Cadel Evans on gym work:
Most of the exercises I do are specific to my sport. Its not like I can say "I bench this weight and I squat this". I do squats but they are leg squats with dumbbells. I train so that I don't compensate to one side - to my stronger side. I concentrate on being of equal strength. To be a cyclist, you have to be careful about strength and balances. Obviously if you've got a stronger leg, your going to favour that leg and that affects your hip, your back and all sorts of injuries can result from that.
Most of my strength work is based not only around increasing strength, but also as an injury deterrent or focussing on maintaining a balance in strength.
From "Close to Flying" Rob Arnold 2009
In response to this the nay sayers suggest that these athletes are still great regardless of their mistakes (implying that weight training is a mistake). They leave out that they all have VERY smart and experienced people advising them and have actually achieved results. Not everything is learnt from lab coats :)
:)
Edit: As for not being able to prove injury prevention. You should look into results regarding the introduction of specific weights sessions to prevent/remedy ITB injuries in runners. From memory the success rate after 6 weeks was over 90%.
Most of the exercises I do are specific to my sport. Its not like I can say "I bench this weight and I squat this". I do squats but they are leg squats with dumbbells. I train so that I don't compensate to one side - to my stronger side. I concentrate on being of equal strength. To be a cyclist, you have to be careful about strength and balances. Obviously if you've got a stronger leg, your going to favour that leg and that affects your hip, your back and all sorts of injuries can result from that.
Most of my strength work is based not only around increasing strength, but also as an injury deterrent or focussing on maintaining a balance in strength.
From "Close to Flying" Rob Arnold 2009
In response to this the nay sayers suggest that these athletes are still great regardless of their mistakes (implying that weight training is a mistake). They leave out that they all have VERY smart and experienced people advising them and have actually achieved results. Not everything is learnt from lab coats :)
:)
Edit: As for not being able to prove injury prevention. You should look into results regarding the introduction of specific weights sessions to prevent/remedy ITB injuries in runners. From memory the success rate after 6 weeks was over 90%.