For decades, many of us endurance athletes have avoided lifting weights for fear of gaining unwanted muscle mass that would weigh them down rather than speed them up.
Now, recent research shows that not only can the right kind of resistance training put more power in your pedals and improve your efficiency, but also you can start gaining strength in less time than it takes to set up a pair of tubeless tires—just 13 minutes a session, according to the study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
In the study, researchers at CUNY Lehman College in the Bronx and other institutions set out to determine the impact various set and repetition combinations would have on muscle strength, endurance, and hypertrophy, or how big their muscles grew.
After taking baseline measurements, the researchers divided 34 resistance-trained men into three groups and had them all perform an exercise routine, which included 8 to 12 reps of seven upper and lower body exercises. One group performed five sets of each exercise, with about 90 seconds of rest between sets—a high volume approach that had them in the gym for over an hour. The second, medium-volume group performed three sets of each exercise, which took about 40 minutes to complete. Finally, a low-volume group performed just one set of each exercise, getting them in and out of the gym in just 13 minutes.
Each group performed their assigned workout three times per week for eight weeks. At the end of the study, all three groups got stronger and improved their muscular endurance. Surprisingly, there were no significant difference among the groups in strength and endurance gains: The quick-hit lifters enjoyed the same improvements as those who were in the gym five times as long.
The only difference between the high volume and low volume lifters was muscle size. While all the men experienced some increase in muscle size, those lifting higher volumes saw the most significant gains. In short, the more sets the men lifted, the bigger their muscles got. But again, the burlier men weren’t stronger, just beefier. That’s good news for endurance athletes who benefit from increased strength, but can pay a weight penalty for too much mass.
Lifting makes you a better rider by maintaining that muscle and by recruiting and training more muscle fibers, so you can pedal more efficiently—using less oxygen at a given intensity—and last longer before fatiguing. In one study, trained cyclists who added three days of strength training a week to their endurance routine improved their short-term endurance by 11 percent and their time to exhaustion at 80 percent max from 71 minutes to 85 minutes after 10 weeks.
Lifting weights also gives you strength benefits you can’t get from just riding all the time, especially as you get older and start combating age-related muscle loss. Muscle starts slipping away after age 30, and that loss accelerates over time. Strength training helps you maintain more muscle and is linked to a lower body-mass index. Plus, as little as one strength training session a week slashes your risk of heart disease and dying from a cardiovascular event by 40 to 70 percent, whether or not you get the recommended amount of cardio every week.
Due to the low-impact nature of the sport, cyclists are at risk for low bone density, and new research shows that a few months of strength training a year isn’t enough to make up for 10 months of all low-impact exercise.
So just how heavy should you lift? The short strength sessions study used the 8 to 12 repetition range, but there are a variety of ways to lift weights. You can do lighter weights with higher repetitions (think:15 to 20), or heavier weights at 5 to 6 repetitions. The factor that matters most is lifting to failure—pushing hard enough that you truly can’t eke out another rep. If you do that, one set is all you need to reap the rewards of strength training, without sweating unwanted gains in size.
4 Great Muscle Makers
Bowflex Adjustable Dumbbells
$299
You can do an infinite amount of exercises with dumbbells. This unique dial system makes these weights lighter or heavier from 5 to 52.5 pounds in 2.5 lb. increments.
AmazonBasics Cast Iron Kettlebells
$12-68
Swings, squats, and other basic kettlebell exercises build your lower powerhouse muscles and improve endurance.
Nike+ Training Club App
nike.com
Free
This app features more than 185 workouts for nearly every goal imaginable with clear audio and visual guidance for every move.
Titan Fitness Medicine Ball
$32
Medicine ball moves build balance, stability, and a rock solid core. This one features a thick rubber exterior to withstand slams and give you extra grip.
[Related:The Ultimate Guide to High Intensity Interval Training for Cyclists]
If you're worried about finding time to hit the gym in addition to your usual riding schedule, it’s actually better to substitute some lifting for endurance workouts, especially in the winter months and shoulder seasons (when many of those miles are trainer miles anyway). Research on trained competitive cyclists shows that those who swap some (up to 37 percent in one study) endurance training for strength training improve their max power and time-trial performance without compromising their endurance.
Personally, I find regular strength training gives me another gear—especially uphills—because I can pedal comfortably longer in each gear before I need to shift. As an unexpected bonus, having strong muscles makes me more resistant to aches, pains, and injury. Niggles in my shoulders from past crashes no longer hurt, and I feel better able to absorb the general lumps and bumps of mountain biking and off-road riding.
A short session one to three times a week is all it takes. Lift a little so you can ride a lot...and then some.
