Leg Strength for Cycling
An Australian research team has shown why training for
strength is important for cyclists. Untrained men who were not
cyclists used a hack-squat apparatus (a weight-lifting machine
used to strengthen the legs and buttocks) to lift 85 percent of the
heaviest weight that they could lift once, five times in a row.
Then they rested and repeated the sets of five. They did this four
times, in three sessions per week. They did no cycling during the
strength-training period of the study. They were given cycling
endurance tests before and after. The study concluded that the
strength training made men far more efficient in cycling (Medicine
and Science in Sports and Exercise, July 2005.)
Efficiency is the amount of energy a person uses to
perform a certain amount of work at high intensity. However,
strength training did not improve the men’s aerobic capacity: the
ability to use oxygen or circulate blood. So strength training did
not improve heart or lung function, but it did give the participants
extra power to push the pedals harder, which helped them ride
faster.
Top-level competitive cyclists train for endurance by
riding for three to eight hours a day. They usually cannot push
heavy weights with their legs because their cycling schedule
does not give them time to recover from strenuous weightlifting
workouts. Since this study used untrained cyclists, it does not
suggest that professional cyclists should change their training
methods. Competitive cyclists gain tremendous leg muscle
strength just by climbing steep hills very fast, which exerts as
much force on their leg muscles as weightlifting and makes them
very strong.
Checked 2/28/11