StanSeven

That's just crazy talk.

zymphad

It's important to look buff and powerful while cycling. While keeping your elbows bent, be sure to flex and show off those guns. And while in the drops, take off your shirt and flex your pecs for the spectators.

StanSeven

The thing not mentioned is the amount of time and energy left after hard training. Do a hard 5 hours on the road and an upper body workout in the gym ranks low.

BillyD

So is that a yay or a nay?

cthenn

Yeah, but do you even lift bro?

halfspeed

To what?

Dave Cutter

I am no expert... but everything I've read says cycling isn't an upper body exercise. And... that happens to be my own experience as well. And since I am old and don't race... I find it highly desirable to have some decent upper body and core strength.

But it takes me a bit more than a couple minutes a day to get the weight training in I need. I actually spend about 20 minutes a day 5 days a week through the off season on weight training (and exercising). But I am lucky to get in the CDC recommended two times a week during cycling season.

zymphad

Contador can hold himself up forever while climbing and he has the upper body of a twig. You're not going to build huge muscles just from cycling. Those sprinters in track cycling, I highly doubt they get those huge muscles from cycling, they hit the gym hard. Notice not all sprinters have juiced up muscles...

Bunyanderman

A strong upper half allows you to pull on the handle bars harder, which pushes the pedals harder. You don't need to be big to be strong.

zymphad

There is no magical you can be strong and not have muscles. Contador got endurance, and very fit for what he does, but calling him strong has to be a joke. Being able to pull your own body weight when you have shed every ounce of fat and excess body weight possible, doesn't make you strong.

Cavendish arguably the fastest sprinter on the tour... yeah, he doesn't have upper body strength... Cancellara isn't a sprinter to scoff at either. Here is a pic of them both. They do not have upper body strength. Being able to pull on 15 lb bikes with extreme weight loss, no doubt you need a lot of upper body strength for that... sure you do...



Even if you train to the extreme, shedding excess weight through cardio and cross fit etc, but still maintaining strength you still have muscles. MMA fighters/boxers etc lose weight to meet qualifications for their class fights, and they still have crazy muscles. That's muscles after you've shed as much weight as possible without sacrificing strength... If a cyclist had upper body strength, they would probably be kicked off the team since they aren't doing their best to maximize power/weight and do what is right for the team.



Wiggins, one of the fastest time trial cyclists... and a great sprinter himself, a former world champion track sprinter... he looks like he carved all his muscles off his body. Upper body strength in cycling? Whatever...

TMonk

Strength is rarely the performance limiter in competitive cycling. Power is almost always a more relevant metric to consider.

Having said that, I feel like most competitive cyclists can benefit from a moderate lifting program and will become more well rounded, resistant to injury, and generally more healthy.

I'm a competitive cyclist (going for my road2 and track3 next year) that lifts weights, for the record.

zymphad

For the record, you're not a professional world class cyclist. I feel that competitive cyclists who are paid to do so and have sacrificed as much upper body strength and weight to maximize their power/weight know what they are doing. They don't get paid to be injured.

Also that power metric isn't measuring their upper body power output, it's only the power from the legs to the wheels. Cavendish is 5'9, fairly tall and he only weighs 150 lbs, which is nothing considering how muscular his legs are... Strength training doesn't seem to be very important to be a good cyclist as much as dieting is. Armstrong himself said, to be a good cyclist means to watch your weight. Practice and practice and go to bed hungry. Lance wasn't taking performance enhancers to build upper body power. It was steroids to help his muscles recover faster and train harder. EPO to improve his aerobics.

zymphad

Also this whole using the upper body to pull on handle bars is hogwash.

The bike sways back and forth because the sprinters are applying so much power to the pedals. It's not upper body doing that. The pedal force isn't lateral either, the power being applied is at an angle, forcing the bike to sway back and forth. Plus, the angle at which the bike is at, allows the cyclist to apply even more force to the pedal during the counter-weight motions. It's a natural motion. Anyone who goes into the drops off the seat and applies as much power to the pedals as they can, as fast as they can will naturally force the bike to sway back and forth. It's impossible not to do so. Upper body strength not required.

Norrick

Not sure how upper body can support the legs, but when people work out they say dont ever skip leg day. One muscle group contributes to the increase in muscle mass of another (moreso for the larger muscle groups) due to hormones released by working out. I would say the opposite is true to a lesser degree. Building upper body strength will inevitably support muscle growth on your legs but the question I think is does the added weight up top justify the gains below? I would say it probably breaks even or worse, but my goal is looking good naked, not winning races, so I'll take upper body as well.

zymphad

Other than the very few specialists who do short track sprinting event,s cycling is an endurance sport. Energy conservation and expending energy where it's needed is pivotal. Using your upper body to pull on the handlebar is wasted energy. The only upper body strength these cyclists are using is to keep their body stabilized, so they can maximize power output to the legs. I'm not sure why some think upper body strength is so important for cycling...

Anyway, if you want upper body for looks, you're not going to get that from cycling. Maybe try swimming?

Norrick

Well I lift for muscle the bike is for cardio/commute/fun

Admittedly I have been bad with leg days and cycling has helped in that department

zymphad

You'll want to do running, squats, or other high impact exercises too. Cycling is low impact, so you develop low bone density. Interesting fact, cyclists while having strong legs, have low bone density. Keep osteoporosis at bay with some high impact training

TMonk

What's your point? lol.

I don't disagree with anything you've said, but you seem so argumentative. You clearly seem to read, or at least watch, competitive cycling. How much personal experience do you have with being a competitive cyclist? In which disciplines? Have you ever worked with a cycling coach?

Again, I don't entirely disagree with you here.

I just feel like you are painting a black and white picture, when it's really a spectrum. On one end, we have gc contenders with basically zero concern for upper body strength, and 100% emphasis on W/kg. On the flip side, you have track sprinters, where strength is paramount, and W/kg for longer aerobic durations is nearly meaningless. There is a whole spectrum of cyclist disciplines in between these two extremes, which will all warrant more or less upper body mass.

A cat1 or even pro criterium sprinter is going to need a little bit of upper body mass, due to the fact that sprints are often won or lost by less than wheel lengths, and it's nice not to break a collarbone everytime you crash, which is more frequent in different cycling disciplines.

Drew Eckhardt 

No.

Upper body strength has no positive effect on when lactate generation in the legs exceeds the body's ability to dispose of it or when the leg muscles can't get enough oxygen.

Extra muscle does decrease cyclists' power to weight ratio which makes them slower up hill so arms like T-rex are better for road cycling.

colnago62

This question came up on another cycling forum some months ago. Some believed that weight training had no positive effects for cycling, not even sprinters. I found this interview on the Web of Sir Chris Hoy. https:// https://uk.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding_300/312_fitness-interview-chris-hoy-training-guide.html

seypat

I will respond since I have a build similar to the track cyclist here. Bulk on the upper body is not productive for endurance bicycle racing at all. The added weight is a negative, but I'm not even going to talk about that. Look at the picture. Now think of each of the appendages as cylinders or rectangular boxes. There is only so much room in that imaginary "box" of space between his butt, the front of his shoulders, the top of his back, his elbows and the top tube. You start bulking up those cylinders/rectangles I'm talking about and you start cramping up the space. No room for everything to work. See how narrow his handlebars look? That's because the elbows have to stay out. You try to fold them up and get them in on your chest and everything starts hitting and bumping together. There has to be room for those big piston legs to go up and down. Now visualize him with aero bars trying to make them work. It's not going to happen. No room. Now think about him trying to get his head and shoulders lower. Look at those trapezius muscles. He can only lean his head back so far because of those big slabs of meat. So any lower and he can't look up the road. Go put on 3 or 4 kits at the same time or a big winter coat and take a ride on your bike. That is what it feels like. An exaggerated example would be those inflatable Sumo costumes you see people wearing at the halftime festivities of sporting events.

Now, that does not mean that you need to ignore the upper body on workouts. Those muscles need to be worked out and in shape. Otherwise they will start hurting on extended rides. But the workout needs to be something that will not add bulk. For the OP, swimming, water aerobics and yoga would be good workouts. They are low impact and the chance of injury is pretty small.

On the apparel side, a bulky body means your cycling clothes will never fit well. Cycling clothes in general are made for small framed, skinny people. They do make sizes for the others, but it is still based off of small frames. I'm 5"8-9ish with a 34 inch waist and 30 inseam. I have to wear XL jerseys which means they are too long and big around the belly button. So the lower part always flaps in the wind. And the pockets hang way down. Kind of like the baggy jeans you see on some youngsters these days. I have to wear 36-38 shorts because I can't get the thighs in the 34's. Too much compression. Which also means they are too long as well.

It's all good though. Because on any given day I usually have the biggest guads and guns in the group. But,then we hit a climb and I'm dropped like a bad penny. That is life.

MikeyBoyAz

He's still riled up after that Stem Length thread with TimTak's uhh, bike fit issues.

wphamilton

Realistically, we're talking about what, five or six pounds if those guys pictured "bulked up"? OK, 5% slower uphill, maybe 1% slower considering just the arms. Sure, that's significant at their level, but ... can we really consider these body parts in isolation, as if there were no performance downside to hyper-development of one part and under-development of another?

halfspeed

This topic comes up here relatively often. The bottom line is always the same. If you're looking for a reason to build bulk, performance on the bike is not the place to find it.

seypat

I hadn't thought about it until I read your post, but what about the effect the added mass will have on your circulatory/aerobic system? Your system might get stronger, but it will have more work to do. It might be a washout.

BTW, I have been training for a Marathon since May. The disadvantages of the extra mass are even more pronounced in distance running. At least on the bike you have gears where you can maximize your body's strengths. But on the runs you are stuck with the gear God gave you. You can vary the cadence a bit but that is it. All the while watching waifs go by and disappear into the distance.