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Mid 50s here do plenty of MTB but still find my core / arms need a strength boost. I joined PureGym or more specifically my wife did, on a deal that is unlimited for her but gives me 4 passes a month, which I use to go to strength / lift classes there as I find it hard to motivate myself to work as hard on my own, it's pretty cheap £34.99? for both of us / month.
Nup, just practical. It works.
I thought that. I don't need to do strength, I'll just run or cycle more. No bother, I hate the gym anyway.
....
So yeah, do some strength, particularly as you got older. You might hate it but it's really good for you.
There's no doubt that following a weights or fitness regime will build muscle. The problem is most people aren't dedicated enough to put up with the grind. Dedicated athletes will. I'm not aiming my advice at dedicated athletes though.
That's why I advocate doing something that gives you all those benefits as a by product. Have fun and work your musculature at the same time. Results won't be as quick as doing weights, but you're more likely to keep doing it years from now.
I'm assuming we're looking for functional fitness rather than a Schwartzenegger body.
As for what works as you age, I believe I'm one of the oldest here. I'm still strong, and that's from just having fun on my bike.
That's why I advocate doing something that gives you all those benefits as a by product
My point is that it doesn't give you all those benefits at all. It gives you some, and that might be enough for you and many others. But it's not all and there is shed loads of research that suggest doing strength work is a really good thing, irrelevant of what else you do.
I didn't enjoy it when I started but now the habit has formed, I can feel the benefit and I know what I'm doing I enjoy it more. And there is no way I'd get all of those benefits from cycling, running or anything bar shifting bits of metal around a gym.
You are the voice of experience epicyclo, but you have it the wrong way around. Lifting heavy weights is piss-easy, for most people, compared to grinding a single speed up hill and down dale.
Main problem with sticking to the bike is the back of your body. Hamstrings and back as weak as a kitten.
It doesn't just build muscle, lifting weights loads your bones and prevents bone density loss. Especially important for postmenopausal women. Cycling and swimming are both poor for this.
Of course the weights don't have to be plates of cast iron they could be large flower pots, paving slabs, root balls and barrow loads of soil, if you like gardening that is - like my other half.
That's why I advocate doing something that gives you all those benefits as a by product.
Conveniently, GCN put out a video this week which handily disproves this
The dedicated, cycling only, presenters are, to put it frankly, absolute dweebs, whereas Olly having done some weight training alongside his cycling, is significantly stronger than them