Road Cycling - Any weightlifters here?

Just curious are any of you guys into weight lifting?

I've been into weight training for 10 years. I used to do my cardio on a treadmill or stair master.

Then I got into cycling out of boredom of the treadmill (still love it in my house with a big screen TV in front of it when it's cold or dark).

I think weight training really helps with cycling...especially sprints and climbing.

Do you guys weight train or do you get all your exercise solely from the bike?

Just curious are any of you guys into weight lifting?

I've been into weight training for 10 years. I used to do my cardio on a treadmill or stair master.

Then I got into cycling out of boredom of the treadmill (still love it in my house with a big screen TV in front of it when it's cold or dark).

I think weight training really helps with cycling...especially sprints and climbing.

Do you guys weight train or do you get all your exercise solely from the bike?

I lift in Janurary, February, March and 2 weeks in April. Then its nothing but cycling.

I am an ex boxer and still train in a boxing manner...
lifting weights, hitting the speed bag and heavy bag, jump roping etc..
Not as often as I did when boxing, cycling is my favorite..

Ther have been NUMEROUS threads on this topic, including one recent lengthy one where Ric Stern, a member and professional bicycle trainer states unequivocally that weight lifting does NOT help cycling for top notch riders.

Please see:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=59675&highlight=weight+lifting

and do a forum search for other numerous threads using "weight lifting" as your search terms.

Yes, I am a weight lifter - last 15 years, but I don't do it to help my biking.

Ther have been NUMEROUS threads on this topic, including one recent lengthy one where Ric Stern, a member and professional bicycle trainer states unequivocally that weight lifting does NOT help cycling for top notch riders.

Please see:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=59675&highlight=weight+lifting

and do a forum search for other numerous threads using "weight lifting" as your search terms.

Yes, I am a weight lifter - last 15 years, but I don't do it to help my biking.


I don't claim that weight lifting makes me a better cyclist. However, at my age (47) it helps maintain muscle mass and prevent joint injury. It also gives me something to do in the winter! I still ride my trainer and the stationary bike at the gym. But I have yet to be able to replicate a 4-5 hour fast-paced real bike ride on a trainer or stationary bike.

Yes I understand that weightlifting does not help endurance riders!! No kidding...thanks for the news flash!!! You are a genius.

Do you know why? It's because endurance riders are limited by cardiac output not muscle mass.

Endurance riders small muscles are already limited by their hearts ability to deliver oxygen, so why make them bigger?

A good example of this is a wheel chair marathoner and a normal marathoner. THe normal marathoner is a sickly looking bean pole because their heart has to feed all their muscles. THe wheel chair marathoners muscles (talking just the arms) are a different story. THey are huge!!! Not as big as mine, but huge. The reason is because the arms are the only muscle group being used during the marathon. Wheel chair marathoners are not cardiac output limited--they are muscle strength limited and that is why they get faster with increased muscle size.

This is besides the point...Lifting weights is just good for you. It may not make you a super triple century rider, but it will help you in other ways. Besides who wants to be a triple century rider anyway? I'd rather be a better all around athlete. Period.

I don't claim that weight lifting makes me a better cyclist. However, at my age (47) it helps maintain muscle mass and prevent joint injury. It also gives me something to do in the winter! I still ride my trainer and the stationary bike at the gym. But I have yet to be able to replicate a 4-5 hour fast-paced real bike ride on a trainer or stationary bike.

Yes. I have you beat about 20 years in age, and I have never been stronger than I am right now at almost 65. I like that feeling, and I look really good. At least that is what my wife says :D . Resistive exercise are EXTREMELY important to maintain muscle mass as one gets more mature! Also helps counter osteoporosis, which bicycling does NOT.

Yes I understand that weightlifting does not help endurance riders!! No kidding...thanks for the news flash!!! You are a genius.

Do you know why? It's because endurance riders are limited by cardiac output not muscle mass.

Endurance riders small muscles are already limited by their hearts ability to deliver oxygen, so why make them bigger?

A good example of this is a wheel chair marathoner and a normal marathoner. THe normal marathoner is a sickly looking bean pole because their heart has to feed all their muscles. THe wheel chair marathoners muscles (talking just the arms) are a different story. THey are huge!!! Not as big as mine, but huge. The reason is because the arms are the only muscle group being used during the marathon. Wheel chair marathoners are not cardiac output limited--they are muscle strength limited and that is why they get faster with increased muscle size.

This is besides the point...Lifting weights is just good for you. It may not make you a super triple century rider, but it will help you in other ways. Besides who wants to be a triple century rider anyway? I'd rather be a better all around athlete. Period.

I am curious as to why you are so sarcastic with me, when I was only pointing you to a previous thread and the thoughts of someone else?

Truly uncalled for, IMHO. Excuse me.

I am curious as to why you are so sarcastic with me, when I was only pointing you to a previous thread and the thoughts of someone else?

Truly uncalled for, IMHO. Excuse me.

Get out the crying towel.....

Lifting was my sole form of exercise from about age 18 till now (26). I just got into cycling seriously about 2 months ago for some fun cardio. I like it better than the gym to be honest. 53-11, I'm not sure where your coming from with the better climbing comment. Bodyweight is bodyweight; gravity doesn't cut you a break if it's not all fat. :) If you and lighter guy are in comparable cardiovascular shape, he will drop you like a bad habit when you get to a long hill simply because he's using less energy to go the same speed up a given hill.
Adam

In a long climb yes...you are right about that. In a short climb....I would kick his ass.

BTW, I'm not a bad endurance rider. I'd probably suprise a lot of you. The above scenario is just theorectical.

Power to weight ratio (bike +rider) is the realm of the short distance sprint.

Lifting was my sole form of exercise from about age 18 till now (26). I just got into cycling seriously about 2 months ago for some fun cardio. I like it better than the gym to be honest. 53-11, I'm not sure where your coming from with the better climbing comment. Bodyweight is bodyweight; gravity doesn't cut you a break if it's not all fat. :) If you and lighter guy are in comparable cardiovascular shape, he will drop you like a bad habit when you get to a long hill simply because he's using less energy to go the same speed up a given hill.
Adam

We have had 2 or 3 big-armed mofo's on our Wednesday night ride. This ride is the same 31 mile loop every week. Pace is 22 MPH + over rolling hills. We had a world class triathlete in the area for a month and the pace went up to 23 MPH. Big-armed mofo's last about 20 minutes.

Big arm mofo's who don't endurance train last about 20 minutes...that's probably true.

I ride 35 miles a day during the summer (50 miles on the weekends) , but I can still bench press 385lbs (not bad, huh)

I think I'm addicted to weights. I'm all disapointed because the locker room at the gym is closed for repaire today (I just got back).

Joe

Weights are severly addicting, but then again so is road cycling.

I actually have a gym in my house now....so I can have time to do both.

Prior to a motorcycle accident almost 11 years ago I used to lift competitively (power and was beginning to get the hang of the Olympic lifts). The accident ended things like benching and cleans and jerks but I can still muster up a pretty decent back squat, in fact am still sorta obsessed with hitting a new PR, which would also be a state record at a drug controlled meet, here at age 40.

I agree that heavy lifting is not particularly useful for cycling. Might be harmful as there are times I can't get my thighs to looosen up no matter what. However, like I said before it's a bit of an obsession.

:beer:

I used the hill as an example, your preaching to the choir about big guys hanging for any distance. My big azz has trouble staying at a fast pace for 15 miles, forget 31. :)
I'm currently trying to get some of the meat off me. My dad passed away about a month ago with heart problems at age 47 so I'm now all about trying to get my ticker a little healthier. Besides I felt better when I weighed ~200lb instead of 230.
Adam

Sorry, I just take great pleasure at beating those little skinny "fat" guys who think I won't be able to hang with them because I look like a bodybuilder. I call them skinny "fat" guys because they are small , but still they are still" fatty". Seriously, they look skinny with their clothes, but I bet you if they have a fat roll around their stomach you can't see.

Big arm mofo's who don't endurance train last about 20 minutes...that's probably true.

I ride 35 miles a day during the summer (50 miles on the weekends) , but I can still bench press 385lbs (not bad, huh)

Not bad at all.... I can bench press about 120 lbs on a good day. But my power output on the standard ramp up test is over 530 watts after 12 minutes. VO-2 is not that impressive though...

What is important in cycling is three things: Power to frontal area ratio (wind resistance) on the flats, power to weight ratio on the climbs, on-bike recovery time.

Big arm/chest/shoulder muscles are dead weight on climbs. Only track sprinters have heavily muscled upper bodies.

To address this in general, yes I weight train like others for general fitness. I tend to be a fast gainer and bulk up (at 5'8" I have been 192 lb), so when I started road riding in Jan and decided to try my first century, Triple Bypass, I cut back considerably to get down to 175 (I'll admit it, a good portion of that was fat loss). I think it ultimately made all the difference in the world. It probably allowed me to survive the Durango MTB 100 the week after that too :eek: . So now I'm convinced that a more general routine is all I need that focus' on core and joint strength and perhaps ramping up on legs/butt during the off season. I don't think I'll ever try to push a lot of weight again just to be big. Flying along on the bike is too much fun:).

Dave

The heavily muscled torso allows them to hold the bike frame more rigidly and thus put more power to the ground.

Actually muscle is pretty dense....much denser than fat...so I don't know how much it really adds to wind resistance assuming the same body weight, of course.

Heavily muscle torso is not dead weight exactly..because you have forgotten that lactic acid is disposed of in only three places in the body.

1.The liver.
2. The kidneys
3. Inactive muscle.

Therefore inactive upper body muscle groups can serve as a spot to metabolize lactic acid.

I hope we don't get into a huge physiological discussion about the effects of lactic acid on muscle....because that should be another thread. The short answer is that lactic acid is not the sole contributor of muscle fatigue. In fact, lactic acid may not even be a major player in muscle fatigue. Actually lactic acid is a vasodialator and may improve muscle circulation.....

Hmmm...thought I'd throw in my two cents. I weight train typically 3 times a week. I started lifting because I wanted to increase lean muscle mass...metabolically active tissue burns more fat...sounded good to me! Then surprise, surprise I began to change shape and feel really good about myself. I'm totally adicted now. And I have to admit, I like being stronger then most women I know. Definately not a Barbie Doll...and I love it!!

At 5'11" & 225, I am at a disadvantage over a buck fifty rider. I can have the same VO2, watts, what ever, but I still got the 75 pounds. If he is doing 90 rpms, no way i am gonna do 130, to make up for the mass.

I am gonna have to push a bigger gear. It is the only way a heavy rider can try to keep up.

And that takes muscle mass, and I have it. Ride the longest gear on your bike for 50 miles, and then talk cardio.

At 5'11" & 225, I am at a disadvantage over a buck fifty rider. I can have the same VO2, watts, what ever, but I still got the 75 pounds. If he is doing 90 rpms, no way i am gonna do 130, to make up for the mass.

I am gonna have to push a bigger gear. It is the only way a heavy rider can try to keep up.

And that takes muscle mass, and I have it. Ride the longest gear on your bike for 50 miles, and then talk cardio.

At 5'11 & 225, you should do very well on the flats or a flat time trial, assuming a low body fat percentage. I am 6'4" tall @ 200 lbs and under 10% body fat probably close to 7% (have not been tested lately). I am willing to guess that you would not do so well on any sustained climbing.

Your comparison of RPM's makes no sense. If you are in the same gear as the 150lbs guy you will go the same speed at the same RPM. Increasing your gearing to keep up will most likely make you go SLOWER up hill. It is not the gear or RPMs that make a climber, it is power to weight. Your power output would need to be approximately one-third greater than the 150lbs rider to climb at the same speed.

well said

i started lifting again recently.

i'm doing it for joint stability and easier cycling.

lifting will help ME at cycling. it will allow me faster acceleration and to push a bigger gear. the bigger you get the stronger you will be for your weight. pro riders arent help because they do hundreds of miles a day and already push huge gears.

also, just tell any track sprinter that lifting won't help.. just imagine if they had to push those bigas gears with lil legs like mine. ****, even the women have huge legs compared to mine.

I have seriously weight trained for two years and I love it. I do free weights approximately 6 hours a week and I love the results. It has definitely made me a somewhat heavier (#10) cyclist but I have a lot of strength and endurance. I love weight training from the aspect that you learn a mind/body connection and it is then easy then to isolate certain muscles. This really helps me when I want to attack hills! I could not weight train and lose the 10# of lean muscle tissue but having been both ways, I prefer this.

Your power output would need to be approximately one-third greater than the 150lbs rider to climb at the same speed.
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Yes, that is why I am using a longer gear. Hope fully, the extra mass will allow me some increased power. The same RPM, in a longer gear.

The area I live in is near sea level, no sustained climbing.

It may be closer to 50 %, of 150 lbs.

power output is not the problem. effort is the problem. effort = max power output/actuall power output.

I've lifted weights for a number of years. Through the years of trying just about every lifting program under the sun I finally settled on a program that I can tell helps me both cardiovascularly, and strength. It's a spin off of Circuit training only much more focused on muscle groups as opposed to the entire body. Works well for me.

now this is a post i can understand, and not at the same time. guys you are arguing bout whos the best. we are all grown and it aint that serious. i lift weights and move really heavy stuff around. and there is no doubt that on a hill a small guy will run away from me. weight and the fact that i push alot of air slow me down. but i think when the hill turns down then physics say im coming back to close the gap. as far as helping riding all around fitness cant possibly be argued that it helps

I lift 4 days a week and lift hard and heavy... My cycling keeps my waistline tight so I only cycle 2 days with cardio.. I am hoping on getting huge in a couple good years, just need to eat better... If steroids were safer and legal I would take them .To ride my bike huge would be great... Good Luck

Us big guys need high pressure tires to support our weight.....I use Tufo Elite tubular clincher 700x 23 at 180 psi! (max is 220 psi!!)