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Old 02-09-21, 11:05 PM
  #32  
Carbonfiberboy 
just another gosling
 
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Everett, WA
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Bikes: CoMo Speedster 2003, Trek 5200, CAAD 9, Fred 2004

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Although I lifted in Army gyms and did Olympic weight work when I was young, I quit for a long time and didn't get a gym membership until 1979. I started riding again in '95, which changed my interest in lifting - I wanted to get faster on the bike. So I bought Friel's Cyclist's Training Bible and had at it. What worked for me starting back at it from a different perspective, was 3 sets of 30, circuit style, 7 lifts, all sets same weight. Didn't take me long to get the weights set so that I'd fail before I got to 30 on the last set. I did that twice a week for a couple years, worked like a charm. I've done a lot of different programs since then, but I don't think anything has worked better. Only drawback is that 90 reps for 7 lifts takes a lot of time.

Current practice for cycling performance improvement is lifting heavy, starting at say 10 reps and working down to 3 sets of 4, of maybe 4 lower body exercises with ever increasing weight of course, so that one stays near failure. One doesn't get bigger lifting heavy. One gets bigger by eating more. If you do more than this, it cuts into your riding energy. That didn't seem to matter in my 50s but it does now.

I did a thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/training-...e-athlete.html
that's complete with periodized programs for the whole year. I did that for years before Covid. I'd still be doing it if I had the bucks to spend on equipment. As it is, I'm doing one-legged work with dumbbells, Ok, but not the same as lifting heavy.
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