Weight Training?

What are your goals and priorities?

Overall fitness and health.

I don't want to be a big, bulky weight lifter. But I also don't want to be a skinny bike rider, even if it would make me a better cyclist. Low body fat and some lean muscle is what I' going for.

http://www.cyclingforums.com/cycling-training/473932-weight-training-cycling.html

It's pretty simple.
Do's
Compound lifts
heavy weights
low reps
full body training
explosive fast concentric movements
Squats,deadlifts, power cleans,bench press, military press,chinups, dips,Pendlay row
kettlebells, barbells, dumbbells, sandbags, bodyweight

Don'ts
split training routines aka bodybuilding for steroid users
machines
high reps
isolation exercises
slow movements

Google
Escalating Density Training, Starting Strength, Chad Waterbury, Dan John, Crossfit, Pavel Tsatsouline, Alwyn Cosgrove

If gaining muscle is your priority train on a 3 day (Mon,Wed,Fri) type routine. If cycling is priority train 2 day (Tues/Fri - Mon/Thurs) type routine.

http://www.cyclingforums.com/cycling-training/315746-weight-training.html

Here's another...

You can spend several days reading through the threads on this topic...

Try doing a search on "gyming", "weight training", and "strength training".

You have the correct frame of mind in knowing the weight training isn't necessarily going to improve your performance on the bike...

tonyzackery said:

You have the correct frame of mind in knowing the weight training isn't necessarily going to improve your performance on the bike...

Bingo. And the OP stated that their goal is "overall fitness and health". As good as cycling can be for you, it is performed with a highly repetitive motion over a limited range of motion. Some form of strength training will help to overcome the muscle imbalances that occur from such an activity.

My 0.02,
Dave

tonyzackery said:

You have the correct frame of mind in knowing the weight training isn't necessarily going to improve your performance on the bike...

WOW! :eek:
That's 100% WRONG!🙄

Wlfdg said:

WOW! :eek:
That's 100% WRONG!🙄

I have seen your points of view on another thread regarding pork bellies and such. I am just trying to get familiar with your background and what qualifications you have to say that TZ is 100% Wrong?

What is it that makes you an authority on the subject?

^^LOL! Not taking the bait - the argument has been done to death...you're just as entitled to your belief as I...

Perhaps I should rephrase my statement to include that "weight training isn't necessarily going to improve your cycling performance moreso than simply riding your bike more"...but the OP isn't all that concerned with cycling performance at the expense of his/her "overall fitness and health", so the matter is essentially moot...

The subject of weight training's effect on cycling performance is, at best, equivocal and there are proponents on all three sides; you know where I stand...

Felt_Rider said:

I have seen your points of view on another thread regarding pork bellies and such. I am just trying to get familiar with your background and what qualifications you have to say that TZ is 100% Wrong?

What is it that makes you an authority on the subject?

Over 20yrs of experience in the health and fitness industry as a trainer, strength & conditioning coach, Lic.Massage Therapist and Physical Rehab Therapist. I'm also a former professional athlete and I was a morbidly obese child and teen which provided for an incredible amount of practical experience.

Wlfdg said:

Over 20yrs of experience in the health and fitness industry as a trainer, strength & conditioning coach, Lic.Massage Therapist and Physical Rehab Therapist. I'm also a former professional athlete and I was a morbidly obese child and teen which provided for an incredible amount of practical experience.

What sport?
Care to post a peer-reviewed study supporting the assertion that weight training improves steady-state cycling performance. I'm very interested...

tonyzackery said:

Perhaps I should rephrase my statement to include that "weight training isn't necessarily going to improve your cycling performance moreso than simply riding your bike more"

But riding your bike more WILL INCREASE the likelihood of chronic use syndrome based injuries. I've worked with a lot cyclists who believe what you believe. Nearly everyone has developed postural deformities from severely shortened anterior chain and lengthened posterior chain. Living with a Lumbar-Thoracic kyphosis, Cervical lordosis, protracted shoulder girdle is no big deal. 🙄

I think the no weight training BS that has carried over from old school beliefs has stuck because most do not know that there is more to weight training than the body part split routines that develop sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.

How can becoming physically stronger not benefit everyone? The information is out there.

^^Okay, I understand - you don't have any proof, but you have a strong theoretical basis for your beliefs. No problem...carry on...

Wlfdg said:

Over 20yrs of experience in the health and fitness industry as a trainer, strength & conditioning coach, Lic.Massage Therapist and Physical Rehab Therapist. I'm also a former professional athlete and I was a morbidly obese child and teen which provided for an incredible amount of practical experience.

.......and the cycling experience? Just asking

I would be impressed if you coached both world class lifters and world class cyclists and therefore could tell us of your athletes that have benefited from such training advice.

tonyzackery said:

What sport?
Care to post a peer-reviewed study supporting the assertion that weight training improves steady-state cycling performance. I'm very interested...

I was a professional kickboxer, Thai boxer and an MMA fighter in the early days of the sport.

There is more to cycling than steady state cardio. If you sit and spin in flats, low angle climbs and on rollers/trainers than all you are doing is steady state cardio. If you climb, tackle technical terrain or sprint than you are recruiting HTMU/fast twitch fibers. That is where weight training comes into play in terms of on bike performance. Explosiveness! The Olympic lifts can benefit a cyclist with the same kind of explosiveness that enables 360lb. Shane Hamman with the ability to do a standing backflip. He's 5'9" and can dunk basketball with 2 hands.

And how are those fast-twitch fibers best activated for improving cycling performance is the 20 thousand question - by weight training, or by cycling specific training? Anything you can do in the weight room to theoretically improve cycling performance can be done with more efficacy on the bike - save MAYBE heavy lifting for standing starts on the tracks.

When you can quantify your support for weight training to improve cycling performance, please let me know. And mind you, I'm not saying it's impossible, but I believe it to be highly improbable...

Olympic lifts recruit those fibers more efficiently than any other form of training.

I believe that there is no way I can quantify it any further for you.

It's like those old school track and football coaches who told their runners/sprinters that if they lifted weights they would become slower. Now we know exactly how incredibly ignorant they were. Runners and sprinters are faster than ever. They all lift weights.

I hope you do not or have not already developed osteopenia.

Osteopenia being, of course, a word for a condition where your bones are less dense than one would expect of most 30 year old women.

What's your attraction to EDT? As far as I can tell, it's a bodybuilding program advocated by an olympic weightlifting coach. As far as I can tell, the average cyclist should be able to gain a healthy level of strength from a few months on SS followed by whatever maintenance method they prefer.

Do you feel this isn't sufficient weightlifting for a cyclist?

Wlfdg said:

Olympic lifts recruit those fibers more efficiently than any other form of training.

I believe that there is no way I can quantify it any further for you.

It's like those old school track and football coaches who told their runners/sprinters that if they lifted weights they would become slower. Now we know exactly how incredibly ignorant they were. Runners and sprinters are faster than ever. They all lift weights.

I hope you do not or have not already developed osteopenia.

Negative. Those lifts recruit those fibers necessary for those lifts more efficiently than anything else. Cycling specific exercises will recruit those fibers necessary for cycling more efficiently than any other exercise. Are familiar with the term "specificity"?

With all due respect, you've chosen a poor example (weightlifting for track and football) to use as support for your contention. Sure, predominantly anaerobic events will see benefits from weight training - duh. Cycling, in case you weren't aware, is predominantly an aerobic activity. (I feel I'm feeding a baby milk with that statement) FYI, I ran track (sprinting and jumping events) and played football in college, and had a modest professional career in football - so I know my way around weightrooms.

I guarantee you that more seasoned cyclists will tell a newbie to ride their bike more to improve performance versus getting in the gym to augment their cycling training to improve their cycling performance.

Regarding bone density, I've lifted weights to varying intensities for about 30 years and as confirmed by DEXA scan, I could give you some of my density and still be just fine - my densities are greater than 1.0...

Well, you said I was "100% Wrong" in my original statement, but you provide no quantifiable evidence to support your contention. That being the case, then I can say that you are "100% Wrong".😄 LOL!