+1 haha - I love that most of the machines I use are still so fresh and new looking compared to the pec and bicep machines. I got sick last month and had to spend two weeks away from the gym; when I returned, my staple machines were dusty.

+1

i can squat 1.5x my bodyweight (and deadlift 2x), but i am still pretty mediocre on a bike

if you want to get good at cycling, ride more.

hate to tell you this but no one (short of geriatrics) should ever use any kind of machine at the gym. they provide artificial range of motion and pressure points which will lead to injury down the road.

not only that, but youll never get truely strong doing machines.

stick to freeweights, bodyweight excercises and especially barbells (deadlifts, squats, lunges, chinups, dips, press, etc etc)

Kuk Sool Won martial arts training!!!!!!!!! (google it)...You will work muscles you didn't know you had, and your flexability will take huge steps! I studied and taught Tae Kwon Do for 12 years and my 1st Kuk Sool Won class almost killed me!

That's funny, it didn't sound like you hated to tell me your very biased opinion at all.
i may never get truely strong doing the girly-geriatric machines, but at least I know how to spell excercises.

sorry, english is not my first language. does that make you feel better? i'd be happy to critique your french or german.

im just trying to provide you with helpful information and prevent injury down the road. anyone who has been going to the gym regularly, or is a pro athlete would tell you the same info.

the vast majority of people at my gym do the same as you because they were never told any better. the result is they barely see any progress.

on the other hand, ive seen people lifting properly since day one (they had someone help them out or they learned about it) and they put on muscle, lost fat and made significant performance increases

look up starting strength for a good beginners guide, once you're tired of seeing mediocre and little to no progress

Though I agree with this, generally speaking, it's not like it's carved in stone. There are lots of smart exercise people who disagree.

It's complicated, like most things, and attempting to simplify it this far is silly.

Weights = fail for cycling. Seriuosly. Look at the top TdF riders (excluding Lance when he's in buff beach mode which even he admits is not helpful for his cycling) and you can tell they don't touch weights from a strength and muscle building approach. Not saying that lifting is bad - I approve of lifting for getneral strength, but in terms of helping your cycilng, it's not going to, not one bit. Cycling is like lifting leg weights more than a few thousand reps. Think lifting a weight for 5, 10, even 30 reps is going to help that?

Well, you have to hold on to the bars with something. Something has to be supporting your upper body while you're pedaling. You have to have core strength to stay stable and fluid.

Strength helps with these things, and weights help with strength. Weight does not, however.

No wonder I sucked at cycling. My coaches and trainers all had us doing upper body free weight and core exercises. Have you approached any grand tour teams with your break through?

I'm not buying this at all, while cycling is a aerobic sport there are still times when additional power per stroke still help...it might not even be the most efficient way to become a better cyclist (as oppose to more cycling) but I wouldn't say it won't translate to any improvement