Weight training for cyclists

Cyclists vs. Weight Training

We already know that, once a personchooses cycling, he/she chooses it because of a need to controlhis/her body weight and a desire for staying fit and good looking,among other things. However, sometimes you cannot get the bestperformance out of your cycling activity, since your muscles are notquite developed yet. Then, you need an additional type of trainingwhich will provide you with physical strength necessary for enduringyour cycling sessions in no time. Many famous cyclists go to the gymoccasionally, compensating for their lack of strength regardingcertain muscles. Thereby, you should introduce weight training forthe benefit of your cycling routine as well.

Weight Training for Cyclists –Characteristics

When you ride yourbicycle, it is best to use up the time of daylight, with weightlifting this is not the case, making it a good choice for exercisecombinations. Namely, you might cycle, go to work and then hit thegym in the evening, doing sets of exercises necessary for boostingyour cycling performance in the first place.

You may want to perform squats, legpresses, sit ups, hamstring curls and/or back extensions,strengthening all the muscles necessary for making yourself ahardcore bicycle rider. Note that each performance in the gym shouldinfluence your cycling performance too. Thus, you need to be able tocombine them, turning the strength you gained through weight traininginto speed and endurance in cycling, taking the best out of yourmuscles.

The Exercise Program

Once you start your weight liftingprogram, make sure you do not rush it. Rather, dedicate three weeksof your time in the gym for getting accustomed to the workoutschedule. Pick three exercises from which you will benefit the mostat the moment and focus on them. You may perform 4 sets of 12repetitions, with 2 minutes pause in between. Once you manage to doone weight easily, increase it gradually.

When the three weeks pass, you areready to give more. Here, muscle building is the focus. Thus, whiledoing the same amounts of sets and repetitions, add about 5% of theweight each set. Do this for 4 weeks, until your body and muscles getused to this kind of an effective weight training program.

Next, comes the power phase. Here, youneed to decrease your repetitions and sets, doing 6 repetitions witha lot more weight. Of course, you need to be careful and not gooverboard, choosing only the weight you are capable of dealing with.Do this for two weeks, allowing your muscles to rest two or threedays after each trip to the gym.

Finally, you should reduce the weightsignificantly, during the last 2 weeks of your program andconcentrate on performing the same exercises as quickly as possible.Again do up to 4 types of exercises, resting for a couple of days inbetween.