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Aug 04
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Cycling TrainingCycling Competitions Comments Off
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The study done to date on the consequences of weight training on bike riders has brought varied results.
After twelve weeks, the strength-trained men improved their endurance while cycling at a power of 75 pc V02max by 33 p.c. and also lifted lactate threshold ( the single best predictor of endurance performance ) by twelve p.c. However, these men were untrained before the study and did not carry out regular cycling workouts in the research, so that the applicability of these findings to significant sportsmen is dubious. In that inquiry, 8 experienced bike riders added a few days per week of strength training to their usual endurance routines over a 10-week period.
The strength coaching was seriously straightforward, concentrating on parallel squats ( 5 sets of 5 reps per workout ), knee extensions ( 3 sets of 5 reps ), knee flexions ( three x *, and toe raises ( three x twenty-five ), all with reasonably heavy resistance. The sole progression exploited in the program concerned the quantity of resistance, which increased continuously as strength improved.
Nevertheless , the strength coaching had a seriously positive result on cycling performance. The strength program was comparatively gauche, composed of 3 sets of nearly 8 repetitions of hamstring curls, leg presses, and quadriceps extensions using reasonably heavy resistance. After 6 weeks, the strength coaching had produced rather galvanizing gains in strength ( the gains averaged rather more than twenty percent ). However, precise cycling performances were not improved ; in truth, they were worse than before the strength coaching was undertaken. 40-K race times slowed from 59 to 62 mins, and the strength-trained bike riders moaned of feeling ‘heavy’ and tired during their workouts. Why did Hickson’s study uncover clear benefits related to strength coaching for bike riders, while Home’s work made clear the reverse? No-one knows for certain, meaning it’s time for a private observation. In the meantime , it is possible that Home’s added strength coaching sent his sportsmen into the overtrained – or at least ’stale’ – state.
The feelings of fatigue which originated right after the start of strength coaching means that the athletes were simply doing too much work. That actually would not be an irrational thought but it does not say why strength coaching as such would really slow down endurance performances, as it appeared to do for Home’s performers ( no other study has indicated this ).
It appears highly likely that Home’s added strength coaching was simply the straw that broke the camel’s back ; it was not the strength coaching which slowed the bike riders but the whole amount of work they were forced to complete. Another issue that was not kept controlled in the studies was nourishment and augmentation which also would have a significant impact. It is my private feeling after 30 years in the physical coaching world that weight coaching has benefits in pretty much all sports when done correctly and coupled with the right nourishment.