORT workouts - when you have to wait 1-3 hours for a layover or delay - the people look at me like i'm a freak, but it's great training and also particularly good b/C sitting on a plane is so lethargic and hard for the back sitting still so long, etc...

never tried it in the office - but then when i'm not travelling i'm in the fitness studio 1-3 times per week so it's not so necessary

Glad to hear I'm not alone in this!

Yes I get the strange looks but I hope it encourages them to take some initiative and get into shape, I know of a few people at work that are now trying to exercise some more.

Raining today, and COLD here, so I'll miss my lunch ride!

G2

I'm a weekend rider, and I lift weights during the week to supplement my riding. I do a four day split:

Day one: chest/triceps
Day two: legs (always giving a day rest after my weekend riding)
Day three: back/biceps
Day four: shoulders/traps

I also try to throw abs in there twice a week.