Originally Posted by
Doge
Managing injury part...
Son's trainer (and sometimes mine) does NOT have my son doing squats. He does have him doing leg press. Reason he says (using my words) is that squats that more coordination and developed supporting muscles and because of the weight he does (strong legs) there is too much risk of injury until he's been lifting longer (he's <2 years). The discussion went on that I could do squats because, well, I wasn't that strong and my quad/butt wouldn't have me lifting so much more weight than my other muscles can support. The other component being that as cycling it is a better use of time to ride and put on miles rather than focus on developing the other muscles. If he quit riding - we'd do more squats. He has the football kids doing full squats.
That's BS in my opinion. What is the core of any starting strength routine? Squats, deads, bench. Those are 3 semi easy movements that build strength. Bike racers don't care about upperbody so they will likely skip the bench, and outside of track sprinters probably the deads as well. Leg press does not even come close to the demand of a back squat. You're supporting muscle will also get a workout which in my mind is another positive as bike racers are so quad heavy anyway. Chances are even the most seasoned bike rider won't be able to get under the bar and do anything over 300 pounds the first day in the gym, so as long as you start light and keep reps high you'll be fine.