Developing Leg Strength Off The Bike

I'm not convinced. I've had a conversation with badtmy about sprinters (bike/foot) carrying too much weight, and he also pointed out that it seems to increase the risk of certain injuries.

I'll don't want to put words, or anything else for that matter, in his mouth though.

the thing that both cycling and running have in common is that power-to-weight ratio is important in both. it's simple physics really, F = ma and all that.if you increase your mass too much, you need more force to achieve the same acceleration. of course, muscle adds both mass and force, but it is important to find the right balance for you - this will vary from person to person because people have varying physiological builds (mix of fast/slow twitch, neural response, metabolism, endurance, lactic acid tolerance etc etc). i admit i don't know much about the science of cycling, but there are some similarities which I think apply.

i think running is a bit different from cycling in this respect: because running involves impact, the effects of carrying extra weight in terms of injury risk are probably amplified (stress fractures, tendon injuries etc). i know that back in my serious running days, i always used to really taper the weights towards the business end of the racing season, and probably drop a couple of kilos in bodyweight (from about 72 to just under 70) when the racing was getting serious (championships, state league finals etc), but it was a matter of finding the balance between losing the bulk and losing too much power - timing is key!

if you look at the top athletics sprinters, they look huge and are covered in muscles everywhere, but they're not actually that heavy. it's more that they have excellent muscle tone and definition, and carry most of their weight in the big power muscles like quads, glutes and pecs. even training for 100m sprinters is designed to maximise power to weight ratio (and therefore acceleration), not pure power.

i've recently started running again after a few months (ok, 18 months) of not running seriously, and the difference that a couple of kilos of bodyweight make to my running performance is fucking astonishing. this is partly carrying more bodyfat than i'm used to, and partly gymwork and cycling developing muscles that aren't helpful to running fast.

being on a bike i don't notice the difference as much, but this is possibly because i'm just better attuned to how running should feel. luckily a couple of solid runs seems to strip weight off me very quickly :)

/essay