Cross Training for Cyclists

Cycling

Cycling is one of the most popular activities in the 21st century, not only for fitness but also for recreational purposes. In the gym or on the road, many individuals train for a variety of reasons, whether it is something as simple as seeking to increase their endurance for distance cycling or racing, or for more progressive areas such as hills or valleys in mountainous regions. While it is important to develop muscles that pertain specifically to cycling itself, it is also important to have overall peak physical prowess, which will not only enhance your cycling goals but also create a more balanced physique to reduce the risk of injury and enable you to translate your fitness abilities to various sports and activities.

Strength training in and of itself is important to improve strength and power, but almost all research shows that muscular endurance is what sets apart the true champions. As we have observed from the top cyclists around the world in such competitions as the Tour de France, it is not strength training alone that leads to wins, but an approach that encompasses scientific methods focused upon cross training every aspect of the body, teaching not only the methods necessary to master the mind-over-muscle mentality, but also teaching athletes the proper nutrition and the overall full-body workout that transforms their bodies into high performance machines. And while the average individual training at the gym will probably limit themselves to a sampling of cross training techniques on an periodic basis, it is important to understand how cross training works and how it makes the difference between the elite cyclists and the amateurs.

For the Novice

It is important for any cyclist to be able to produce a greater amount of force through their muscles, as well as delay fatigue for as long as possible, while at the same time controlling the bicycle. Strength training can help an individual gain complete mastery of cycling. Many individuals assume that riding a bicycle simply requires strong leg muscles, but this is the smallest part of the equation. Just as important is lung capacity, strength of the heart, upper-body and arm strength to control the bicycle, as well as the added stability of core muscles, not to mention sports psychology, or the ability to create associative or dissociative states within the mind to enhance the functioning of the body and work in concert to achieve goals.

Any type of strength training or endurance training should be performed twice per week, allowing several days in between for rest. This strategy will develop strength and endurance over time. Studies have shown that the use of weights and stability exercises for the upper body not only improves stability in those areas, but enhances the ability of the cyclist to control his or her body while cycling. Improved posture leads to improved performance and reduced stress on the body.

Beyond the Novice Stage

Once you have established a group of exercises that has generated positive results, creating a routine or habit of cross training is the next step. Practice alone, however, is not the only issue an individual needs to be worried about. Club cyclists, or those individuals who are regular cyclists, might wish to consider increasing their conditioning through a variety of cross training exercises. There is a reason why professional cyclists such as Lance Armstrong perform cross training exercises on a regular basis. Incorporating cross training into one’s regular exercise routine improves the performance of the body as a whole, which is precisely what is required for those desiring to enhance their performance statistics. Setting a goal to increase your conditioning can help improve your performance on the bicycle, and once you have achieved the club cyclist stage, it is time to move beyond simple repetitive motions and start exploring the advantages of interval training. One of the best ways to increase conditioning is to establish a 10 to 12 week program that focuses upon muscular endurance. This will not only increase your postural performance on the bike, but introduces a new aspect into your routine to teach you how to spend longer amounts of time in the saddle, which can be exceptionally important when graduating from simply cycling for fitness to moving into competition.

Competitive

Elite cyclists often have the most difficulty when it comes to increasing the volume of their training as they are generally accustomed to incorporating some form of progressive interval training into their training regimen. It has been proven that excessive training can lead to injury, so the question is whether or not alternative techniques will provide sufficient benefits to outweigh changing their current routines.

For a competitive cyclist, one of the potential disadvantages of weight training can be the increase in muscle mass, which directly results in an increase of air resistance, which can be detrimental to the speed a cyclist can obtain. In addition, any increased muscle mass means that there is the additional component of gravitational force on any sort of incline, with more mass equaling more effort required to peddle the bike up the hill.

When seeking to increase one’s level of performance for competitive cycling, it is usually the endurance factors that an individual first seeks to enhance. Increasing the legs’ ability to resist fatigue is considered to be the most important aspect of endurance cycling on a competitive level, and if the legs can overcome the fatigue of an endurance race through strength and interval training, it can help improve the individual’s overall athletic potential. However, as noted earlier, it is not simply a question of leg strength or leg endurance. Part of training for any endurance sport means increasing the overall endurance of the entire body, which is why cross training is such an important part of any professional athlete’s routine. For cycling in particular it is crucial to increase not only the strength of the upper body, the lungs, and the heart, but also to increase stability and endurance to withstand long hours in the saddle – the only proven way to achieve such total balance is through cross training.

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