killahkosha

Heya everyone, as part of my PE 103 up at the local college I have to do 2 days a week of weight lifting. The gym has a large variety of equipment so I am wondering what you guys would reccomend I do to benefit my cycling. Would various leg related machines help with cycling or harm with cycling? Or would I be better off just doing random upper body stuff?

Gangrel

Squats, Leg Presses, Machines that work the core.

puddin' legs

wat he sed^^^ obliques and lower back in your core routine...lot's of folks forget these.

Evolution-06

upper body strength is still needed in every sport. Dont forget to work on your whole body to be a better balanced and more stable athelete.

Gangrel

make sure you do stuff single legged as well...

in addition, ive heard plyometrics are good, but i have yet to try them

puddin' legs

..and do other sports in the off season... B-ball, skating, etc...

Really work on your range of motion. It's amazing how stiff and physically one dimensional cycling can make you if you're not careful.

bbp

Won't squatting build fast twitch muscle.

slide

I disagree with the comments. I think you should do whole body work concentrating on the upper body and use your cycling to work your lower. Also work the anti's to your cycling muscles to keep a good balance. Consult with the gym's trainer to learn proper form. Form is all in weightlifting.

killahkosha

Yeah, that is exactly what I was wondering, like what leg exercises would build slow vs. fast switch muscle.

russdaz

yes good for sprinting, plus helps to increase capilaries to. look at body builders all vanes on the skin. helps clear lactate amongst other things.

russdaz

start off doing squat at 20 reps light weight
15 reps heavy weight
12 reps heavy weight
10 reps heavy weight
8 reps heavy weight
then a set to failure.

your legs will be hurting and you would have used every muscle fibre avaible fast and slow twich and all energy system's,

Squats are great uses the leg as a whole and strengthens the core too

Elvish Legion

Yes but if all you do is cycling a really defined upper body won't do much better than someone who can bench say 1/3 of their weight.

Gangrel

bodybuilders have visible veins due to the fact that they dehydrate themselves before competition

they're scored partially on that

TheKillerPenguin

You'd be suprised how much you use your triceps when you're out of the saddle climbing. Pecs need to be decently strong to balance your arm muscles and control sprints. Its good to have a decently strong neck so it doesn't ache when riding in the drops.

bbp

and look at the size of body builders thighs. Squatting will definetly build good power for sprinting but it will also build mass. Why not just build your power by actually sprinting on a bike?

bbp

Girls will like you better though.

Gangrel

lower weights and higher reps will increase your endurance and power, without gaining too much extra mass.

you can't generalize weightlifting like that, there are many many methods

dahvaio

Standing over the head presses.... Overall, one of the best excercises to work the entire body...

However, if I had to be in a weighlifting class a couple days a week, I would ask the instructor, if I could just run and I would do Fartlek or interval running... I highly doubt that that your teacher will say no. Just let him/her know what type of sport you do and they should be understanding...

TheKillerPenguin

^ word up homie (edit: gangrel)

Check out this thread from the Training & Nutrition forum: https://www.bikeforums.net/training-nutrition/134420-am-i-damaging-my-muscles.html

my weight program is on hiatus right now because I want to get some road miles in before the season is over.

bbp

So why not just sprint on a bike? That seems much more beneficial than squatting 100 lbs 20x.

russdaz

where you get that mate. cause its a load of crap. i did weight for playing rubgy, the vains show even when full hydrated. And yes i got facilities to test my hydration levels. If i had a scanner id scan the page from my book that would tell you the same-thing. Weight lifting improves capilerasation.

TheKillerPenguin

btw, my veins show a lot in my legs and arms.

Check out Hincapie if you want to see veins

TheKillerPenguin

btw weightlifters are known to not drink anything for 24hrs before a competition though in order to make their veins to stick out even more...

russdaz

imphasis on even more

taken from a wewbsite

Training needs to be structured for the intensity and duration of the planned sporting event. Anaerobic (oxygen independent) exercise is generally brief (less than 60 seconds in duration) and is fueled by the anaerobic energy pathways in the cell (ATP, creatine phosphate). The classic anaerobic sport is weightlifting. Sprint activities also use anaerobic pathways. If the sprint lasts more than 5 or 10 seconds, lactic acid production (and clearance) also becomes an issue because of the negative effects of lactic acid on muscle performance. Training focused on anaerobic activities will enhance the ATP and CP energy transfer pathways in the cell as well as improving the tolerance for and clearance of lactic acid.


check this whole web page out https://www.cptips.com/trnoptn.htm

russdaz

here's another one to read to

12. High-rep training can increase capillary density.

Studies have shown that sets of more than 20 reps can increase capillary density, and capillary dense muscle can eventually lead to hypertrophy when one resumes more traditional rep schemes.

One such study, performed in 1973, showed that as little as one high-rep workout was enough to double the amount of mitochondria in muscle cells.

I think this is one reason why cyclists and speed skaters have such large quadriceps – they expose the muscles to an extreme amount of time under tension, thus facilitating capillary growth and hypertrophy of lower threshold motor units.

However, from personal experience, it seems that the quads, deltoids and lats would benefit from this type of training more than other muscle groups.

Taken from here: https://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=620430

The method i posted earlier works in the same way due to the total number of reps performed.