Increasing hill speed - any gym work?

Pirahna

Wifey came out on a club run yesterday, and wants to go out again next weekend. Whilst she's OK on the flat, she lack speed on hills, Herts and Essex lanes, so not exactly the Alps.

She has an hour of gym time most days so is there anything she can do to give her a bit more ooomph?

andrewgturnbull

Pirahna wrote:

Wifey came out on a club run yesterday, and wants to go out again next weekend. Whilst she's OK on the flat, she lack speed on hills, Herts and Essex lanes, so not exactly the Alps.

She has an hour of gym time most days so is there anything she can do to give her a bit more ooomph?

Hi there.

Is the gym at the top of a hill?

Cheers, Andy

will3

uphill speed or downhill speed.

If the latter, more pies should suffice.

willbevan

i'm the same for hills, so just getting out there and doing as many as i can, plenty of 10% jobs to give me the confidence that i know i can do them, as i find i slow down more from thinking i have to take it easy or blow up... but find i can do a lot more than i realise

Would be interested to see what gym work people suggest...

AT4

what about steppers? They are killers i hate them, that or up the incline on the treadmill. She could also do squats or lunges

redddraggon

Exercise bike with high resistance? Better to be on a proper bike going up proper hills though surely?

alanmcn1

2x20min intrevals on the bike machine (75%MHR) with resistance at a high setting that is difficult to turn. Not as good as climbing hills outside, but will help buidl up muscle/enduarnce (at least in my experience)

AT4

if its just a strength issue then lunges and squats would be best, squats preferably

shockedsoshocked

Try the hill interval setting on the bike machines.

Old Tuggo

Core Strength exercises - the insructor should be able to provide advice on the various types.

BeaconRuth

Pirahna wrote:

She has an hour of gym time most days so is there anything she can do to give her a bit more ooomph?

There's an awful lot she can do to get a lot more oomph but firstly I would try to get rid of the idea that she's just weak on the hills. She isn't. The issue probably is that she lacks the same sustainable power as you but it's just that the hills are where is shows. (If you were trying to ride into a block headwind I bet she'd struggle just like she does on hills.) So what she needs to work on is improving her general cycling-specific aerobic fitness. That means time on a bike, an exercise bike or a spinning bike. See if she can build up the duration of time on the bike - anything up to an hour would be good and the harder she's working the better. A hills programme might be more interesting than riding at a constant pace, or some kind of intervals such as 5 on, 5 off............ anything really to raise the pulse and create some sweat through pedalling a bike. She needs to stick at it for some weeks and build up the amount and intensity gradually but if she's prepared to work hard I'm sure she could soon be keeping up with you on the hills.

Ruth

Alex_Simmons/RST

BeaconRuth wrote:

Pirahna wrote:

She has an hour of gym time most days so is there anything she can do to give her a bit more ooomph?

There's an awful lot she can do to get a lot more oomph but firstly I would try to get rid of the idea that she's just weak on the hills. She isn't. The issue probably is that she lacks the same sustainable power as you but it's just that the hills are where is shows. (If you were trying to ride into a block headwind I bet she'd struggle just like she does on hills.) So what she needs to work on is improving her general cycling-specific aerobic fitness. That means time on a bike, an exercise bike or a spinning bike. See if she can build up the duration of time on the bike - anything up to an hour would be good and the harder she's working the better. A hills programme might be more interesting than riding at a constant pace, or some kind of intervals such as 5 on, 5 off............ anything really to raise the pulse and create some sweat through pedalling a bike. She needs to stick at it for some weeks and build up the amount and intensity gradually but if she's prepared to work hard I'm sure she could soon be keeping up with you on the hills.

Ruth

+1

chill123

+1 for 2x20 intervals. if she does a couple of sets of these a week in the gym she'll soon see an improvement....not just on the hills but increased speed in the flats too.

Interval training for cyclists

BMCCbry

Does she want to do intervals etc? Is she fairly new to regular cycling?

Without wanting to sound like a simpleton, at this stage she probably just needs to get out on the bike more and concentrate on enjoying herself so that she wants to ride more and more. And with time, she'll keep up.

An hour on the bike each day instead of at the gym sounds better and more enjoyable (if only it would stop raining).

Pirahna

Thanks all for the replies.

She's had a chat with one of the gym instructors and came away with a program of intervals and some weight work with a bit of core and upper body thrown in for good measure.

She's OK with distance work, managed the 75 mile Dragon route without any problems and will happily tackle Alpine climbs. The club run was a big shock to the system as the small hils we have are taken at a fairly brisk pace.

Ric_Stern/RST

given that she was fine on the Dragon ride and can tackle Alpine climbs, then it's most likely that the only issue is that she lacks aerobic power (as we all do). This is trained on the bike (for cyclists wanting to improve) and isn't related to e.g. weight work, or core work etc. These will be unlikely to improve her aerobic power and hence climbing etc. It's unlikely that a gym instructor would know this.

Ric