Weight Training
Since fall, and soon winter, has started to rear its ugly face I got to dream up ways to stay fit while the temperature dips below my comfort zone. I have been thinking about hitting the leg weights and did a little research about the effects and advantages of lifting weights. I orginally thought that added muscle in the legs would allow me to push more watts and, in turn, go faster…. but thanks to the internet I have been enlightened. I copied this little paragraph from a site I came across and i believe it sums up the ‘Weights’ question nicely.
Since cycling is primarily an endurance sport, the first question you have to ask is what limits the power that a cyclist can sustain for an extended period of time? For most cyclists, this is limited by the amount of oxygen that they can deliver to their muscles. The upper limit for highly-trained cyclists is enough oxygen to provide about 500 watts of cycling power. Once you have enough muscle in your legs to utilize this amount, additional muscle is just excess baggage in endurance riding. It doesn’t require a lot of muscle to push 500 watts (most adult males can do this, they just can’t provide enough oxygen to the legs to maintain it for any length of time).
The extra muscle will help in sprints and short climbs, but since most bicycle races are primarily endurance events, it’s usually more of a hindrance. Of course, most people never develop their cardiovascular system to anywhere near this capacity. The average adult male can sustain about 150 watts, while a good recreational rider may be able to sustain 300 watts. Lance Armstrong is able to sustain about 500 watts. NASA did a study some years ago and concluded that most healthy male adults could be trained to 450 watts. Based on this many cyclists believe that weight training is not necessary.
So I take it that your new winter goal will be to improve your “sustainable” watts from 100 to 150?
Let’s not get too carried away Kyle. That’s a pretty lofty goal for someone who has to walk his bike up Cochrane Hill.
just get calf implants
If you weren’t on my team, I’d just smile and nod.
But believing this one article is like believing the one article saying there is no global warming.
You don’t need to gain muscle to increase power – you should work on strength and power exercises and avoid hypertrophy. That’s how I work on leg strength while keeping my legs looking like spaghettini.