Developing Leg Strength Off The Bike

he's right, the point is to develop the strength gradually, you can't go into olympic lifts straight off the bat, but you can develop muscle and loose fat by doing press-ups, chins etc.. you can squat without weights (put hands on your head) which will get you used to the correct form and depth without damaging your back or knees.

Going to disagree here slighty Rob, you can go into Olympic lifts straight away and its what I would do with youngsters. You just use very light weights eg 5kg bars instead of 20kg olympic ones.