LateRunnerPhil wrote:
Crowd Sorcerer wrote:
You're talking to a former national level road cyclist that never lifted weights while competing.
5 second power = 19.4 w/kg
30 second power = 14.1 w/kg
1 minute power = 11.2 w/kg
5 minute power = 6.9 w/kg
20 minute power = 6.1 w/kg
No joke, when I was in this shape if I did 10 squats with a 45lb bar my hamstrings would get absolutely blown out and I couldn't even bend over to tie my shoe the next day. Absolute power in the gym doesn't cross over. I do think it's probably a good idea for bone strength, but not direct performance.
Yea but what you need to realize is that muscle mass declines with age. You might not have benefited the years you were an elite-cyclist, but doing constant strength training and squats could have helped you maintain your muscle mass well into the higher ages. You will notice that once you get older. While lifting might not have made you get more w/kg in your prime, it could have ensured that you will still be able to ride 20-30 years later.
When I was a cyclist, I was naturally strong but lacked aerobic power. I spent too much time in the gym thinking it would make me powerful and increase my average pace but what happened is that I often was so sore that I was biking too often with very low power. It would have been better to have more days where I'm really fresh and then get some nice cycling-specific training in.
Even pros only lift heavy for very short periods in the winter, and then go to maintenance mode with very light lifting, or even scrap it completely since all the races are extremely good specific work anyway.
I would have loved to have reduced my muscle mass back then. Anyway you can’t speak of pros as if they all do the same thing. I’ve worked with quite a few and lifting was never a priority for any of the better pros. This includes guys who could put out over 2000w like Justin Williams. He didn’t lift at all.
