Phyclokross

[M. Mcgregor]

Well, a few people have asked me in the past,"...if I decide to lift, 
what types of excercises should I invest my time in?".  My answer is 
based on my philosophy towards weight trainning.

The first thing one should deterimine is;"What do I want to 
accomplish?".  Or, as you have pointed out; "what your goals are...".
Most cyclists are interested in developing specific muscles, that have 
caused them trouble in the past.  The majority of problems can be 
attributed to muscle endurance, not strength.  Just as in cycling, other 
muscles must be trained to deliver a sustained workload over the course 
of an event, in contrast to explosive or impulse work associated with say 
power lifting or sprinting.

The muscle groups tend to always be the same for cyclist, and I tried to 
outline the most common and give suggestions as to what exercises to do.  
I tend towards using less weight when ever possible, doing exercised that 
do not require the use of weights, such as pull-ups and push-ups.  
Since the mass most of us will ever push will never exceed our own body 
weight, the use of heavy weights is not necessary.

For those who plan on doing alot of road trainning and competing during 
the fall, it may be in you best interest not do alot of weight 
trainning.  But looking at the schedule, there is plenty of time for a 
person to put in 30 minutes twice or three times a week, and still have 
plenty of time to ride and recover.

My point being that if you want results with regard to developing muscles
other than from the hips down, then you better start taking care of
business (tcb), because if you wait until December or January to start it
is unlikly that you will see any lasting benifits through next season. 

If you plan on lifting with the legs, then that is another story.  We 
all have a good foundation, simply because we ride.  Therefore the muscles 
are ready to react positivly towards any stimulus. Waiting, until after 
you taper your riding schedule will create more time for "RECOVERY", 
which is the most important aspect of all development.  Starting in 
Decemeber or January will give you a couple of months to develop some 
pre-season power, and give you an edge over your lumpen brothers.

-mike

On Wed, 6 Sep 1995 EPMVELOSYS at aol.com wrote:

> Another response to weight training....it depends on what your goals are and
> where they lay/lie/lye.
>