Everyone wants to be successful; it’s human nature. We are taught from a young age that if we work hard enough at something, commit to a goal, we will eventually succeed. We eagerly believe in the mantra ‘Anything is Possible’ and while we know that may not entirely be true, it gives us all hope […]
In the past month or two I have seen a handful of articles written in cycling publications and coaches in the cycling community advocating the use of strength training in the “off season” (off season is a very poor choice of words, you’re either getting better or you’re not, I will use non competitive season hereafter) to combat bone loss. While there is not a body of evidence to suggest that strength training can improve endurance performance, it continues to be debated by cyclists, coaches and physiologists as to whether there is any cross over benefit. In my experience and through the research I have done I feel like the effects of weight training are very individual and must be considered on a case by case basis contingent upon each athletes goals, time commitments, pre-existing conditions, injury history, athletic development and extenuating factors. Additionally many reports suggest that low bone mass density (BMD) is a cause for a greater increase in fractures among cyclists, however this may not all together be true.
The goal of this post is not to go round and round on weight training and performance for cyclists, that’s a detailed discussion you should have with your coach or consulting physiologist/doctor, this post has a more specific goal. With that we would like to analytically address the concept that cyclists should weight train during their non competitive season in order to improve bone density or attenuate bone loss. The reason this is important is that it must be weighed by the athlete/coach if time away from sport specific training is the most beneficial use of training time and if weight training is being done for the right reasons. […]