Track Cycling: Velodrome Racing and Training Area - track cyclist - what kind of weight training do you do?

lately, i have been interested in track cycling, and i was wondering what kind of weight training exercises track cyclists do for power? i suspect squats to be fairly important. what else do you do? could you also post up a routine you use.

Squats, zercher squats and deadlifts are the meat and potatoes of my program. Check out the Rippletoe examples on Youtube.

I split my leg workouts into two days. Day 1 is Quads and Calves. Day 2 is Hamstrings

For Day 1 I do the following: Squats (most important), Power Clean, Leg Press, Leg Extensions, and some basic Calves exercise.
Day 2: Lying Leg curl, sitting leg curl, and good mornings.
I do 3 sets of about 6-8 repetitions. That's it.

I split my leg workouts into two days. Day 1 is Quads and Calves. Day 2 is Hamstrings

For Day 1 I do the following: Squats (most important), Power Clean, Leg Press, Leg Extensions, and some basic Calves exercise.
Day 2: Lying Leg curl, sitting leg curl, and good mornings.
I do 3 sets of about 6-8 repetitions. That's it.

I think it would be a mistake not to target lower back and glutes. i would recomend adding some deadlifts.

I agree. Posterior chain is even more important for track cyclists. Deadlifts are key.

The zercher is also a great variation and really works the core, which I think should be the point of weight training for cyclists. Now that I finally have use of a squat rack I've dispensed with the machines.

It's also important to add some MINIMAL upper body work; bent-over row, bench and military press, pull-downs or pull-ups, dips.

Good Mornings target lower back.

fyi.

Not to say some Romanian Deadlifts aren't going to help his routine.

It's also important to add some MINIMAL upper body work; bent-over row, bench and military press, pull-downs or pull-ups, dips.

Why minimal upper body?

Cuz this is cycling. You don't need a lot of upper body strength, just some. You need a lot of core and leg strength.

Romanian deadlifts are great! Seated box jumps helped me a lot too.

plyometrics are really good for base conditioning if you're new to weight training. split squat jumps for example.

also, a lot of general balance and stability exercises helped me a ton. There are also a lot of core / stability exercises that work the whole body so you'll be getting in upper body stuff as well.

Why minimal upper body?

Assistance exercises accomplish three main tasks for Upperbody. In no particular order, they:

• Strengthen weak areas of the body.
• Compliment and help increase the four basic lifts.
• Provide balance and symmetry to your body and your training.

The key to assistance work is doing enough to stimulate the muscle. Your assistance work should not affect your recovery and overall performance. The best assistance exercises are those that contribute directly to the performance that produce the most benefit towards the big, multi-joint movements, (squat, deadlift, bench press and power clean). You should live on special upper body exercises for triceps, lats, and delts. These are basically the muscle groups used in the three main lifts, should be strengthened to the absolute max of your potential complementing your big lifts.

That's BS.

I've personally received track specific gym workouts from track world champions not to mention what I've read on a forum more reliable than this, and all of which specify *minimal* upper body work and *maximal* core and lower body work.

The strongest guys on earth (relative to bodyweight), with the strongest deadlifts, squats, power cleans, in fact, need & have the strongest upperbacks, lats, delts, triceps etc to hoist them massive loads.

Track athletes aren't as strong as you think.


Why do you feel the need to max out the upper body when it's only needed to *barely* hold the bar for front/back squats and is minimally involved in the dead lift, romanian dead lift, & power clean.

Multi-joint movements require almost every muscle in the body. Them muscles are not just in the lower & core part of the body. Weak pulling muscles, weak lifts.


Muscles that provide "absolute max of your potential" are overkill for cycling but are added pounds that must be carried around the track that are of no functional value accept maybe as padding for accidents.

Who's advising you to train like a bodybuilder???...

This thread is about weight training for track cycling, not weight training in general.


I thought it was about increasing strength. I'm just telling you what you need to do to hoist the biggest loads you can possibly achieve in your 3 or 4 main lifts.


That is an over-simplification.


???...


Umm...you are. Remember when you wrote: "These are basically the muscle groups used in the three main lifts, should be strengthened to the absolute max of your potential complementing your big lifts."


If you want to train for mass/size, train specifically for mass/size, throw in the 8000 calories per day, If you want to train for strength, train specifically for strength & the same goes for power or endurance. When I talk about "The muscle groups used in the three main lifts for which should be strengthened to the absolute max of your potential, complementing your big lifts.", Uhhhh, I'm not talking about bulking, I'm talking about strengthening. Big difference. The strongest guy on earth at the minute (relative to bodyweight) weighs 123lbs. The guy makes Lance Armstrong look fat & hes around 15x stronger.

You want strength???... Your not developing your muscular system you know. Your developing/stimulating the central nervous system.

By the way, I'm American, not a "Jap", as you so nicely put it. Classy that you edited that out.

Maybe "minimal" was wrong wording, I should have said "sufficient, but only just". I agree with the general thrust of your argument, that we need to do enough to balance the major lifts. However, we should definitely concentrate on the major lifts (squat, deadlift), and just do enough to achieve a balance, I believe. For me this means three out of four workouts are legs/core related and one out of four is upper body/core related. But everyone is different. Certainly there will be some people who are upper body strength deficient, and they will need more work there. No single program will fit any two people.

A "Jap" citizen?...

A "Jap" citizen?...

Take your racism somewhere else.

Take your racism somewhere else.

Thats not racism. The term implies materialistic and selfish tendencies, attributed to a pampered or wealthy background. A "Jap" or "Jewish-American Princess" is a characterization of a subtype of a Jewish-American woman with good values.

You guys always think the worst...

Ok!

Wasn't this about weight training a minute ago?

It partly depends upon the type of racing you want to do. The six day rider does little or no weight training. It's practically road racing, but without any mountains. The match sprinter spends hours in gym, putting in hard work for both the lower body and the upper.

The "all-arounder", omnium rider, etc. would likely see benefit from a basic free weight program built primarily around squats, with some light upper body work if in the mood.

dont even try leaking your silly CNS bull in here too.

this has certainly gotten a little out of hand. just wandering... what are your numbers for your squats and deads, and how long have you been at it?

Squats, Leg Press, deadlift.

Not related, but I do keep my shoulders built up because of a family history of shoulder problems.