38. HEAVY GYM STRENGTH TRAINING IMPROVES BOTH 1SEC AND 40MIN W/KG!
For many years gym strength training was believed to make cyclists just heavier and slower.
However, in the last 15-20 years, many scientific studies showed the opposite: heavy gym strength training benefits cycling performance. In this KIW’s Research Note we have a look at one of the most important and explicative study in this area.
Does heavy gym strength training improve cycling performance?
A work published by Prof. Bent Rønnestad and Colleagues (Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences) on Journal of Sport Sciences in 2017 tried to answer this question. (1)
HOW DID THEY TRAIN?
They recruited 20 pro continental cyclists (mean age ~20, mean VO2max ~75)
For the first 10 weeks of the preparatory period, they were divided into two groups (Gym + Bike vs Bike only). The two groups trained similarly (~12 hrs per week, almost all at low intensity) with the only following difference:
Gym + Bike (G+B): performed 2x week 45min heavy gym strength training sessions.
Bike only (B): they performed only ‘on the bike’ training.
The gym schedule of the G+B group was the following:
Exercises which try to replicate cycling movements:
half-squat
leg press with one leg at a time
one-legged hip flexion
ankle plantar flexion
To replicate as much as possible cycling movements the knee angle range of movement during the exercise was between 90° and almost full extension.
The concentric phase was performed with the aim to move the resistance as fast as possible (max effort, approximately 1 s), while the eccentric was performed more slowly (duration 2-3 s).
What about sets and load?
A progressive overload for intensity (weight) was used:
Week 1-3: 1st session 3x 10RM; 2nd session 3x 6RM
Week 4-6: 1st session 3x 8RM; 2nd session 3x 5RM
Week 7-10: 3x 6RM; 2nd session 3x 4RM
*RM means “repetitions maximum”. 10RM means using a weight that permits to do maximum 10 repetitions.
WHAT DID THEY FIND?
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