Doge

Weight training is not very useful for 100mile+ races, esp with hills, and age is a factor too, but certainly they are for shorter distances.

Over time (3-5 years) it also builds the tenons and sinew/fibers that take time and are the parts that often get fatigued and injured.

My hopefully soon to be verified opinion is you can ride 1-2 hours a week, lift 3-4 hours and be 4-5 months off peak just by adding miles. The downside of course is the longer the race, multi-day - speed is the lessor factor than endurance, and mass. The GC world tour guys (men) need very little weight training, other than build the tendons, and they already have that. For a USA kinda rider, it seems only good if done carefully. Then some would rather spend those 3 hours in the gym on the road. Can't blame them, but I expect they are slower than those that spend it in the gym.

Hapsmo911

I would tend to agree with most of this. Seems to me that the shorter the effort the more strength training is going to help. I guess thats why Robert Forstemann is like a tank and froome is like a bean.

colnago62

PaulRivers

Whether it's "vaccines cause autism", or "surely throwing 400lbs on your spine can never cause any serious issues", you'll believe what you want to believe. People used to believe gods lived on olympus and sent lightning bolts down to.

OBoile

Coming from you, this is the height of irony.

Dan333SP

****?

Also, what's weightlifting lifting? Is that like picking up a person lifting weights? Seems pretty meta.

Carbonfiberboy 

Actually, it's the other way 'round. Weight training, as done by endurance riders, adds endurance, but nothing to one's FTP, though it does help with the sprint. Track sprinters train and eat differently. As I linked to in a previous post, Froome lifts in the gym 5 days/week. I believe weight training is a big reason I could do 400k rides no problem while not doing training rides longer than 100k. For duffers like me, two 1-hour sessions/week in the gym is about right, ~30' once a week during the summer. Froome's trainer obviously thinks a lot more is appropriate for stage racers. Probably so. Worked for him.

But like, never, never spend 3 hours in the gym lifting. Good grief. Ride your bike for and hour or two, then lift for an hour, go home. For Froome, it's probably more like ride for 5 hours, go to the gym for an hour. If my guess is correct, Froome's bike/gym ratio would be about the same as mine: 5/1. Seems about right.

Campag4life

Oh no...in bold above. Froome like all you weight lifting gym rats, you can't tear him away from the weights. In fact Froome is more a weight lifting gym rat than a bike rider. Just look at the muscle he is packing on...lol.

Carbonfiberboy 

I thought one of the most fun bits in that video is that when the sprint starts, Froome sprints up wheel-to-wheel with Sagan and stays there, trying to shut the door even as Sagan starts to go hard. He makes Sagan really hit it for a few strokes to pull in front. What an admirable competitor! Didn't matter he had zero chance, he went anyway. He could have just sat in, but no, he came in second. Big grins all around, I bet.

redlude97

sigh, more ignorant drivel. Its been said at least 10x in this thread the goal in weightlifting for cyclists is not to put on mass, and to not weight train like weight lifters do.

Steeljag

Campag4life

Oh sign...channeling redlube, the font of knowledge on BF, true dat Steeljag.
Real question is, what kind of gym time takes a normal human being and turns them into a live popsicle stick?
Redlude's deduction is brilliant I tell you.

redlude97

So are you saying Froome is lying about spending 5 days/week in the gym? Or that all weightlifting leads to massive muscles?

PaulRivers

I'm sure you have an official study from north pole penguins or something to back that up.

Campag4life

No, he goes there. But he does what are called muscle shrinking exercises. In fact, looking at him, he may even have this muscles extracted in some kind of procedure so that he turns into a human skeleton. Rest of the time I think he kicks back and watches TV while stronger people lift weights while he is only allowed to sip water and eat nothing.

Carbonfiberboy 

Note the considerable vascularity in those biceps. I could only wish. I got 'em, but they're teeny. These guys have amazing blood delivery equipment. But in the arms? Who knew?

I've been yakking about my weight training time, but with no facts. So I went to my PMC and adjusted the time scale to the last 730 days:

55% cycling
22% hiking and snowshoeing in the Cascades
12.5% weight training
10.5% Other - mostly snow sports and running

I use a Garmin to track cycling and a Polar V800 watch to track everything else. My wife and i do a good bit of hiking and backpacking. I pause the watch during our breaks. I think that's another reason that we have good endurance on the bike for our age and have been mostly injury-free.

Anyway, 7 hours of aerobic sports for every hour in the gym. That's been a good balance.

MoAlpha

Campag4life

In bold above. Again so right. Just like you nailed it Froome with his muscularity is a world class sprinter. You couldn't be more right.
No question, Froome has arms to envy. Well, for any 8 y.o. girl or supermodel anyway who want to look like clothes hangers.. But carry on. BF runs the entire spectrum of revisionist history and good to learn the alternative universe of oppositional thought is alive and well, if for nothing else, at least entertainment value...lol.

CFB, I hope you don't mind, I have adjusted your exercise routine just a bit to make you fitter as follows:

70% cycling
52% hiking and snowshoeing in the Cascades
2.5% weight training
81% fiction writing on BF

Please note, above subgroups don't tally to 100% but only for consistency because your posts don't add up either. Sorry just poking fun. I am waiting for the next episode. Maybe Froome will move away from 'cycling specific weight training' and become a powerlifter?

Wattsup

https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...1113115430.htm
"Lifting weights for less than an hour a week may reduce your risk for a heart attack or stroke by 40 to 70 percent, according to a new study. Spending more than an hour in the weight room did not yield any additional benefit, the researchers found. The results show benefits of strength training are independent of running, walking or other aerobic activity."

531Aussie

This might be slightly off topic, but one minor peeve of mine is the proliferation of the term "power" in cycling, particularly road cycling, because it often gives the incorrect impression that cyclists have to be power-FUL. I bet if power meters were called something else, such as "output meters" or "efficiency meters", there would be less confusion.

To generate 400 Watts, the required force on each pedal is something like 28 pounds (according to a very quick Google search; source Ric Stern on the Road Bike Review Forum), which obviously doesn't require much strength. To state something just as obvious: it's about sustaining that force.
Discuss

gregf83 

Dean V

Maybe this is theoretically true but I know 400w feels a lot harder than walking up stairs.
Obviously it is from a power viewpoint but the perceived force required seems considerably more also.

531Aussie

Ah well, I got it from here. I read whole thread, and I admit I don't understand it all. Someone else said that 28 pounds (per leg) might be average for the full revolution, and therefore higher at peak force.,....????

https://forums.roadbikereview.com/ra...-284570-2.html

rubiksoval

Maybe not holding on to a handrail and hoisting your self up step by step, but I'd say it's extremely comparable to maybe taking steps two at a time, in which you're pushing off more than just taking one step at a time. 400 watts is really not very much at all, and can be hit just accelerating from a stop or standing up to muscle over a small hill. Just a second or so of "pushing" and you'll hit 400 watts.

I've said 100 times on this forum that the ability to generate watts is not something that's holding anyone back. It's the ability to sustain those watts that lies at the core of nearly every question. And I still steadfastly maintain that if that's your goal, you need to get specific on-the-bike work to maximize those abilities.

MoAlpha