Strength exercises for road cyclists? Want to improve my time climbing

[redacted]

I've done the El Tour de Tucson (flat) and am now training for America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride in Tahoe.

I need some strength exercises to do on bad-weather days. Any ideas?

Thanks.

[seemunkee]

1. Squats

If you don't have weights you can try wall squats. Get in a sitting position with your back against the wall and hold it for a minute. Do three reps. If that is too easy go for longer times
OR
Pistols
One legged squats. Hold one leg straight out in front of you and squat all the way down and back up again. It is actually easier if you hold a weight in front of you, like a 10-20lb dumbbell.
article on pistols
http://www.powerathletesmag.com/pages/pistols.htm

[Kolesar]

2. I call those "wall slides" and they are a great recommendation

It is weight training that you can do without any equipment.

I have to warn everybody about leg presses. I overtrained doing them and damaged the cartilege on my patella. It took a long time before they did not hurt in the winter.

I would think bent-over rowing of some sort would be good since cycling involves pulling up on the handlebars.

[redacted]

4. I understand with squats you have to be careful not to allow your

knee to extent beyond your ankle or mid-foot. That will cause damage. Like having your bike seat too low will.

Do you think that is what you did? Squatted too far? Or did you use a leg press machine at the gym?

Honestly I have squats so much I can't imagine overtraining with them :-)

Thankfully we have another weekend of nice weather on the way. I am sure I'll run into ice at the higher elevations, but no rain.

Last week I climbed to about 2500ft and was so damn pround of myself. :-) I just never been much of a climber.

[Kolesar]

5. Leg press on one of those "sled" machines

Where you lay on your back and press upward at a 45 degree angle. I was putting 100 or 200 pounds on it, IIRC. I was doing high reps, greater than 15, but still got into trouble.

I think the problem was that I already had strong legs, having cycled 1000 miles from March to July. I was overtraining. I should have taken more time off between workouts. My knees did not feel very unstable when pressing.

The pain started three days into a long backpack trip where I had 61 pounds in my pack. Lots of food and fuel for a long trip. That was certainly "overtraining".

By some accounts, a cyclist really does not need to work the quads more, because they are the muscle that does the work cycling. I have also read that resistance training gives you the "strength" you need on a long climb. I recall this from years of reading cycling articles. I don't compete though, and never developed a "regimen" or consulted with a trainer. There is probably a lot more to this. Your mileage may vary!

[redacted]

3. thnx

[vanamonde]

6. Riding the AMBBR

I'll be there also this year. Are you in Team in Training?

[redacted]

7. Yes I am a TNT mentor.

[wtmusic]

8. Don't forget the hamstrings

from which 1/3 of your cycling power comes: