Strength Training Questions for Special Podcast Episode

so would Herschel Walker (if you don’t know google it)

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Weight Training, especially compound lifts (back squats, deadlift, overhead,…) fixed a lot of my problem on the bike:

  • Shoulders stability
  • Hips & ankles mobility
  • Core engagement
  • Patella instability and leg imbalance
  • Lower back pain and weakness
  • Overall “In the drop” position comfort (better stability and mobility)

It doesn’t improve my FTP (maybe dropped it a bit) but it increased my overall performance and comfort A LOT. Of course, if you ride 6 hours / week and replace 3 hours by lifting, it won’t help your cycling level. But if you ride 15 hours and drop 3 hours, it will be beneficial to your overall fitness and power.

I cannot imagine someone having no lifting experience who couldn’t seen any benefit coming from 2-3 strength session each week.

It’s awesome that you’re doing that. :raised_hands:
But, just because people use weights doesn’t mean the hundreds of thousands of recruits who historically made amazing progress through body weight exercises are invalid. It happened. For many, many, many people…so, body weight exercises for all those people were not “a waste of time”.

That’s like telling someone who’s been walking to work that buying a car from the 70s is a waste of their time because newer cars have more fuel efficient engines.

Or perhaps an example closer to home. Telling someone sitting on the couch that running in cheap shoes is a waste of their time because there are more efficient shoes available for 5 times the price.

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If you do deficit pushups and/or dips with good technique, you’ll get strong.

If you do bodyweight pullups or chinups with good technique, you’ll get strong.

That’s your upper body taken care of.

Legs are a bit more tricky.

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:rofl:

Why do people spend so much effort studying the hormonal response (e.g., changes in testosterone, growth hormone) to an acute bout of resistance exercise when it has absolutely nothing to do with the increase in muscle size or strength that results?

Why do people still spend so much effort studying the protein synthetic response to an acute bout of resistance exercise when it isn’t indicative/predictive of the adaptations to training (i.e., repeated bouts)?

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ChatGPT talking bro science again. Not as bad as lawyers who have reported that it sometimes just makes up case law to support its claims, but still…

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Possibly, I don’t know enough to make any absolute claims. But like @Pbase, I am really certain that body-weight exercises are not waste of time. And for beginner, what’s wrong with ChatGPT answer? It is always good to start with easy answer that is good enough and only after initial gains optimize last mile. It is not like body-weight exercises make person unsuitable to pick up heavy weights later?

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ChatGPT is regurgitating stuff it’s been fed. Some of the best things I’ve learned aren’t on the Internet.

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Sure, and I can understand limitations of ChatGPT in some other topics, where I have more experience.

And this is exactly the point: it provides “good enough” answer to get ball rolling for beginner enthusiast and after gathering some experience, you’ll be able to recognise “best things” or develop your own thing :slight_smile:

  1. “Muscular endurance” isn’t really a thing. We’re talking about exercise, so of course the muscles are involved.

  2. You won’t induce significant metabolic adaptations (of the type that improve endurance performance) by lifting weights, regardless of the weight/number of reps.

  3. Lactate clearance is irrelevant, so tossing it into the discussion is just a red herring.

Basically, ChatGPT’s answer reads like the sort of calorie-free fluff you might find in Bicycling! magazine, versus something written by a knowledgeable person.

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I enjoyed that episode too. Be kinda funny if the special guest is Chad though (a man can dream)…

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Most cyclists can’t even do “bodyweight” exercises :rofl:

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  • You want to be a better, faster cyclist without any extra volume or weight lifting?

  • You are time crunched and you cannot spend 1 extra hour each day for it?

  • You cannot afford some expensive bike fitting because your money must been spent on carbon components and painting job?

You know what, I’ve got the solution. 10 minutes each day and you will see a big improvement in your avg. speed during your Sunday friendly ride.

Even 2022 UCI World Champion Remco Evenpoel is doing it. It’s just painfully boring and easy.

The solution? Hip Flexors, Ankles and Spine extension mobility exercices. Each day. You’ll increase your overall comfort and your aero position, granting you a lower CDA and higher speed*.

*Results may differ according to your previous mobility. Performance increase is not guaranteed in uphill sections. Product cannot been returned.

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Gotcha. l was thinking of “waste of time” as in “it doesn’t offer any benefit”.

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This. Increase your efficiency too. My bookmark collection of these is literally exploding on YouTube and X (Twitter). Even better IMHO - kettlebell swings. On the minute swings are just 15 minutes a day in the off-season… at least 3 times a week.

Can someone explain what a “mobility” exercise is? Arent all limbs mobile? What am I missing?

Having strength and control through a full range of motion.
For example you might get tight hips from cycling and so your hip external and internal rotation might suffer. You do mobility training to gain access to a better range of motion in your hips, which means less aches and pains in the long term.
That’s my non scientific answer, I’m technically a certified personal trainer but I don’t train many people.

I can’t, but this guy has dominated a lot of my bookmarks this year. I’ll let him give you his point of view:

There are other perspectives, thats his and what I’ve been doing this year to great success. Breath work has also been important for me.

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Range of motion or flexibility is being able to move a body part into place. For example, when bending forward and stretching your hamstrings, can you touch your knees? Shins? Feet? Floor?

Mobility is having a usable range of motion such that you have strength and control wherever the limb is in its ROM.

At least that’s how it was explained to me.