Saturday, February 13, 2010

Restistance Training--Good or Bad?

Resistance Training for cycling probably has just as many opinions on its usefulness as does slow endurance base building miles.  What's your opinion?  If you do resistance train, what type of exercises do you perform?

Many cyclist have frowned on hitting the gym for years.  Most of the fear I believe come from a notion that lifting weights is not specific enough to produce positive results on the bike and that they may gain too much muscle weight in which would effect performance during the season.  After all cycling is a game of power to weight ratios and you don't want to be muscle bound:

 

Is there a happy medium?  Are there certain rules that endurance athletes should follow?
I have developed a cycling resistance training program over the last year.  I refer to it as a Cycling Improvement Program.  Although the majority of the resistance/strength training occurs during the off-season, the program does have aspects of gym training during the race season.  The program focused on a periodized concept of getting riders ready for the racing season without over training on the bike.  We focused on the following:
  • Movement
  • Balance
  • Strength
  • Power
  • Muscular Endurance
  • Aerobic and anaerobic endurance
The riders who have been part of this program have noticed substantial improvements on the way they feel.  I guess we will see in a few weeks how that translates to racing.

Last week I received my publication of The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, from the National Strength and Conditioning Association.  In the latest issue there was an article titled The Effects of Resistance Training on Road Cycling Performance Among Highly Trained Cyclist: A Systematic Review.

This systematic review took past original research and reviewed them to see if they could come up with a consensus or at least a starting point for more research.  Here is what they discovered:

  • Research in which riders simply added resistance training to their programs on top of their cycling training saw no improvements
  • Research in which resistance training replaced a cycling workout saw at least a 7% increase in power and a significant increase in time trial time and one-hour test distances.
  • Resistance programs that focused on fast movements such as plyometrics had more of an effect on improving performance than did those programs which focused on slow movements like the back squat.
Although there is not that much research out on this particular aspect of cycling training, the results so far has led me to believe that I am on the right track.

Again, we will see what happens come race time. 

Opinions?

6 comments:

Mr. Evans said...

If I might chime in. I think you are absolutely correct in the dimensions and quantities of resistance training. Total body strength helps production on fast-twitch(a,b) and slow. Explosiveness with plyometrics(ie BodyRock tv) has been essential for time conscience training. And most importantly, the gym strength(even the mass produced)helps protect from falls(this I know to be true!). I feel it is essential for me and give it a high vote of GOOD!

Anonymous said...

squats, deadlifts, lunges will make your jump and sprint significantly better. More power means faster accelerations. It is important for flat land crits short power hills. Long road races in mountains not so much. So for here in America it is important

Anonymous said...

Will help for strength imbalance/or if strength is a major weakness (such as coming back from injury) BUT I believe the research is not comprehinsive enough to support it..i.e. did the improvements come from a more rested athlete (with day off)? or was there a loss in sustained power over longer distance? In my experiences, building strength/mass via lifting weights improved anaerobic power but reduced aerobic power (I suspect through reduced muscle density) which in my opinion is counter productive to road cycling....

Anonymous said...

Will help for strength imbalance/or if strength is a major weakness (such as coming back from injury) BUT I believe the research is not comprehinsive enough to support it..i.e. did the improvements come from a more rested athlete (with day off)? or was there a loss in sustained power over longer distance? In my experiences, building strength/mass via lifting weights improved anaerobic power but reduced aerobic power (I suspect through reduced muscle density) which in my opinion is counter productive to road cycling....

Anonymous said...

Keep posting stuff like this i really like it

SHAWN B. said...

Josh,

I came across an interesting lecture on youtube the other day on athletes. Type in "Your Workout Sucks", it is by Charles Staley. Let me know what you think.