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Will Heavy Leg Weights Help My Cycling?

QUESTION: I’m doing a leg workout that’s so hard I can handle it only once per week: one set of squats or leg presses, one set of leg extensions, one set of calf raises. Each exercise is for 20-60 reps until failure; I can’t possibly do another rep. I’m already getting stronger, so how much improvement I can expect in my cycling next summer? – Ian G.

RBR Replies: First, remember that the purpose of the weight room is to build strength, not endurance, which is best built on the bike. Strength, on the other hand, is developed with relatively low repetitions and heavy weights. However, many riders can’t use heavy weights without the risk of injury, so you are the best judge of the mix of weight, sets and reps you can handle.

That said, a weight training program like you describe can boost max strength quickly.

Here are a couple of thoughts on the program you’ve described:

  • Leg extensions don’t have much application to our sport. They train your muscles to thrust your foot up, and you never do that in cycling – unless you’re kicking the bike in frustration after a poor result. Also, leg extensions create a great deal of shearing force on the back of the kneecaps. If you persist in doing them, limit the range to the last 15-20 degrees before full extension. Alternating squats and leg presses might be a better way to “superset.”
  • Your workout is great for strength with fairly low reps, but it’s not so effective for cycling, which involves thousands of repetitions during a ride. Of course, strength is good to have because it serves as a physical foundation. But you don’t want to use too much energy for lifting, even in the winter, at the expense of developing an aerobic base.

I recommend two workouts to address both needs:

(1) Do leg presses or squats in a ladder arrangement, using progressively higher weights and lower reps. For example, you might do 6 sets. Start with a 25-rep warm-up set and progress to some serious tonnage for 10 reps. Then end with a “burnout set,” using a light weight for 50 reps. It’ll hurt!

(2) Do the 6 sets of the ladder and alternate each one with 30 to 60 seconds of hard effort on a stationary bike or indoor trainer. In theory, this helps convert the strength gained from the squats or leg presses into cycling-specific power.

Now, will developing this sort of strength improve cycling? The jury is out. Studies contradict each other. There’s no doubt, however, that added strength helps a great deal if it means more pedaling power.

Part of it is psychological. If you know you can squat 400 pounds, tough hills seem way less threatening.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Chris says

    July 29, 2022 at 8:24 am

    Better off focusing on upper body strength conditioning and sticking to pedaling as you noted. Why? Because there’s nothing worse than a cycler with spaghetti string arms, chicken chest and the shoulders of a 12 year old kid!

    Reply
  2. Michael Kubes says

    December 26, 2022 at 11:04 am

    I developed Chrondromalicia many years ago.
    Leg extentions were part of the prescribed program to build up the muscles to stabilize the knee cap.
    If I don’t do them, I get knee pain from cycling. Particularly from climbing hills.
    And yes, I have lower gears.

    Reply
    • Mike says

      January 7, 2023 at 3:25 pm

      That’s a good idea. Started doing them today hoping that will stop my knee pain.

      Reply
  3. Tom says

    January 5, 2023 at 1:15 pm

    Respectfully, the workouts mentioned above are not optimal for cycling – if not recipes for disaster. If you’re already cycling 3+ times a week, the amount of sets and reps stated is way too much.

    Heavy, low-rep training (80% or more of your 1-rep max) is what will give you the biggest benefit for your time in the gym. This means no more than 5 sets of 3-5 reps, squats preferably but leg presses will work. This set/rep scheme can be used for all other exercises as well.

    Singles (1 rep only at 90% or more of max) work really well too and are fairly easy to recover from. I’ve been using singles (up to 10 sets) for the past several months and my strength on the bike has never been better.

    Reply

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