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Why? To increase muscle-strength of course. If your muscles are aching
at your max average-speed during a TT, if the limitation on hillclimbs
for you are your muscles and how cramped up they get, or if you can't
ride every day because sore muscles requires a day off every other day,
then weight-training will be of benefit to you. However, if your HR
maxes out in sprints or on hills out well before your muscles even feel
it, then you'd better off working more on your aerobic capacity. The
common misconception is that weight-lifting will end up making you gain
30lbs of muscle and look like AHhhnold. Well, there's actually a vast
and wide range between the average cyclist and Mr. Olympia
bodybuilders. Building strength to a point somewhere in between will
improve performance for most cyclists.
The actual benefits you'll get will depend upon your fitness-level.
Beginning riders in their first 5-years have the most to gain from
strength-training. Top level cyclists at 90-95% of your genetic
potential won't have as much to gain. Yet, weight-training is also an
integral part of their training in order to rebuild muscle-tissue
that's been consumed for energy during a long season of racing. Lance
did 8-10 weeks of weight-training in the winters.
The idea with increasing strength is to improve efficiency,
specifically aerobic and lactate-threshold factors. Typically, the
lower efforts relative to their max that you make the muscles work, the
more efficient they tend to be in terms of power-output vs. oxygen
consumed. The higher the muscles are exerting close to 100% max-effort,
the more inefficient they are. The LT-lactate threshold is the
transition point where your muscles can operate aerobically at a pace
you can hold for a long time, vs. going anaerobic and eventually
stopping you from lactic-acid buildup. Muscle-fatigue on long rides is
also related to how high you are pushing them compared to their max. So
if you can increase your max-strength of your muscles, previous levels
of exertion will be at a lower percentage and you'll be able to
generate power more efficiently. The trick is to balance strength vs.
weight-gain.
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whitey says:
I agree. Weight training can be great for cycist. I would say most of it should be high reps and low weight. I also feel like you can gain the most with free weights because it helps recruit more of the small muscles used for balance. Free weights can also "wake up" the smaller muscles usually over taken by the big ones. Some team doc's use a laser treatment to activate them. Either way, if done right, the strength you gain will out way the slight weight gain, if any.
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