Strength (again): What do the pros do?

I've heard that Armstrong alternates between 'hard days' of pushing wheelbarrows full of his money around, and 'easy days' of 12oz curls - many reps.

I may emulate that approach next year if I'm not able to get good results from my current regiment of working my butt off on a bike. Instead of money, I'll have to use rocks in the wheelbarrow, though. 🙁

CycleFast said:

I've read most of the threads about strength not beiing a limiter for cyclists, and I buy it.

I'm just wondering, does anybody *know* what some of the pros actually are doing? (e.g. Armstrong, Ullrich, Basso, etc)

Why does it matter? That is, why do you (apparently) assume that just because somebody has the physical attributes to excel at a particular sport that how they train is what got them to where they are, and/or that they are smarter or have greater insight into what it takes than those who are less physically talented? Would you expect, for example, for your cardiac surgeon to have gone under the knife him or herself before letting them operate on you, and/or that having done so would somehow make them a better surgeon?

Emulating the pros is a certain way to failure. This is true in cycling or bodybuilding. These guys are genetic freaks that can handle vast amounts of volume and intensity in their training. Drugs may also play a role.

Doctor Morbius said:

Emulating the pros is a certain way to failure. This is true in cycling or bodybuilding. These guys are genetic freaks that can handle vast amounts of volume and intensity in their training. Drugs may also play a role.

Interesting view point. They also can handle a huge amount of mistakes in planning, and still perform ok.

acoggan said:

Why does it matter? That is, why do you (apparently) assume that just because somebody has the physical attributes to excel at a particular sport that how they train is what got them to where they are, and/or that they are smarter or have greater insight into what it takes than those who are less physically talented?

It doesn't matter much to me with respect to how I train personally. However, I do have some discussions with some friends and training partners on the strength issue, and it's quite hard to convince some of them that training with weights doesn't make you a better cyclist. So, I'm looking for some real world examples of successful cyslist that doesn't do strength training.

I have read an interview with Norwegian sprinter Thor Hushovd (green jersey 2005 TdF), where he says he doesn't work out in the gym, and that all sprint related training is performed on the bike.

I think some people are easier to convince if the best (or at least very good) athletes, presumably with the best / good coaches, are not doing strength training.

Other than that, I'm just curious as to what the pros actually are doing...? Does anybody know?

_________
CycleFast

CycleFast said:

It doesn't matter much to me with respect to how I train personally. However, I do have some discussions with some friends and training partners on the strength issue, and it's quite hard to convince some of them that training with weights doesn't make you a better cyclist. So, I'm looking for some real world examples of successful cyslist that doesn't do strength training.

I have read an interview with Norwegian sprinter Thor Hushovd (green jersey 2005 TdF), where he says he doesn't work out in the gym, and that all sprint related training is performed on the bike.

I think some people are easier to convince if the best (or at least very good) athletes, presumably with the best / good coaches, are not doing strength training.

Other than that, I'm just curious as to what the pros actually are doing...? Does anybody know?

_________
CycleFast

I think the answer is some do, some don't. After seeing some in person, many of them have absolute stick legs (especially calves, quads are at least decent sized) that would suggest no gym time. And even if they were spending time in the gym, they took any muscle gained back off on the bike.

CycleFast said:

I've read most of the threads about strength not beiing a limiter for cyclists, and I buy it.

I'm just wondering, does anybody *know* what some of the pros actually are doing? (e.g. Armstrong, Ullrich, Basso, etc)

There was an interview at cyclingnews.com earlier this year with some of a couple of leading Belgian pros who are "classics" specialists. They were saying they did all their training on the bike. Unfortunately, i can't recall which two pros it was...

ric

You know, something occurred to me the other day when I was out riding.
Is it just me, or has anyone ever thought about the differences between pushing big gears on the big ring or using tiny gears on the big hills (which you have to do to get up them)?
I still squat once a week with a sprinter at the sports centre and happen to do a lot of riding in big gears too (on moderate hills and flats). This type of training has made me quite effective for short bursts of power but where I guess I do agree with Ric is the area of fitness.
For real fitness, I feel the best way to go is to use small gears, not big ones but also do lots and lots of hills at speed.
I also suspect that whereas weights tend to help me with those big gears on the flats and inclines, they may hinder me on the smaller gears when I need to spin my way up steep stretches.
Or to put it another way..... You can meet many excellent cyclists who push huge gears, do some weights and speed past you on relatively flat roads. But too much of that never tests your actual fitness.

CycleFast said:

It doesn't matter much to me with respect to how I train personally. However, I do have some discussions with some friends and training partners on the strength issue, and it's quite hard to convince some of them that training with weights doesn't make you a better cyclist. So, I'm looking for some real world examples of successful cyslist that doesn't do strength training.

I have read an interview with Norwegian sprinter Thor Hushovd (green jersey 2005 TdF), where he says he doesn't work out in the gym, and that all sprint related training is performed on the bike.

I think some people are easier to convince if the best (or at least very good) athletes, presumably with the best / good coaches, are not doing strength training.

Other than that, I'm just curious as to what the pros actually are doing...? Does anybody know?

_________
CycleFast