He's totally right, but so is everyone else arguing in this thread. The problem is that we are all arguing to prove different points. So yes, everyone is right, but in relation the OP's question, gsteinb is more right. It's almost like screaming in front of a mirror with a mirror behind you.

observation: you can only jog so slow. if both feet aren't off the ground, you're walking.

using this definition, jogging slowly is far, far harder than cycling slowly. it's higher impact, harder on muscles, and requires more cardio fitness. your HR is far higher.

I'm not talking about 6 minute miles or sustaining 250w for an hour on your bike. there are people who can ride a century but I bet they can't run a 9 minute mile. they can sit in the saddle and pedal 50 watts for hours upon hours.

Neither of the 2 coaches I've had has been in favor of cross training. I asked my first coach, a domestic pro racer, with a Masters in Exercise Physiology, about whether I should be doing resistance training. His response was I can make you a faster cyclist, or I can make you able to lift weights, which one do you want?

Personally, I try to do some core, stretching and light upper body work a couple of times a week, more for general fitness, than specifically for cycling.

Cross training in the off season may help with boredom and burn out, but it's not going to make you faster on the bike.

And in season, cross training is going to take time, and energy, away from cycling specific training. If you're training hard enough on the bike, anything else for your legs is going to limit what you can do on the bike.

That SAID, Gsteinb SAID, all that needed to be SAID in the second post, but I thought it could be SAID again.










specific adaptation to imposed demands

lol

I cross train, but I'm not sure if it helps me as a cyclist. I work out with kettlebells, mostly, also do some running. I like the idea of strengthening my upper body and core, as well as lower body with kettlebells. They also help with balance.

Part of the reason I do it, it's not always practical to do a training ride in the morning before work, but usually it's possible to get in 20-30 minutes with the kettlebells at home.

Also, I don't race. So there's that.

So if I want to be a faster cyclist, I would be better served by ditching the cross training and spend that energy and time on cycling. At least that's the consensus here, right?

well said.

yes

...and smoking it will make you go places you've never been

Mountain biking?

I bike because I hate to run.

I am a runner past 34 years. I have cycled in the past but never serious. Well 3 years ago I got much more serious about cycling and cut back about 20% on running when in summer and cycling weather is good. I could with no training on a bike ride 30 miles no problem. The card was already their but average speed riding went up fast as I rode more. My running did not get faster but I could go longer without running any more and even less.

Honestly I ride because in love it no thought about cross training. I ride about 100 miles a week at least in season and run about 35. In the winter I run 45 and ride as weather allows. At this point if all I did was cycle I could ride faster and longer with more power. I I gave up cycling I could run a little faster but no much. I could lose endurance if I did run at least a longish 12-16 mile run every 2 weeks. Cycling allows legs a pounding break. I can run a fast 5 mile run then jump on the bike and ride 30-60 miles and get the benefits.

Finally riding the bike has just been a blast I wonder if I actually better on the bike than a runner. I have no way to know since at a 50 my running times have gotten slower. I was never fast but in my prime running years I ran 3 sub 3:10 marathons 3:06 the best. I ride solo but seem to ride ok. I don't race but my solo centuries I think I have done ok. I have rested or peak for a century like I would in a marrhon race. It would be cool to try this sometime with a group. I usually can do century in 5:30 hrs and have gone 5:15.

Add this to "Is global warming real?" and "Would a salary cap help baseball?". Everyone will deliver an opinionated response but there's no end-all answer.

It's my belief that if you want to get faster or stronger on the bike that you should ride your bike to achieve that. I also believe that smart crosstraining for any sport can improve your overall fitness, which in turn reduces your risk for injury, which can increase your training capacity. This especially goes for core strength; if anyone tells you not to waste your time or that it can't help performance, I don't think their research is complete.

The only way to find out is to see how you respond while making small, incremental changes to your workouts. What works for me or anyone else, will almost assuredly deliver a different degree of success for yourself. Just remember to change your routine slowly and listen to your body to prevent injury.

+1

+1

+1

BTW, I "cross train" by doing Jui Jitsu and Karate. I have benefited greatly in the martial arts side by cycling, but I am still slow and fat in the cycling despite how good I am at the martial arts.

Wouldn't some sets of leg presses or squats done to failure help build muscles for higher power/wattage on the bike, hence making you faster?

They'd help you climb. As would calf raises. Squats / leg-presses may help with speed, but that would not be the key benefit.

BTW - leg presses are not an easy alternative to squats. Squats are an excellent exercise. Leg presses are just ... good. And they exercise slightly different muscles - e.g. they're particularly good at hammering the glutes.

I'm an exercise addict! I ride 4 days a week, run 1, hit the gym 3 times and soon, I'll be playing baseball twice a week (no days off - I know bad). I accept doing all this actually hurts gains in each sport, but I just love being active! I can't think of a day a in the past couple years a body part hasn't been sore (especially legs)

I do race on the bike and run and know I'll just be in the pack finisher.

The only benefit I've seen from weight training and cycling is explosive power. I've got a pretty good jump, but that's about it lol.

This question has been definitively answered in high-level triathlon forums with guys who are hella fast on bike/run AND swim and train seriously on all 3.

I'm in triathlon mode now, and I was a solid runner before cycling (ran near a 7min/mile for a marathon), and am probably equally fast on the bike as the run now (but I'm a somewhat slower runner now that I x-train.)

I can say absolutely that all the crap about x-training to get better on the bike is crap. To get better at the bike, you gotta bike. Same with the run. There is a small x-over with run to bike, but much less so from bike to run, and once you're fast on either, it's close to no overlap.

I can't stand hearing about all the plyometrics, weightlifting, running, or elliptical x-training to make you a FASTER cyclist. It's all a bunch of BS. YOu gotta train hard in the speciifc sport to get good at it.

Weightlifting in particular does nothing for almost all cycling events save short track sprints, but it keeps coming up over and over again with folks swearing it's making them better. These same folks are never racers, and never fast on the bike.

Do climbers look like they do a lot of leg squats?

Uhm, no. It's not a matter of opinion. That's why I SAID what I SAID. There's a ton of data regarding specific adaptation to imposed demands that says if you want to be fast on the bike, you gottat train fast on the bike.

Some core work is not going to get in the way of bike training, so not a bad idea, although Graeme Street be damned, there's not a lot of data that it will make you faster.

Other cross training, such as weight lifting and running, in season, is going to limit the training load you can hande on the bike and be counterproductive.

So the opinion element is really a priority issue. If your priorities are generalized fitness,health, fun, sure cross train.

If you want to be fast on the bike, train long, hard, and smart on the bike.

And this would be why exactly zero European pros are doing resistance training for their legs during the racing season?

This is the answer to this question and comment

The only part of cycling where weights help, and that's marginal, is short duration sprints like track racing. If you do a search, you'll find lots of studies that support the finding.

I heard that somewhere.

It's also useful to understand why short track sprinters (events about a minute in duration or less) lift. In such short events there is a heavy emphasis on the standing start. It's useful to be able to recruit the entire body into moving the object at rest.

False analogy. Salary caps in baseball: opinion. Global warming: NOT opinion. Benefits of weight lifting on cycling speed: NOT opinion. Those are both questions that science has answered (respectively: yes, and no).

this depends on your definition of cycling speed.

genuine question for the 'weight lifting is futile' crowd: do you believe that the sprint at the end of a road race is influenced by maximal strength?