Hill climbing training gym exercises - please help
Comments
-
Imposter wrote:Smudgerii wrote:still only seeing opinions but no validation on the opinions being given...
I don't know where you have been looking, but these two links are generally useful:
http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/fitness/ ... engthstern
This is an advice forum - and it's only as good as the advice which is given. Which means it is only as good as the people giving the advice. There have been, over the years, several contributions from cycling coaches and sports scientists on this topic, but I don't recall any of them ever advocating weights to improve climbing.
i dont do gym work, just body weight stuff at home, whilst watching TV or after a turbo sess but i ve always done low cadence hi o/p stuff on the bike and its interesting reading Ric's rebuttal, because he didnt know the exact protocols, he assumes they are invalid, support his theories or of no consequence.
Would being a female, make some strength/gym work more beneficial? women tend to have weaker core etc, maybe they d benefit, even if you are against gym for men?0 -
I could be wrong but I don't see how any of this would not apply to women in the same way. Also, I don't think core work is the topic of discussion here, unless I've misunderstood. I don't understand your 'against gym' comment.0
-
Imposter wrote:I could be wrong but I don't see how any of this would not apply to women in the same way. Also, I don't think core work is the topic of discussion here, unless I've misunderstood. I don't understand your 'against gym' comment.
as in gym work/strength training for cycling performance, i take it your not for it now? lol!
From what i ve read on the subject, women can benefit from overall strength work, regardless if it is for cycling benefit or not, as they have a weaker musculature and the OP is probably a woman?
from seeing my daughter work with BC coaches, they are all pretty hot on strength work (core) for the girls, much more so than for the boys and the aim is to improve performance on the bike, a weak core means less to counter the forces applied in riding a bike, esp in efforts and hill work.0 -
Like I said, I didn't think this topic was about core work? I'm not sure what it is on here that you are disagreeing with.0
-
Imposter wrote:Like I said, I didn't think this topic was about core work?
its about improving climbing yes? and if anything (and i agree on the bike in this case is the best way fwd ) can help, why not?
the lass (if indeed she is one) obvious enjoys the gym, going for more core and as she says, she is out on the bike as much as poss, might help her.
we ve reams of stuff on core and gym work for youth/junior girl riders from BC but if you know more than they do, with a very successful program behind them, then so be it.
No other agenda here, imposter, we differ on this so there is no point.0 -
Sorry, I'm not trying to be obtuse, but I'm still not clear on what it is we are supposed to be disagreeing on? You are talking about core work, which is a completely different discussion altogether. Unless you have spotted something in the OP that nobody else has.0
-
Imposter wrote:Sorry, I'm not trying to be obtuse, but I'm still not clear on what it is we are supposed to be disagreeing on? You are talking about core work, which is a completely different discussion altogether. Unless you have spotted something in the OP that nobody else has.
yep you are lol!
why do we have to disagree? all i ve asked and suggested is that core gym work might assist her climbing and that being a female, would strength gym work outs also help? that was more addressed to Alex, tbh.
i ve found that a certain amount of upper body strength is required for long or explosive out of saddle efforts, say an over the top attack? and women typically have less upper body strength, i wasnt picking an argument with you.0 -
ok - that's a bit clearer. In which case, yes, you could be right
0 -
It varies and can be both positive and negative. I'd encourage people to do their own research on the topic.AK_jnr wrote:Out of interest what gains do you think can be made from heavy lifting for peak power? Not worried about aerobic durations, just 5 seconds as an example.
In general hypertrophy from strength training will increase short duration power output provided one is able to transfer those gains to on-bike performance, but that's not always assured and not always supported by studies either.
Having said that, the impact of strength on short range power is still not as big an influence as some might like to think (that's because short range power requires force to be delivered at high-ish muscle contraction velocities, while strength is a zero or near zero velocity force generation capability - e.g. think 1 rep squat).
There will be a range of studies available and you'll likely find a variety of results. This one is interesting:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3586102
In this case the 17 tests subjects after 12 weeks of max leg strength training increased their strength significantly (160-200% greater leg press weight), increased maximal isometric force modestly (3-20%), but did not improve cycling peak power output tested at various cadences. VO2max was unaffected.
Yes it's an oldish study but data doesn't have a use by date and of course it's an abstract and one needs to be careful with not reading the detail (which in this case is behind a paywall). Add to that it helps to review the body of evidence, I just linked to it as it was interesting and probably fairly relevant for many here.
No matter what training you do, nothing is more important or effective than the on-the-bike work. If you really want to improve sprint power (and abilities) then start with on-bike sprint training as that's where the biggest improvement will come from.0 -
The issue of core work is also pretty equivocal when it comes to published evidence on improving cycling performance. It's unlikely to be detrimental but don't expect power generation miracles.
And while riding (and all the efforts that go with it) it's not like the core muscles are not being taxed as well in proportion to the demands placed upon them, and it's not like core muscles don't also adapt to the the stress / training loads in just the same way the rest of the body's muscular-skeletal system does. There are lots of on-bike training workouts that will tax the core.
There are reasonable reasons for doing all sorts of non-bike riding training/exercise. Just don't expect cycling performance miracles, responses to training are variable, and be wary of anecdotes on their effectiveness.0 -
keef66 wrote:The things that helped me most with hill climbing were:
Lots of hill climbing - not as easy round here as it is in the Pennines, but I still found it possible to plot some routes with lots of smaller climbs...
Losing 18 pounds.
That second one helped quite a lot. To think I was carrying the equivalent of 8 bags of sugar around with me all the time. How in God's name did I let that happen??
+1
The other main advantage I found from actually cycling compared to doing gym exercise is that cycling seems much better for weight loss (particularly when it's cycling up hills).0 -
I see the OP hasn't been back....0
-
Who took the Micky ??0
-
I was merely making the point that the op finds the time to go to the gym 3 times a week but hasn't revisited this thread so far. Hardly a character assassination0
-
Hasn't logged back in since posting the topic on Sunday, by the looks of it.0
-
Girlonbike999 wrote:So here's what I'm doing:
squats with a 5kg weight sets of 30, 40 and 60 seconds (up to 5mins)
Reverse lunges with 3kg weight 15 x 3 reps per leg
Presses - 40KG 10 x 6 reps
Steps x 100 with 3 KG weights in each hand
I do this 3 times a week
Is there anything else in the gym that I should be doing?
I'm also getting out and riding as much as possible too
Help appreciated and thank you!!!
It may have escaped the other posters, but I'm assuming you are female. Therefore, you need to promote muscle growth differently.. There is a lot of truth in the comments about doing Hill specific intervals and the adding in a spin class or two, particularly something Like Les Mills RPM or Sprint.
On the weights, I wouldn't ditch them, but you do need to look at your sets - to avoid injury. Each group should be no more than 25-30 reps total. Depending on the equipment you use you could opt for either a classic pyramid. Increasing weight and reducing reps with each set, or a flat "strong lift" using the same weight and reps. Don't do more than 4 or 5 sets on each muscle at a time and given you are training 3 times a week, think about increasing recovery by having muscle specific workouts.
I'd do :
rower, chest, triceps, heavy squat low rep
cycle trainer, back, biceps
trx, legs and core.
But I'd also :
- make sure I was eating plenty of protein and sufficient fat to activate your growth hormones.0
