i’m 6’ and 170lbs…i can only squat comfortable around 150lbs x 15…on the flats for an hour i’m at 18.5 mph with a 148hr…i can’t sustain a 160hr …after the swim…
the question i’d love to ask you guys is…for people like me to get faster should you focus on building some muscle strength and once you get it then hit the aerobic training…
i see you guys pulling amazing speeds and yet you are not huge…so i’m thinking maybe being able to squat 300lbs isn’t as important as endurance???
i’m sure it’s an oversimplified question…but what makes you so fast::endurance vs. strength
to get faster on the bike you should concentrate on building your lactic acid tolerance while pushing a steady 80-100 RPM cadence and progressively harder gears (strength). lifting weights is fine, but the same efforts applied to hill/climbing repeats will be much more beneficial IMHO.
hypotheticaly:: what are your thoughts??
the same person
a. goes to the gym and goes from 150lb squats to say 250lb…maintains his current aerobic ability and lactic threshold
or
b. trains on bike in hills increasing his lactic threshold can spin at say 10b higher then before in the same conditions…
which approach would be smarter or should one combine them a bit?
can’t see the relevance in being able to squat 100kg+ for a triathlete. It is mainly an aerobic based sport. You can incorporate some strength work on hills into your long rides thus achieving both goals. Building up heaps of strength first will just see you fly up the first 50 metres of a hill then die in the arse and all the aerobically fit tortoises will fly past you.
you might refer to Dan’s article on the ageing athlete regarding lower body weight training.
however if you enjoy gym work, do both, the view can be better in the gym.
Shep has a very good point. You currently aren’t gunning for the podium in a triathlon, and probably don’t have such aspirations. So, enjoying being in better shape/health, while gradually improving your speed, is probably more along the lines of your goals. Sure, do squats, especially if you like doing them. Sure, ride more, do more hills, ride with people faster than you sometimes. You will get faster. You will get faster on the bike the more time you spend on the bike for a good long while.
Athough the gym can facilitate your improvement, it certainly is not a substitute. Although brute strength is important to some extent, aerobic fitness is much more important in time trials. I can beat much stronger riders over a distance, and there are much weaker riders than me that can beat me over a distance. BTW, there are some stronger riders that also beat me over a distance, too…they are the elite!
Great thread. How to get to studliness? I’m not there so can’t speak from experience. The question posed to me by my coach was, "What’s the limiter…why do athletes run out of gas? If you put a world-class swimmer-runner on a bike and have him ride to failure, what fails? I don’t know if the answer is universally applicable for all points on the studliness curve but its something to think about.
Leg size is poorly correlated with cycling speed… (if at all) for a time trial type event.
Training is specific, train at the same effort you race at (some of the time).
I found that weight room made me a better sprinter and gave me the ability to push harder during accelerations in the pack, which for me was my biggest weakness.
I’m still relatively new to cycling, finishing my second full season of triathlon training. I came from a marathon running background and some swimming way, way back. When going through Friel’s book, he gives some top-end goal weights. for a 170lbs male triathlete he recommends topping out around 221lbs - 289 lbs for free weight squats, 3 sets of 6.
I’m a little lighter (161-164) and tried lifting for the first time this season. Like you, I maxed out at a weight far below Friels recommendations. I quickly made it up to Friels goal weights and then stopped the lifting for this season. I think that it made a big difference in the amount of time I could push in HR zone 3. Since I am focusing on the 1/2 IM distance, zone 3 time is crucial for me.
For those of you not familiar with this HR zones, zone 3 is the “muscular endurance” zone. LTHR is at the top of zone 4. IM bike pace is typically zone 2. Top athletes will race much of the bike course in zone 3 for a 1/2 IM. MOP in a 1/2 IM will spend most of their time in zone 2.