MathBunny

Hi. I'm 16 and I weigh'ed 120 lbs when I started cycling (5'11.5)

People called me a stick at school (skinny from biking ), so I lifted weights and I'm gaining weight fast. I understand it's muscle, but will it make me slower in biking? Particularily upper body??

I do not want to be totally disproportionate. Can it still be useful in cycling?

Carbonfiberboy 

At your height, I don't think you want to weigh under about 145. The fastest climbers I ride with of your height weigh about that. You might measure your waist and make sure it is muscle.

GeorgeBMac

Look at your goals...
... Is your only goal to be a faster cyclist?

Perhaps you need to develop the type of muscle resistance training will give you for other things...

Myself: At 64 years, I am at the opposite end of life from you and found that years of neglect robbed me of the muscle I need to do the things I need and want to do... So, now I am lifting 3-4 days a week. Will it make me a slower rider? Perhaps... Do I care? Not a bit...

bgav

Strength training is about getting stronger. Cycling performance is all about watts per kilogram (power to weight ratio). Weight lifting can help you have more balanced fitness and improve cycling when done properly. Work your core. You don't need much leg work when you're cycling a lot, that will be counter-productive and is most useful during off-season training. Strength training done properly, along with stretching and proper recovery will help reduce the risk of injury due to imbalances and overtraining. As cyclists age and get into their late 40s strength training off the bike is very important to help maintain muscle mass and bone density.

Enjoy, cycling is a sport and lifestyle that will last very late into life. When I first got into cycling, I was amazed at how lot of older riders late into their 50's and 60's are very strong.

Train with purpose, and do structured training whether it's on the bike or off the bike, in-season or off-season. Don't overtrain, recovery is just as important, and get plenty of rest. Most importantly, quality over quantity.

Good resources:

The Cyclists Training Bible

Strength Endurance for the Endurance Athlete | Breaking Muscle

Why Serious Cyclists Should Consider Strength Training

Off-Season Strength Training for Cyclists: A Well-Planned Transition Phase | Breaking Muscle

Off-Season Strength Training for Cyclists: Building a Strong Foundation | Breaking Muscle

Off-Season Strength Training for Cyclists: More Foundation Work Into the New Year | Breaking Muscle

Off-Season Strength Training for Cyclists: The Strength Phase | Breaking Muscle

Preseason Strength Training for Cyclists: Gaining Power Off the Bike | Breaking Muscle

Scotia_Cyclist

I'm in the pro strength trining camp

I feel it help with correcting muscular imbalance as well

this season after a few years of self coaching I hired a coach and they had me perform 10 weeks of strength training pre-base and higher resistance triner workout and a few explosive trainer workouts as well.

working on your leg strenthnd core in the off season will help prevent over use injuries IMO

MathBunny

Thank you all!
I will continue until I hit 150lbs and then I'll see from there.
It seems like the core has a huge role in cycling.

DunderXIII

@ 16 yo you're probably not fully grown either (male I assume?). Don't worry too much. I'm 37yo, 5'11" like you and weigh 150 lbs. I'm *skinny* as a full grown adult. If I go under 150 lbs I feel like crap. At your age it is not a good time to start thinking about weight (not in that range at least) because you need to grow. So if you gain weight its normal, beware if you don't.

MathBunny

Yes, true. Well, I follow BMI and those growth things so it's not like I'm totally out of mark. Thanks!

BloomBikeShop

In the strictest sense, adding a lot of upper body muscle will almost assuredly decrease your power-to-weight ratio. But 99% of the time, that's nothing to worry about. You'll probably pack on some lower body muscle too and everything will even out or get better!

Plus you get the side benefits of better bike control, more stamina, less chance of injury, less chance of muscle imbalance, and more full-body strength for basic life functions.

hobkirk

My recollection is Joel Friel had a formula for height vs weight. IIRC, the best climbers weigh about 1.8# per inch - in your case, 71.5 * 1.8 = 129.

bgav

Joe Friel - Power and Weight

Males 2.0#/inch
Females 1.8#/inch

Buffalo Buff

Even if you go a little slower, its worth it. Being strong across the entire body will make you feel better & look better. Being strong is always useful. You'll have a set of tools with you other people don't, and you always have those tools with you. Plus the feeling of moving hundreds of pounds is just awesome. It's just one more way to train and condition your body. At your age, your weight will be fluctuating a lot over the next decade, so I wouldn't be too worried about staying at a specific target weight. You might grow another inch or two and that alone would skew things.

wrldtraveller

The most important is to maintain balance, you want to remain as a biker, then keep your legs strong for cycling, but same time do some strength training for upper body to maintain healthy body. Generally if a heavy body builder, for example, someone who is focused on Mr. Universe, they might not have stamina to keep cycling long because they weigh too much and they focus on short burst of heavy weights. As a cyclist, we focus more on endurance, meaning our muscle can endure work over a long period of time, so focus on strengthening the muscle for endurance. Don't worry about body weight, when I was 18, I was an avid cyclist, daily rider at 30 mph, minimum of 2 hours, and of course, I didn't do upper body exercises, and I weighed at 170 pounds. So just exercise, eat right, and enjoy doing the things you love to do.

W

Drew Eckhardt 

It depends on genetics.

Top climbers in the pro peloton are outliers for both power and build with small frames, averaging about 1.9 pounds per inch going into the grand tours around 6-7% body fat.

Overall contenders are often a bit small pushing 2.0-2.2 pounds with the same body composition.

Top sprinters are normal-sized mesomorphs and not small at 2.4-2.5.

Dropping a weight class from where your genetics dictate makes people susceptible to illness and isn't healthy. Bradley Wiggins looked like death after shrinking from his Olympic medal winning 181 pound track racing weight (2.4 pounds/inch at 6'3) to 152 (2.0 pounds/inch) and 4% body fat.

In the unlikely event you're an outlier built like elite climbers, two pounds per inch leaves a little extra fat. For example - 5'10", 34" chest, 26" waist, 35" hips.

At age 16 you're not done growing, adult metrics are inapplicable, and you don't know with certainty where you'll fit.

GravelMN

The good news is that you are at the perfect age to develop your body into whatever you want (within genetic limitation). The bad news is you can't have it all. Athletic pursuits are about compromises. You won't see world class bodybuilders or powerlifters winning marathons or taking KOMs. You are going to have to make some compromises based on your goals. If you want to be a world class cyclist, you are going to have to train for that. If you want t-shirt shredding biceps, delts, and pecs, you are going to be training very differently.

Weight lifting, aka resistance training, can and should be part of every cyclist's cross training, but not all resistance training is created equal. By varying the intensity, weights, reps, sets, frequency etc. you can weight train for raw power, muscle size (hypertrophy), explosiveness, and/or endurance. Even among cyclists, the demands will vary. Some riders are very good at sprints or climbs, while others excel in the TT, or can hammer out a steady 100 miles into the wind on the flats. Start mixing road riding with cyclocross, off-road endurance, cross-country bikepacking, MTB, and other variations of two-wheeled sports and the demands are even more varied.

In general, cyclists want increased power (for climbs), explosiveness (for attacks/sprints), and endurance (for everything else) with a minimum of hypertrophy (size/weight) to keep their power to weight ratio optimal. Avoid bodybuilding type workouts that focus on hypertrophy over athletic performance or even raw power (power lifting and bodybuilding have significant differences). Don't lift just to lift, lift with a specific goal in mind. Don't count out other types of resistance workouts like bodyweight exercises, Pilates, yoga, etc. Before anyone snickers at Pilates or yoga, realize that popular power and fitness programs like P90X and CrossFit have huge Pilates and yoga components.

wolfchild

If you want to get faster then get stronger first. The stronger you are for your weight the easier it will be to develop speed. Weight lifting and gaining few pounds of muscle is not going to slow you down... For example: a guy who weighs 150 pounds and squats and deadlifts 300 pounds ( double his bodyweight), is going to be much faster and much more explosive then a guy who weighs 150 pounds but is not strong enough to squat and deadlift double his bodyweight.