Steel City Endurance Racing

Some of us are deep into our “off-season” and wondering what the best type of physical activity is for this time of year.  In general, if your main objective is to be a faster cyclist next season, you’ll definitely want to stay on your bike throughout most of the winter months.  (We will cover this in a future topic.)

What I want to address with this post is the topic of cross-training in the form of strength training. Strength training for cyclists is a topic that has been studied and debated quite extensively. If you want to understand WHY strength training does or does not help your cycling, it’s important to understand the energy systems involved in both disciplines.  If you could care less “why” and just want to know “what”, then just pay attention to this email.  (Because I said so)

Strength Training does NOT:
-Make you a faster cyclist
-Make you a faster runner
-Make you a faster swimmer

Period.  (But there are always exceptions, including  plyometrics which I’ll discuss in a future training post.)

Numerous scientific studies have been done on this topic and the majority of studies show no benefit to cycling, running and swimming ability and speed as a result of strength training. In the studies that DO show a benefit, that benefit is seen in relatively untrained individuals.  The theory behind that benefit is that in untrained individuals, ANY type of training is going to improve their performance in just about anything type of athletic effort.

Strength training DOES:
-improve bone density
-provide joint support when surrounding muscles are exercised
-possibly prevent injury
-aid in rehab from injury
-recruit motor units that may help translate into aerobic performace (**)

(**) My conjecture based on personal experience…more below

Most importantly at the top of the list is BONE DENSITY.  Bone density in cyclists is an extremely important health topic for both men and women alike.  I think most of us would agree that part of the reason we cycle is because it is a healthy way to spend leisure time.  What many cyclists don’t appreciate is that cycling as a primary form of exercise may actually promote osteopenia and osteoporosis (low bone density) in both men and  women.  A recent study suggested that even young men in their 20s who are competitive cyclists suffered from low bone density.

During puberty especially, bone growth occurs due to stimulus from the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen.  Testosterone is a much more powerful stiumulant than estrogen and is one of the reason men generally do not have problems with bone mass. As you get older, and especially after menopause, your body’s ability to create new bone slows down significantly, fractures become more common and healing time is prolonged.   If cycling is your primary means of exercise than you are accelerating this particular component of aging.  Can you imagine a healthy 25 year old man having the bones of a 60 year old woman?  In cycling it can happen.

If for no other reason than improving bone mass, strength training is an excellent off-season activity for cyclists.  Just  know that while you are strength training, you are probably NOT making yourself faster…but you are working on all the other benefits provided by strength training.  Other ways of stimulating bone growth include running and even jumping rope.

I highly recommend that all team members engage in one of these forms of bone mass improvement and maintanence during the off season: Strength Training, Running/Jogging, Jumping Rope.  I’m sure other things like kickboxing, aerobics, zumba, etc also have similar benefits for bones.

So what do I recommend in terms of strength training?
First of all, if you  like it, do it.  It won’t hurt your cycling unless it takes time away from that which you could be spending on your bike.
Second, I recommend using dumbbells and body weight over machine type exercises.  Machines lock you into a rigid range of motion and even the best designed machines cannot accomidate people of all sizes (like me with short arms & legs)

For the upper body I do:
-pullups
-pushups
-dips
-shoulder exercises (rows, raises, shoulder press)

For the lower body:
-squats (single & double leg)
-lunges (tons of variations of these)
-plyometrics
-deadlifts (single & double leg)

All of these exercises have numerous variations that can be performed with minimal equipment, including chairs, door sills and edges, towels even paper plates for sliding pushups!

A few dumbells may also help add a bit of resistance and variety, but you certainly don’t need an entire gym.  Ladies may want 5-10 lb dumbells and the men may want 15-20 lb dumbells.  (I have a whole set from 1 lb to 25 lbs in my fitness room upstairs)

Feel free to email me with any questions about this topic, as well as other topics you’d like to hear more about!

-Suzanne

PS  A quick note from personal experiences.

Everyone will have areas of strength and weakness in their body based on body type, skeletal structure, postural habits and side effects from what we spend most of our time doing (sitting at a computer vs. lifting concrete blocks all day vs. standing on your feet serving lunch to kids).  My body tends to “release” my posterior chain muscles from active use unless I am actively working on them…my gluts and hamstrings are relatively weak compared to other muscle groups. When I spend time strength training, I focus primarily on exercises that work these muscle groups…lunges, deadlifts, plyometrics, etc.  I tend to avoid doing these because they are hard and it hurts! But every time I’ve gone through a cycle of 2-3 weeks of doing these 1-2 week, I have noticed a huge surge in my power output and a sensation of reduced effort on the bike.

I’m not going to say that MY body is the one that defies scientific evidence and that the strength training made me a faster cyclist…however I may fit into the category of those particular muscle groups being relatively untrained…even when I’m on my bike regularly, if I neglect focus on this area, my body forgets how to engage these muscles maximally. It could be that by doing the exercises I’m simply strengthing those motor/neuron connections between my gluts and my brain and teaching them how to fire.

So you may have a similar area of personal weakness to be explored and I encourage you to use this time to do so.