Strength Training and Cycling

[PaloAltoCougar]

Motivated by my recent read of Younger Next Year, Mrs. PAC and I have signed on with a personal trainer and we're going to do strength training 2-3 times a week for the next several weeks and then determine whether it's been worth it. Our guy (Vinnie!) seems very good and will set up a regimen he thinks is best for us.

My questions to RCV, BG, SB and the rest of you who have trained for significant cycling and running events: Do you do regular strength/weight training? Is two days a week enough, at least for maintenance? Any advice, warnings, etc. for us as we start?

My intro session this morning left my arms feeling pathetically spent. It was funny how weak I am in certain areas and fairly good in others.

[bluegoose]

I do quite a bit of strength training in the off season, and actually i just started up again last week after taking the summer off.

I think that it helps me a great deal in several different areas. For one, I just feel more healthy when I am in better overall condition. It really helps keep my low back out of pain if I crosstrain, which for me includes running, swimming and weights.

I also think that that my leg and core workouts helped this year with improving my power for sprints. This is what i focused more of my cycling training on this year, rather than primarily climbing as in years past.

If i get a chance sometime, I'll try to outline what kind of a weekly routine that I do over the winter months.

[old_gregg]

If i get a chance sometime, I'll try to outline what kind of a weekly routine that I do over the winter months.

that would be much appreciated by this novice.

[RC Vikings]

Much like Goose I save my weight training for the winter months. I do it to try and bring some balance to my body and take a break from the bike. I actually dropped some weight last winter by breaking up my cycling routine and mixing in more upper body. I'm to old to worry about gaining to much muscle on top and hurting my cycling but hopefully by swimming, rowing, x-country skiing and weight lifting when I take my shirt off at home my wife won't throw up.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Progress report... I've worked out 2-3 times a week since starting with the personal trainer in late September. Yesterday, he measured me (not that, sickos) to see if there'd been any changes since the start. I really didn't think there'd been any change, but imagine my surprise to learn that in twelve weeks I've added 3" to my chest, 2" to my biceps, forearms and thighs, and taken an inch off my waist (my inseam now exceeds my waist for the first time in decades). Of course, since I looked like this at the start, those additional inches aren't all that impressive:

This morning, Mrs. PAC and I rode with a very fit younger couple and did a 30-mile loop with a little over 2,000 feet of climbing. We averaged 15.2 which, while hardly newsworthy, was more than one mph faster than our previous best on that very hilly route.

There's really something to this "younger next year" thing.

[pelagius]

Progress report... I've worked out 2-3 times a week since starting with the personal trainer in late September. Yesterday, he measured me (not that, sickos) to see if there'd been any changes since the start. I really didn't think there'd been any change, but imagine my surprise to learn that in twelve weeks I've added 3" to my chest, 2" to my biceps, forearms and thighs, and taken an inch off my waist (my inseam now exceeds my waist for the first time in decades). Of course, since I looked like this at the start, those additional inches aren't all that impressive:

This morning, Mrs. PAC and I rode with a very fit younger couple and did a 30-mile loop with a little over 2,000 feet of climbing. We averaged 15.2 which, while hardly newsworthy, was more than one mph faster than our previous best on that very hilly route.

There's really something to this "younger next year" thing.

Is it time to enter a master's bodybuilding comp?

[PaloAltoCougar]

Is it time to enter a master's bodybuilding comp?

Only as a spectator. I confess it's fun to see actual muscle definition--more rounded delts, actual delineation between them and the biceps, etc., but at my age I think any genuine bulking up would look freakish, or at least troubling. But I'll stick with the program and, who knows?, perhaps the wildly popular Men of CUF Calendar may someday feature more models than just the dazzling Pelagius.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I was interested in, and troubled by, RC's comment in the cross country skiing thread in The Gym:

...I've put on five pounds yet my body fat is staying steady so the good news is my wife says i've finally put some muscle on my upper body but the bad news is it won't do me a bit of good on the bike this year.

I continue to be pleased and fascinated by the bulking up I've been doing the past few weeks as a result of strength training I've been doing with real diligence for the first time in 40 years. My waist has actually gotten smaller, but I've added a bit to my chest and arms. No false modesty here--I really was Monty Burns, but with a bigger gut, four months ago.

I'm continuing on this program, despite my desire to be a better cyclist, with the following assumption, and I'd like any rebuttal comments if you riders have them:

Although adding muscle mass to one's arms and chest may reduce slightly one's optimal cycling performance, the reduction for recreational cyclists is fairly minimal (I'm very far from ever becoming an elite cyclist, and have no desire to become one), and the benefits from overall health and well-being more than compensate for the small loss in cycling prowess.

Is adding to one's arms and chest more "damaging" to cycling than I assume?

[RC Vikings]

I was interested in, and troubled by, RC's comment in the cross country skiing thread in The Gym:



I continue to be pleased and fascinated by the bulking up I've been doing the past few weeks as a result of strength training I've been doing with real diligence for the first time in 40 years. My waist has actually gotten smaller, but I've added a bit to my chest and arms. No false modesty here--I really was Monty Burns, but with a bigger gut, four months ago.

I'm continuing on this program, despite my desire to be a better cyclist, with the following assumption, and I'd like any rebuttal comments if you riders have them:

Although adding muscle mass to one's arms and chest may reduce slightly one's optimal cycling performance, the reduction for recreational cyclists is fairly minimal (I'm very far from ever becoming an elite cyclist, and have no desire to become one), and the benefits from overall health and well-being more than compensate for the small loss in cycling prowess.

Is adding to one's arms and chest more "damaging" to cycling than I assume?

PAC the only problem with gaining muscle in the upper body is the extra weight a rider will have to carry. This is why the Schleck brothers look like they have been on a six month fast. The benefits for you putting on more muscle will far out weigh losing thirty seconds on an hour climb and I mean that in the best way possible. My guess is that someone like a Laird Hamilton has done a lot better over the years with the girls then a Michael Rasmussen so keep Mrs. PAC happy and just go for that cut look.

[PaloAltoCougar]

PAC the only problem with gaining muscle in the upper body is the extra weight a rider will have to carry. This is why the Schleck brothers look like they have been on a six month fast. The benefits for you putting on more muscle will far out weigh losing thirty seconds on an hour climb and I mean that in the best way possible. My guess is that someone like a Laird Hamilton has done a lot better over the years with the girls then a Michael Rasmussen so keep Mrs. PAC happy and just go for that cut look.

That may be the most persuasive argument you could have provided for sticking with the weights. Given that I'm 58 years old with gray hair (but with a fine wife!), that's kind of pathetic, and yet it resonates.

[RC Vikings]

That may be the most persuasive argument you could have provided for sticking with the weights. Given that I'm 58 years old with gray hair (but with a fine wife!), that's kind of pathetic, and yet it resonates.

Keep lifting.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Oh, man. Those pics are going up on the bathroom mirror.