Well, if you're only talking about lifting weight to increase your overall strength with no ambitions of competition, then posting pictures of professional cyclists would make you a disingenuous jackass, wouldn't it?

It is? Like what kind of activity?

Like when? When he needs to escape from New York? You live in a self-indulgent fantasy world, obviously. I don't generally find myself in a position where I regularly must lift more than 50 lbs. I've had a couple jobs that required moving heavy objects around, and my skinny arms weren't a problem. Similarly, your example of a weightlifter probably doesn't need to run anywhere very quickly.

In an actual 10k? Yes, it's fairly mediocre. Moreover, it's pointless in any sense other than a personal one. If someone can do those pushups and then run 10k and that makes them feel good, that's good for them. But if you're seriously suggesting that someone who could do that is a "better athlete" then, say, Kenenisa Bekele, who would run 10k in 27:30 on a BAD day, then you're an idiot.

In which case, as I said, posting pictures of Michael Rasmussen makes you a jackass. And I personally want to be the best cyclist I can be, and have very little interest in lifting (though I will probably being doing some this winter to build some strength, because I want to... not because it will make me a better athlete).

In other words, to be mediocre at everything. Good on you. I'm content for the meantime to merely be a mediocre cyclist. I don't care what you do. It's your pretense that something that you do for your own satisfaction somehow makes you a superior athlete that I think is so pathetic.

You're not paying attention.

I was able to move 1,000 plus pounds of books plus a whole lot of furniture into my new apartment using just my "pencil thin arms." Again, if you think that massive arms are necessary for daily life, including some moderately heavy lifting, you're an idiot.



And yet, you obviously do. Exactly how much good would it do my bike racing aspiration to "hit the weights" 3-4 times a week? Ah, yes, that's right - zero, and in fact, probably worse than zero. I would get slower. So let's see, weight training is not necessary for daily life, and beyond a certain point is worse than useless for cycling. About all that's left is vanity. Which is fine, but own it. Pretending moral superiority because of your muscles because you feel stupid getting blown off the back on the climbs is pathetic.

Fail. Any fast road rider with large upper body muscles would absolutely be faster without them, at least on the climbs.