Gym's & cycling

Well, if you want to improve your cycling you need to cycle. In a gym that means spinning classes but these aren't the same as being on a real bike.

I understand i need to cycle more to help my cycling Fitness. I was wondering what other exercises in a gym , besides spinning classes, which they don't offer would help ?.

Well, I`d say the general view here is that exercises other than cycling don`t really help with cycling. Running, lifting (there`s many debates on this one), rowing, etc all don`t really help your cycling although they will help your overall fitness.

Ice skating or skate skiing might help as I`ve seen olympic level cyclists switch over to being olympic level speed skaters (or ws it vice versa?) but you can't really do those in a gym.

If you don't have access to spinning classes perhaps you might want to consider a trainer for home use. I find it much more effective than spinning classes although it's mental torture.

Losing weight via a treadmill or other means in the gym can also help watts/kg when out of the bike. You may not improve the power portion, but the loss of weight will help the balance ratio between the sustainable power you currently could produce in comparison to your bodyweight.

In the past I found that climbing stairs or the use of a stationary stepper machine or a revolving ladder that gyms have can be benefical to a slight degree. The angle and the power used in climbing is closer to the angles used on a bike.

I use a gym regularly and either spin or use the stationary bikes. Rather than just pedalling i find it is essential to have a aim for each workout. Various different intervals help me to develop different aspects of my riding depending on what my goals are. Stationary bikes while often inaccurate in terms of the readings (speed/power/heart rate etc) they give you a way to compare workouts and measure your relative intensity - something a spinning session cannot do.

I prefer to use the gym time to be pedalling rather than pushing weights or doing cross training. I get the maximum benefit this way.

I've written a bit more about how I train for cycling in the gym here.

My goals in the gym are usually to balance out the things that cycling won't improve, things like better upper body strength to increase my ability to pull against the bars in a sprint, medial-quad (vastus medialis) stengthening to prevent muscle imbalances in my knees, and core strength training to help maintain balance on the TT bike and prevent lower back pain in races and long rides..

I am not an expert in fitness in any way. I can only tell you what I have experienced. Cardio in the gym and cardio on the bike are two completely different animals. I won't tell you one doesn't help the other but if I focus on one and then go back to the other, there is a bit of a struggle. Overall good fitness is a great goal but the biggest thing in the gym that helps my cycling is core strengthening. Strong abs, etc. help in all sports. I would put an emphasis on that. But to become a better,more fit cyclist.....ride, ride, ride.

After a little research i found this site. It has all kinds of information reguarding strength Training for cycling. I started this program yesterday. On this plan you work out with weights Twice a week & he recommends you ride some, on the same day after using the weights. You are still supposed to do your regular riding schedule as well.

http://www.training4cyclists.com/12-week-strength-program-for-cyclists/

I am not sure what your goals are but in my opinion it is perfectly OK to weight train and cycle. If you are planning on being a racer then I would not recommend a weight training regiment other than a program that is designed with this in mind. I worked for 21 years on a twelve hour rotating shift schedule of three days on and three days off. The plant had a full fitness center located in house that I used to weight train on my three days of work. I cycled on my three days off. I was in the best shape of my life. In fact one of the weight lifters at the plant was an Ironman Triathlete who happened to become the first person to complete Kona with Parkinson's. By all means lift weights if it makes you happy.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by davereo [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

I am not sure what your goals are but in my opinion it is perfectly OK to weight train and cycle. If you are planning on being a racer then I would not recommend a weight training regiment other than a program that is designed with this in mind. I worked for 21 years on a twelve hour rotating shift schedule of three days on and three days off. The plant had a full fitness center located in house that I used to weight train on my three days of work. I cycled on my three days off. I was in the best shape of my life. In fact one of the weight lifters at the plant was an Ironman Triathlete who happened to become the first person to complete Kona with Parkinson's. By all means lift weights if it makes you happy.

The program i started was designed by a cycling coach. It is a 12 week strength training program. If you look at the link below.. You can see the work out regimen.

http://www.training4cyclists.com/12-week-strength-program-for-cyclists/

I had been doing weight lifting for about two years before I started cycling and think that it really helped initially because I did a lot of core & leg training which gave me decent power and I just had to convert that to cycling and build up the cardio.

I have dropped my training to about 1-2 times a week doing full body compound weights which I think is the way to go as you want to train your body to use all it's muscles together. Exercises such as squats, deadlifts, bench press, pull ups, bent over rows, dips etc. I don't really do it so much as to improve my cycling but to keep a proportioned body, I want to keep a decent upper body muscle base and not just have big legs. But I think it does help when you're out of the saddle climbing/sprinting.

Just have to remember not to get too heavy as you can with weight lifting and eating lots. I prefer to weight train a lot less when leading up to a race and then I'll get back into it after a race or off season.

But I still believe if you want to be really competitive to just ride ride ride, weights if you have the spare time.

I've been doing the Sparticus Workout two or three times per week and I've noticed a difference when out on the road. I have more endurance and more muscular drive when climbing hills because it kills your core and legs if done properly.

menshealth.comworkoutsOpen ↗

It's basically a circuit workout with dumbbells in which you do 10 exercises for a minute each. You rest 15 seconds in between exercises. Then once you're done with a full rotation, you rest 2 minutes and then do the whole thing again. You should get through 3 full rotations. If you stick to the times, you should be done in 40 minutes. It kicks your ass pretty good.

I usually do 15-20 min on the stationary bike then a full Sparticus. I'm out of the gym in about an hour and got an awesome workout.

Exercise Workout Rest Workout Rest Workout Rest 1 Goblet Squat 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 2 Mountain Climber 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 3 Single-Arm Dumbbell Swing 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 4 T-Pushups 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 5 Split Jumps 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 6 Dumbbell Row 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 7 Dumbbell Side Lunge 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 8 Pushup Position Rows 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 9 Dumbell Lunge & Rotation 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 60 sec 15 sec 10 Push Press 60 sec 2 minutes 60 sec 2 minutes 60 sec DONE 10 min 4min 15sec 10 min 4min 15sec 10 min 2min 15sec 40 min 45sec

arriving late for the answer but I hope that my experience can serve.
I state that I'm a fan of the force. I think this is a fundamental parameter for a cyclist.
In the gym during the winter my goal and work to press. The exercises that I do and also recommend to my athletes are individual legs. Never together.
The exercises I propose that after doing a test run (*) ceiling with one leg are:

work for 2 weeks (4 workouts) (Monday and Wednesday)

1x (2 min with one leg at 30% effort). A push on the second
3 minutes recovery
1 min with a leg at 50% effort
3 minutes recovery
30 seconds with one leg 60% of the maximum
3 minutes recovery

Then 10 minutes of cycling at 110 RPM

* The test: 2 pushed to max on the press (1 second each) with one leg