Cycling-Related Strength & Conditioning

Wise words from HB. The usual net sale sites are chokka with weights - you'll find local ones soon unless you're in Stornaway. There is no point whatsoever in paying a gym for cycling fitness. Use the money for tyres/frames/hats/otheruselesstatthatyouwouldbuyanywayinadditiontothegymcosts.

And remember, TITS. Time In The Saddle. Get rolles/magtrainer - don't pay Fitness Farce etc.

In Fact, I'll be upgrading my bar and plates soon so will have a standard bar and assorted plates up to 100kg for sale

And remember, TITS. Time In The Saddle. Get rolles/magtrainer - don't pay Fitness Farce etc.

You're definately missing the point, but thanks anyway.

You're definately missing the point, but thanks anyway.

Am I? How so?

Right. You chaps are well up on your fitness know how so, in a nutshell, I'm feeling like I've really losing shape over the last year through being really unsettled and moving round a lot so I'm wanting to set myself a goal for next year and do a few sportives leading up to either l'etape or marmotte in summer. Am I being totally unrealistic to take something like that on? a guy I know that's done it says you need to train 2 years in advance to have good core fitness and also get a lot of experience riding in packs. I get out on my bike for long rides when I can (50-75 miles normally) but it's mostly short commutes during the week,

A lot of sites tell you general info about how many miles you should be doing per week in the lead up to something like the etape but could/should I be complimenting this in the gym/doing spin classes, or at my level is it just a case of htfu and get a better alarm clock and some thermals for long winter miles?

Greg,

you can improve your cardio respiratory fitness which will benefit you in endurance type activity by doing high intensity met-con type stuff. Basically circuits of full body power movements (jumps, burpees, squats, power cleans, kettle bell swings etc) done with submaximal resistance but with limited time & rest. A bike can be incorporated into something like this. For example, a sprint lap around the park, followed by burpees. If you have a home gym you could do speed deadlifts followed by bike on rollers. You aim to progress by increasing the "density" of work done for time. Which in effect shows that you have increased your work capacity/fitness.

This may be more time efficient than doing purely actual endurance / long slow distance work, to prepare for the challenge.

If you do not already have some base of strength to find high (explosive) reps of suitable full body movements easy/safe. Then it is perhaps best not to employ these type of training as it will not be as productive and may injure you.

Are you implying pistaboy is a shite physio?

No, dont be silly. Just all the physio's id seen before were bollocks.

Pistaboy is a keen cyclist, qualified boxing coach and has a background in lots of sports.

Ive never been seen by him in a medical capacity, but he seems to really care about his work.

Being new to biking and 49 yrs,i fell of my butler mercury pretty fast downhill about 5 months ago,i slammed my brakes on at a junction,and bars thudded left,and i flew over bout twelve foot,my left elbow is getting worse pain in forearm going toward wrist now,any opinions tendons muscles etc..!! Ive used difflam n allsorts but cant ride my bikes yet due to pain,my doc says complete rest but cant even pick up an asda bag :(

Some interesting stuff in regards to mobility:

(Features cadaver autopsy footage)

Awesome! I call the "fuzz" "jelly" (Jell-O, in the States), b/c fascia and jelly are colloids. Hard when it is cold and has insufficient moisture, like a jelly in the fridge. but bring it out of the fridge, or introduce friction (movement), and it becomes pliable again.

Stretching is so important and I have to say I'm a bad massage therapist and don't stretch like I should. I keep telling myself I want to institute a stretching regimen, but then I let myself off b/c I don't have more than a few simple stretches in my mind. It's hard to create the habit when it's not there.

I stumbled on this thread and will definitely be going through it more, lots of good information. I've a lateral hamstring "twang" at the moment, though, and I promised myself I'd actually stretch it lightly this morning instead of sitting at the computer until I have to leave.

Am I? How so?

Time in the saddle is definitely not my issue. If anything it has been my training mantra so far. As I said in my original post in this thread, my physio is insisting that I need to compliment my training with leg strength work to avoid future strains (I've recently been suffering a hamstring strain).

Right. You chaps are well up on your fitness know how so, in a nutshell, I'm feeling like I've really losing shape over the last year through being really unsettled and moving round a lot so I'm wanting to set myself a goal for next year and do a few sportives leading up to either l'etape or marmotte in summer. Am I being totally unrealistic to take something like that on? a guy I know that's done it says you need to train 2 years in advance to have good core fitness and also get a lot of experience riding in packs. I get out on my bike for long rides when I can (50-75 miles normally) but it's mostly short commutes during the week,

A lot of sites tell you general info about how many miles you should be doing per week in the lead up to something like the etape but could/should I be complimenting this in the gym/doing spin classes, or at my level is it just a case of htfu and get a better alarm clock and some thermals for long winter miles?

Post this up in the winter training thread. You are more likely to get responses in there

Time in the saddle is definitely not my issue. If anything it has been my training mantra so far. As I said in my original post in this thread, my physio is insisting that I need to compliment my training with leg strength work to avoid future strains (I've recently been suffering a hamstring strain).

If your training isn't strengthening your legs, then there is something seriously wrong. It's QUALITY time, not quantity. Get to the hills and rep pushing the gears. There are a heap of leg strengthening ride exercises on the Bike Radar site. It pays huge dividends.

Right. You chaps are well up on your fitness know how so, in a nutshell, I'm feeling like I've really losing shape over the last year through being really unsettled and moving round a lot so I'm wanting to set myself a goal for next year and do a few sportives leading up to either l'etape or marmotte in summer. Am I being totally unrealistic to take something like that on? a guy I know that's done it says you need to train 2 years in advance to have good core fitness and also get a lot of experience riding in packs. I get out on my bike for long rides when I can (50-75 miles normally) but it's mostly short commutes during the week,

A lot of sites tell you general info about how many miles you should be doing per week in the lead up to something like the etape but could/should I be complimenting this in the gym/doing spin classes, or at my level is it just a case of htfu and get a better alarm clock and some thermals for long winter miles?

Regular time on the bike would work best. How short is your commute? Mine's about 5min each way, which doesn't really count for shit, but even something like 5 miles each way is good for ticking over.

One long ride a week over the winter, the kind of distances you mention, is fine. Follow the usual advice about not increasing single ride/weekly mileage by more than 10% each week. You should be getting some century rides done by the time spring comes around, at which point you can also add in periods of higher intensity/harder hill efforts.

Perhaps bodyweight exercises, done at home, would be useful for core/whole-body condition, which will definitely make the tail end of the Marmotte less uncomfortable. Crunches, bodyweight squats, press-ups; that kind of thing. No need to go mental.

Right. You chaps are well up on your fitness know how so, in a nutshell, I'm feeling like I've really losing shape over the last year through being really unsettled and moving round a lot so I'm wanting to set myself a goal for next year and do a few sportives leading up to either l'etape or marmotte in summer. Am I being totally unrealistic to take something like that on? a guy I know that's done it says you need to train 2 years in advance to have good core fitness and also get a lot of experience riding in packs. I get out on my bike for long rides when I can (50-75 miles normally) but it's mostly short commutes during the week,

A lot of sites tell you general info about how many miles you should be doing per week in the lead up to something like the etape but could/should I be complimenting this in the gym/doing spin classes, or at my level is it just a case of htfu and get a better alarm clock and some thermals for long winter miles?

I did the etape last year from doing very minimal road cycling beforehand. I followed a training plan from the book Successful Sportives and started training in November. It was very hard but managed it a few hours within the cut off.

Pre Xmas training was all on a track bike doing laps of Richmond Park, after I started going on club chaingangs, doing turbo work and longer rides. If your aiming at this I would do very minimal if any gym work, you really need to get the miles in so time spent lifting weights takes it away from your cycling.

I had a weird cramp on Monday. Did my 'maintenance' squats, having had a week off whilst on holiday. 3 sets of 5, no big weights. The only activity I'd done on holiday apart from walking and 'quality time', was daily stretching.

As I semi-crouched to disassemble the weights and put them away, my right adductor went fucking mental. I stood up and gingerly limped around until it subsided - for a second, I thought it was going to cramp up so tight it would tear or something.

Stretching was fine afterwards, but I was aware of 'post-cramp pain' until sleeping it off. Thankfully the only remaining discomfort (a few days on) has been DOMS in both adductors. Weird, as I don't squat in an ultra-wide stance or anything :/

I think it's something to do with the stabilising role of the adductors whilst stretched, but I've only ever experienced adductor DOMS after sumo deadlifts in the past.

Anyway, a rigorous adductor stretch has now been added to my routine.

If your training isn't strengthening your legs, then there is something seriously wrong. It's QUALITY time, not quantity. Get to the hills and rep pushing the gears. There are a heap of leg strengthening ride exercises on the Bike Radar site. It pays huge dividends.

I see where you are coming from Bigtwin, but if you have a weakness with the hamstring/s (for example) and cycling is aggravating it, you would not benefit from churning big gears, or mashing up hills?
Changing the training regime will help to train the muscle in a full range of movement, and in some cases, iron out the weaknesses that are caused from not fully extending and flexing the muscle. This is very common amongst cyclists.
Good luck STE5.

If your training isn't strengthening your legs, then there is something seriously wrong. It's QUALITY time, not quantity. Get to the hills and rep pushing the gears. There are a heap of leg strengthening ride exercises on the Bike Radar site. It pays huge dividends.

I'm baffled... and slightly aroused.

I see where you are coming from Bigtwin, but if you have a weakness with the hamstring/s (for example) and cycling is aggravating it, you would not benefit from churning big gears, or mashing up hills?
Changing the training regime will help to train the muscle in a full range of movement, and in some cases, iron out the weaknesses that are caused from not fully extending and flexing the muscle. This is very common amongst cyclists.
Good luck STE5.

Nail on the head.

My hamstring issue was caused or at least aggravated by hill reps.

DFP, BMMF, Daccordi,

cheers for the input guys!

Commute is about a half hour each way-this may change though as I'm looking for a new job and it could be anywhere. If the etape finishes on Ventoux this year like its meant to I think I'll put my name down asap to give myself something ambitious to shoot for then hope the fear does the rest!

Main thing that intimidates is climbs-I have a hill near me with a gradient of 5-10 and no matter what I do or how often improvement is pretty slow going and I feel pretty sick by the time I push my way over. Used to run a lot and do a lot of upper body work like chin ups and press ups, but I've never been a gym person so curious to know what impact it would have but if squats and crunches are as helpful then thats perfect.

Definately won't finish on Ventoux, I reckon Alp de Heuz but thats a guess. Having a weekend in Wales doing the dragon ride route a couple of times will be great experience. The climbs on it are more alpine (long and not too steep) then the climbs south of London (steep and short).

Loosing as much weight is also really important, I lost about 10kg and it made a massive difference on the hills, went from the back of the slow chain gang on hills to finishing in the group on fast chaingangs, just work on it and you'll get better.

No crunches please.

In fact no direct ab work unless you are doing A LOT of back/hip extension work like squats and deadlifts several days a week.

On a bike you are already in a hunched, spinal flexion position. Crunches are the last thing you need. If you feel you MUST do ab work, stick to things like planks/bridges. I wouldnt bother though.

... which is where a bit of time in the gym will assist. If you drop a load of weight, people instinctively percieve their power to weight ratio to be high.
In most instances, a drop in weight = a drop in power. Some resistance work will keep those fast twitch fibres in check.

Definately won't finish on Ventoux, I reckon Alp de Heuz but thats a guess. .

aww really? Ventoux would be ace-would love to doff my cap to the Simpson memorial as I grind by! Still, Huez would be pretty impressive too and I've a mate in Grenoble I could stay with to save some cash.

... which is where a bit of time in the gym will assist. If you drop a load of weight, people instinctively percieve their power to weight ratio to be high.
In most instances, a drop in weight = a drop in power. Some resistance work will keep those fast twitch fibres in check.

This is essentially what I have no clue about-how much time in the gym and how much resistance will be effective without bulking up too much? I can lose weight pretty easy just through careful eating and light exercise but if I'm exercising a lot I bulk up easily too. Optimum weight for me is about 69kg-I'm about 74 just now (i think...) and 5'9'' so theoretically climbing should be much easier than for some 6' 14 stoner.

One thing that doesn't seem to be mentioned for weight lifting is that it can help to train you to utilise all the muscles in your legs. I know from Rowing training and dead lifts and squats that I engage most of the muscles in my legs for power work, whereas AFAIK most cyclists don't use the glutes and some other groups of muscles fully.

Slow, controlled weights work wonders for teaching each set of muscles to work together.

Dont worry about bulking up too much. Its largely dependent on how much you eat, and doing a lot of weighted training volume.