Cycling Weight Training For The Winter

August 16, 2012 by  
Filed under Endurance Training

Article by Jake Austin

Cycling Weight Training For The Winter – Sports – Other Sports

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As we all know, cycling mainly utilizes the muscles of the lower body. While this is beneficial, the problem is that the upper body gets left out. Whether you are training for a sport or for fitness, having a nice balance of strength throughout the body is important. This is particularly true for those who do mountain biking, as having good upper body strength is necessary because they lift and jump heavier bikes in rough terrain.

Cycling weight training therefore should be a part of any cyclist’s program. The questions you have to ask are what type of training should you do, and when? A logical approach would be to build strength during the off-season while you aren’t actively riding, and then switch to training that is more similar to what you will endure during the peak riding season. Athletes must always be careful not to do too much training particularly during riding season, as doing so can put a lot of strain on the body.

Building strength by lifting heavier weight with a lower amount of repetitions should only be done in the off-season. Combining cycling with heavy weight training is too much for the body to handle, and will ultimately hinder performance. Whenever you lift heavy, the body is going to need time for it to recover.

Diet is critical component to getting the most out of your cycling weight training. Muscles need fuel, particularly when they are active. They need to get the necessary nutrients so they can repair themselves and get stronger. This means consuming a sufficient amount of protein, vitamins, and minerals on a daily basis. As mentioned, muscles also need a proper amount of rest and recovery so you can continue training at a high level over the long-term.

That’s why doing heavier weight training in the winter is ideal, because you have the time available for the muscles to recover. If you lifted heavy during peak season, too much stress would be placed on your muscles, and ultimately you would be doing more harm than good.

When putting together a cycling weight training program, evaluate where you currently are with your fitness and how far you believe you can push your body. It’s also important to find ways to motivate yourself during the secondary season, as doing so will allow you to get the most out of it.

While only a small percentage of maximum strength is used with each pedal stroke, weight training is beneficial because it builds bone density. This is key for cyclists because experts are finding that cycling leads to a loss of density because it’s not a weight bearing activity.

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Cycling Diet

June 20, 2012 by  
Filed under Weight Training

Cycling diet is often overlooked by many cyclists, yet it is essential to maintain your health and fitness and in giving your body the right nutrients it needs to recover from heavy training sessions. If you’re going out on a long training run then ensuring you have the right cycling diet is important. You need to be sure you have enough energy inside you to complete your training session.

Fuel up before your training session, carry something to eat during it and you need to eat after the session to allow your body to recover from the hard work you have just put it through. A good cycling diet will facilitate all these things. Another good point is about weight loss. If you are cycling to lose weight then forget about the bathroom scales as your monitor and use body fat monitors instead.

This is because cycling reduces fat and builds muscles.

Muscle is heavier than fat, so if you use the scales to monitor your progress you will not see much drop in weight as the fat is reduced but the muscle increases. Using body fat monitors will give you a truer picture of your fat shedding progress. Your cycling diet should be based on good quality foods based on fresh ingredients’. A natural diet will involve more effort but is worth it for the returns you will get in higher energy levels and a more robust immune system.

Avoid fast foods, sugary pop drinks and instant meals which are full of fat and sugar. Your cycling diet should be based on fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meat and nuts. Balance is also crucial. Make sure your cycling diet includes a good balance of the right food groups. Carbohydrates, healthy fat products, protein and vitamins. A diet rich in these nutrients and well balanced will not only improve your cycling but will give you a great health boost generally. If you are using cycling to lose weight don’t skip meals. You need to keep enough energy stored to get through your training sessions. Skipping meals is a mistake. Just drop all the sugary rubbish and replace it with fresh foodstuffs. This along with hard cycle training will be enough to get rid of those excess pounds.

Look at your cycling diet as important as your bike and clothing in your cycling training. Get the balance of diet and training right and you will soon reap the benefits of increased endurance and improved health.

Paul is a lifelong cyclists and the author of the blog Defensive Cycling where he discusses all things cycling related from commuting to endurance training. Go to Defensive Cycling now and get your free book “Cycling for life”.

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Cycling Training Plans

May 17, 2012 by  
Filed under Endurance Training

Article by Max Jackson

Cycling Training Plans – Sports – Other Sports

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Cycling has become more and more popular over the years. It is a great way to stay in shape while seeing the beautiful landscapes that our world has to offer us. Many people get great joy out of the physical determination necessary to ride up long hills, span long distances, and see new places. Most people, you are probably one yourself, spend quite a bit of money on a nice bike, clothing, and accessories. But one area that most people don

Cycling Training Tips

January 26, 2012 by  
Filed under Weight Training

Riding a bike is a great form of exercise. You are going to be able to lose a lot of weight in a short amount of time. People cycle for many reasons. Some prefer to do a little road cycling training while others like to go out into the mountains for training. When you are going to go for long-distance, you are going to want to get the cycling training tips that are going to help you out the most. This will allow you to get a leg up on your competition if you are competing in any race that you are going to need to use your bike. Some of the best cycling tips that are out there are:

•  Know your limits – This is the most important thing when you are doing this in the first place. Make sure that your cycling training tips are going to be worth it and you are going to have the right chance to get through your workout without hurting yourself.

You have to be sure that you are going to be able to handle it. Knowing your limits is not showing weakness, some of the best trainers pace themselves and they all know their limits. You are not Superman.

•  Drink a lot of Water – This is the same in any exercise program that you do. The best cycling tips anyone can give you is that you need to be on top of your water intake. When you neglect this, you are going to fall short of your goals due to lack of energy. Dehydration is the number one cause for people to give up on the race that you want to plan. Whether this is road cycling training, mountain biking, or simply recreational, you need to be able to look at this with a smart adventure for you to finish.

•  Check Your Bike – You will be surprised to know that many cyclists have crashed because of the main fact that they did not check their bikes prior to getting out there and making it to the finish line. Be sure that you are going to be giving your bicycle the twice over to make sure that everything is fin with all the important stuff. This will help you out greatly if you have the enough common sense to get to the top of the list.

Road cycling training is only one way to get yourself into shape and you are going to be able to have a lot of new ways to have fun with your cycling. When you start to cycle for the first time, you are going to need to start small. Don’t go out and buy the most expensive bicycle that you can buy without knowing that you are serious about this. Granted, you are not going to be a Neal Armstrong overnight, but you are going to have a little bit more knowledge that is going to help you out on the smaller circuits. The cycling training tips above are going to help you out a lot if you have the right mind to listen and not hurt yourself.

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} } /** * This is a method is used to make the javascript within IE runnable */ var leoHighlightsRanUpdateDivs=false; function leoHighlightsUpdateDivs() { try { /* Check if this is an IE browser and if divs have been updated already */ if(document.all&&!leoHighlightsRanUpdateDivs&&!_leoHighlightsIsFrame()) { leoHighlightsRanUpdateDivs=true; // Set early to prevent running twice for(var i=0;i0) url=url.substring(0,idx); /* Append the text to the end */ url+=”#”+encodeURI(txt); /* Set the iframe with the new url that contains the hash tag */ topIFrame.src=url; } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(“leoHighlightsSetExpandTxt()”,e); } } /*———————————————————————-*/ /* Methods provided to the highlight providers… */ /*———————————————————————-*/ /** * This will set the expand text for the Top window */ function leoHL_SetExpandTxt(txt) { try { _leoHighlightsDebugLog(“leoHL_SetExpandTxt() “+txt); _leoHighlightsSimpleGwCallBack(“LeoHighlightsSetExpandTxt”,”expandTxt”,txt); } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(“leoHL_SetExpandTxt()”,e); 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}catch(e){ _leoHighlightsReportExeception(“leoHL_RedirectTopAd()”,e); } _leoHighlightsRedirectTop(url); } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(“leoHL_RedirectTopAd()”,e); } } /** * This will set the size of the iframe * * @param url * @param parentId * * @return */ function leoHl_setSize(size,url) { try { /* Get the clickId */ var clickId=_leoHighlightsGetUrlArg( url,”clickId”) var gwObj = new Gateway(); gwObj.addParam(“size”,size); if(clickId) gwObj.addParam(“clickId”,clickId+”_blah”); gwObj.callName(“LeoHighlightsSetSize”); } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(“leoHl_setSize()”,e); } } /** * This will toggle the size of the window * * @return */ function leoHl_ToggleSize() { try { var gwObj = new Gateway(); gwObj.callName(“LeoHighlightsToggleSize”); } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(“leoHl_ToggleSize()”,e); } } “);
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Sunny SF-B912 Indoor Cycling Bike

January 18, 2012 by  
Filed under Exercise Bikes

  • Effective in lower body and cardio training
  • Designed for home use
  • Adjustable handle bar, tension control & seat
  • Easy to move and store with transport wheels
  • Weight Capacity: 220 LB

Product Description
Sunny Indoor Cycling Bike… More >>

Sunny SF-B912 Indoor Cycling Bike