3 ms·

ZOMG find something to do, and keep doing it. Cycling is very nerd-friendly. There are numbers and gadgets and even what amounts to an MMO in Zwift.

Mc_Big_G 8y ago
According to the article, cycling isn't enough. You need to do heavier resistance training.
- rezeroed 8y ago
  Change gear.
  - cultus 8y ago
    Speaking as a former bike racer, cycling does not build muscles unless you are already wildly out of shape. Pedaling in a tall gear still isn't much resistance, typically less than body weight. Muscle is built only by getting near the limit of musclular strength. Cycling only challenges your cardiovascular system. I always squatted and deadlifted to get better at sprints. Other racers who were climbing specialists had skinnier legs than the average man, yet they could climb hills incredibly fast.
    - Yajirobe 8y ago
      Is climbing a good sport according to this 'limit of muscular strength' requirement?
      - cultus 8y ago
        I wear my arms out pretty fast rock climbing, but that's only a small proportion of the body. I kind of doubt it is a good replacement for strength training.
- bmj 8y ago
  I think it's important to qualify this, at least a little bit. Life-long endurance athletes will still maintain muscle as they age, but you can't expect to take up casual cycling as an overweight, sedentary 45+ year old and have that sort of physiological change. Strength/resistance training is ideal if you are trying to push back against the effects of a sedentary lifestyle. All that said--most serious endurance athletes are realizing that they need to hit the proverbial weight room, at least at certain times during the year.
inawarminister 8y ago
Huh, Zwift sure looks like something I'd be into I'll guess I'll save up for one of their rollers?
- ubermonkey 8y ago
  To do Zwift right, you need a "smart trainer". Bike trainers have traditionally been of two types: rollers and resistance trainers. Rollers aren't super popular; they're pretty much used just to improve efficiency and smoothness on the bike, and are a poor choice for resistance training. The other type of trainer uses some mechanism to impose artificial load on the drive train, for better resistance training. Most serious riders have one of these. Traditionally, resistance trainers clamped to your rear axle and had a flywheel or some other mechanism that would screw down to your rear tire and provide resistance. In the last several years, though, some folks have created "wheel off" trainers where you remove the rear wheel entirely and attach the bike to the trainer. These have their own rear cassette, and are appealing to folks for lots of reasons -- probably the biggest is that you don't need to keep a "trainer wheel" around. (The traditional type will wear out your tire pretty fast, so you don't want to be using your nice road tire on the trainer if you can help it.) Anyway, smart trainers are all resistance trainers. Companies like Wahoo Fitness have smart trainers of both wheel-on and wheel-off varieties (the latter is ~ 180% the cost). A smart trainer will track power for you, and will interface with your other sensors (cadence, heart rate) to get the full set of telemetry. By pairing it with a service like Zwift, you can do "virtual" rides based on real places, including the hills -- and, in some contexts, even other real riders who are in Zwift at the same time. All this costs a lot, but cyclists are crazy. (Source: I are one, and I use a Wahoo KICKR Snap.)

Mc_Big_G 8y ago

According to the article, cycling isn't enough. You need to do heavier resistance training.

rezeroed 8y ago
Change gear.
- cultus 8y ago
  Speaking as a former bike racer, cycling does not build muscles unless you are already wildly out of shape. Pedaling in a tall gear still isn't much resistance, typically less than body weight. Muscle is built only by getting near the limit of musclular strength. Cycling only challenges your cardiovascular system. I always squatted and deadlifted to get better at sprints. Other racers who were climbing specialists had skinnier legs than the average man, yet they could climb hills incredibly fast.
  - Yajirobe 8y ago
    Is climbing a good sport according to this 'limit of muscular strength' requirement?
    - cultus 8y ago
      I wear my arms out pretty fast rock climbing, but that's only a small proportion of the body. I kind of doubt it is a good replacement for strength training.
bmj 8y ago
I think it's important to qualify this, at least a little bit. Life-long endurance athletes will still maintain muscle as they age, but you can't expect to take up casual cycling as an overweight, sedentary 45+ year old and have that sort of physiological change. Strength/resistance training is ideal if you are trying to push back against the effects of a sedentary lifestyle. All that said--most serious endurance athletes are realizing that they need to hit the proverbial weight room, at least at certain times during the year.

inawarminister 8y ago

Huh, Zwift sure looks like something I'd be into I'll guess I'll save up for one of their rollers?

ubermonkey 8y ago
To do Zwift right, you need a "smart trainer". Bike trainers have traditionally been of two types: rollers and resistance trainers. Rollers aren't super popular; they're pretty much used just to improve efficiency and smoothness on the bike, and are a poor choice for resistance training. The other type of trainer uses some mechanism to impose artificial load on the drive train, for better resistance training. Most serious riders have one of these. Traditionally, resistance trainers clamped to your rear axle and had a flywheel or some other mechanism that would screw down to your rear tire and provide resistance. In the last several years, though, some folks have created "wheel off" trainers where you remove the rear wheel entirely and attach the bike to the trainer. These have their own rear cassette, and are appealing to folks for lots of reasons -- probably the biggest is that you don't need to keep a "trainer wheel" around. (The traditional type will wear out your tire pretty fast, so you don't want to be using your nice road tire on the trainer if you can help it.) Anyway, smart trainers are all resistance trainers. Companies like Wahoo Fitness have smart trainers of both wheel-on and wheel-off varieties (the latter is ~ 180% the cost). A smart trainer will track power for you, and will interface with your other sensors (cadence, heart rate) to get the full set of telemetry. By pairing it with a service like Zwift, you can do "virtual" rides based on real places, including the hills -- and, in some contexts, even other real riders who are in Zwift at the same time. All this costs a lot, but cyclists are crazy. (Source: I are one, and I use a Wahoo KICKR Snap.)