I've always been a fan of the "Get out and ride" mentality. Unfortunately, i've travelled to sunnier climes until March next year, and don't have the opportunity to ride.
I do, however, have access to some excellent gym facilities, so i'm hoping to make the best of the situation and do some training that'll help me be a stronger / fitter / faster rider when i get home.
After a bit of searching, i've some across a few training regimes such as this: [url] http://www.training4cyclists.com/12-week-strength-program-for-cyclists/ [/url]. Does anyone have any idea if this sort of thing is worth the bother? Does anyone know of any specific training that'll have a benefit on the bike?
I'm not a long distance rider - usually a couple of hours on a sunday morning / weekday evening. And i've been running 5 / 6 times a week too, to work on my
cardio.
Yeh, to get fast at riding bikes you need to ride a bike, not **** about doing bicep curls or running 6 times per week.
Best thing to do would be get on one of those gym bikes or something like that, I guess its as close as you'll get.
Strength training (especially core strength) will make you faster, in that you'll get less tired towards the end of a ride. Shoulder strength is also good so you don't start getting lazy/knackered at the end of a ride and not lifting the bike etc. Fast MTB riding should use upper body strength as well as legs, as you should be lifting the bike and riding it, rather than reacting to it. Riding lots will also help (intervals etc can really help speed).
The other advantage of training off the bike is that it can keep the biking fresh - if all you do is train on the bike it can get a bit tiresome.
Elite level XC riders do a lot of gym work, unlike their roadie brothers. However most normal people would be better off simply riding more. That said if you can't get out and ride then intervals on the treadmill/rower/stationary bike would be of huge benefit.
Core strength work and old school leg work wouldn't go amiss but I'd place more time on intervals
triceps and forearms are a good place to start to reduce arm pump. Beyond that, unless you have specific needs or are elite level athlete its probably best to ride (or ride different, bmx/spinning etc) however, if you think it might help, go for it, its better than doing nothing and can't hurt (unless you hurt yourself)
Go here: http://www.bikejames.com/
I've been doing his beta testers video kettle bell workouts - they're oriented towards the different strength, stability and power you need when Riding a mountain bike as opposed to just pedalling a bike. Roadie gym training will miss out tons of what you need when manhandling a bike downhill over obstacles and round corners at speed whilst BMX/4X gym training is too sprint and peak power focused without the strength endurance things you need. Try to ignore the Americanised (such and such a $ value for just blah blah blah) sales pitch on the site because the content is great!
I did this program as part of my Mountain Mayhem training. As I live in the middle east getting out for a ride in the summer is pretty much impossible (40C+ at night) so this with some tabata training on the exercise bike and circuit training was pretty good. I held my own in my team with the fastest lap so I think doing some extra off the bike training definitely helps. The rest of my team was training in the UK and had far more time in the saddle than I did and normally we are fairly matched on the bike. I was surprised with the weight improvement over the 12 weeks too. If you got a good gym why not make the most of it.