Training with weight on bike

Hi, good afternoon.
I have question and I need your help: The training with dead weight on bike, is beneficial, for to get better the FTP?..I mean when you go cycling on the roads
Thanks
Regards

It is not beneficial, it will just slow you down. Added weight does not add any training benefit such as with something like resistance training.

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Depends on the type of training you are doing. Hypothetically if you were doing climbing and needed to improve your force ability, it could add a benefit as you will have to work harder to go up the hill. And you will have to work harder to go uphill, just like you would have to work harder if you weighed more.

However, the more likely answer is likely going to be to just shift up to a harder gear while going up hill or stay seated to get the same benefit. Or just increase the intensity.

If youā€™re needing to carry dead weight for a commute though such as a pack or bag, you will end up working harder to get to your destination in the same time as before, which I guess could translate to FTP gains

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In winter I mostly ride an old steel bike with mudguards. It weighs about 10.5kg, over 3kg more than my summer bikes.

I ride the same hilly routes on it as I ride on my lighter bikes. The efficacy of the training is the same regardless of whether Iā€™m on the heavy bike or a lighter one.

The only difference is that my average speeds are slower on the heavy bike and therefore my ego is smaller during the winter months! :rofl:

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My son in his chariot behind would strongly disagree he really enjoys his time back there and watching his dad look like he is going up hill on a flat :crazy_face: :crazy_face:

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If youā€™re training to do some event (or recreational thing) where thereā€™ll be a load on the bike, you should at least load the bike ā€œlike thatā€ and feel the difference in handling and effort.

If youā€™re just after added strength for an unladen bikeā€¦ there are better approaches (I would think - Iā€™m a ā€˜noviceā€™), such as strength work with weights/bodyweight. Downside to loading the bike if you donā€™t need it for ā€˜realismā€™ - youā€™re adjusting how your body uses the bike to a purpose you donā€™t need, changing the handling, ā€¦

2cā€¦ free (because novice :stuck_out_tongue: )

You could always do low cadence hill repeats.

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If there was something to it the proā€™s would train with weights (while riding) and heavier bikes. They donā€™t because as someone said earlier, it would slow them down.

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Training with extra weight on the bike? I call that training January - March (hopefully no later!) :wink:

It makes the climbs harder. Depending on the terrain of the moment, it can be similar to swimming with a drag suit, riding with gatorskins or with very baggy kit. More resistance can increase power and equally if not more importantly make you feel fast when you dump it. Personally, instead of going with added weight, which can effect bike handling etc, Iā€™d go with @Darkgerbilā€™s suggestion or, barring a ā€œbeaterā€ bike, go with gatorskin tires and other means to increase resistance.

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Just go faster, watts are watts. Or add slower tires

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Thanks @CatCryRides
This is what I am looking for, work force and in threshold and / or VO2 areas and thus improve my FTP, with additional weight.

Thank you for your responses!!
I will work with less cadence in the hill repetitions (good point @AJS914) and from time to time I will use the weight as an additional.
Going slower does not worry me, because they are training periods.
Regards!!

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I used to do this on hill repeat days. I had a 3 or 4 kg scuba weight I would strap onto my bike with a toe strap. Seemed to help a lot but was a pain in the butt to ride to and from the hill with.

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fill water bottle with weight

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ā€¦with leaded :cara de loco:

Adding weight isnā€™t going to make you do more work, youā€™re just going to do the same amount of work and go slower. Riding a bike thatā€™s heavier will require more watts to push up hill at the same speed, yes, but itā€™s not going to magically make you put out more watts. You can achieve the same thing by just paying attention to your power meter

Now, there is the benefit in winter of swapping tires to something with a higher rolling resistance, sitting more upright, etc in that doing the same amount of work and going slower would mean that you have less air blowing across you and cooling you down so that you stay warmer.

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Thanks you for you advice!!.. pedaling with a heavier development and lower cadence.
:Gafas de sol:

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There is one thing that I can think of that extra weight can do that you cannot do otherwise (without changing your training environment). I was training for a very hilly century with climbs that were both substantially steeper and substantially longer than anything available to me in my area. You can simulate steeper with bigger gears, but (AFAIK) only more weight can be used to simulate longer climbs.

But it would take a bunch of weight to make a big dent in the ā€˜virtual lengthā€™ of a climb.

dave

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I read that Chris Hoy used to do this for low cadence drills for track sprints, ended up with something ridiculous like a 40kg bikeā€¦ May not be that applicable to your every day cyclist however

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The pros have tried it using wind resistance. Valverde:

The average joe should probably just do some hill repeats to add more gravity to the workout. Or put some gatorskins on your bike. Those are like 20 pounds of truck tires in rolling resistance.

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