Power Workouts

[holliscx]

I'm looking for some workouts that will build power in my legs. I feel like I have decent lower leg strength for my size (6' 1 1/2" 160 lbs) but my hamstrings and quads feel like huge voids. If I ape it for a hard pull I'm pretty sure these "marshmallows" are what go first for there isn't a lot of attack or reserve.

Collserola are the mountains that border Barcelona: in 15 minutes you can climb through beautiful forests a world away from the city. There are about seven roads that go up and over Collserola with climbs around 5-6% for 7 km on average. There is a lot of variety of climbing and these are only the routes closest to the city which are great for midweek.

My strong suit is probably long climbs. I can find a rhythm and hold it for 10-30 km. I'm weakest at descending but crashing once and having kids will do that to you. As a recreational rider on public roads I'm fine playing it safe on descents. Rolling terrain is a challenge; I struggle with on again / off again pace. Long, flat, fast I have a top speed but pushing 1-2 kph over that and I won't last.

I don't feel like I have the pistons to supply a lot of raw power. I presume intervals may be in order whether hills or flat. Look forward to some oxygen-depraving workouts and these can apply for cross or road.

[Too Tall]

Lower your rpms to 65/70 and hump a big gear up those mtns. Get into it slowly not all at once by doing 3/5/10 mins. After a few weeks ride 20 mins. After a few more weeks ride longer...you get the idea. Off the bike do squats and leg press for 3-4 months than go back to those climbs and go nuts.

How's that for a start?

[holliscx]

How's that for a start?

Good start especially considering I climb with a very high cadence now; some of the guys I ride with push a higher gear and drop me pretty easily at the start.

Any suggestions re: leg workouts with no gym access. Currently the only thing I do as far as leg conditioning is run 5 repeats up an insane set of stairs in the neighborhood. By the fifth set my legs feel like Jell-O; I'm working up to a set of 8. What's good for squats / leg press without equipment? Anything?

Also for flats same logic i.e. push a big gear? I love to spin but maybe that's part of my problem.

[Too Tall]

Good start especially considering I climb with a very high cadence now; some of the guys I ride with push a higher gear and drop me pretty easily at the start.

Any suggestions re: leg workouts with no gym access. Currently the only thing I do as far as leg conditioning is run 5 repeats up an insane set of stairs in the neighborhood. By the fifth set my legs feel like Jell-O; I'm working up to a set of 8. What's good for squats / leg press without equipment? Anything?

Also for flats same logic i.e. push a big gear? I love to spin but maybe that's part of my problem.

It is relatively difficult to accomplish the kinds of leg strength you need by riding flats unless you have a Velodrome nearby...that said you can get creative but that's what people pay me for ;)

Box jumps, Plyo and consider things like lunges and squats with body weight. Honestly, you really should just suck it up and buy a barbell. Real live squats with a barbell are magic. You are a skinny guy we need to grow those legs and there is only on way to do that...unless you are willing to ride 25,000 miles this yr. and than we can forgo all this advice.

[holliscx]

Honestly, you really should just suck it up and buy a barbell.

Dumbells fit a lot tighter under the bed, what do you think of a set of 15 lb dumbells - too light something more like 25 lbs? Or is a barbell that much better for squats? Dumbells would mean lunges I assume.

[jmoote]

Lower your rpms to 65/70 and hump a big gear up those mtns. Get into it slowly not all at once by doing 3/5/10 mins. After a few weeks ride 20 mins. After a few more weeks ride longer...you get the idea. Off the bike do squats and leg press for 3-4 months than go back to those climbs and go nuts.

How's that for a start?

This. Perfect advice.

Personally I do all my strength work on the bike or with plyo stuff, hiking in the off-season, etc. never weights. I can't be bothered to go to a gym or keep the equipment around, and I can get more than enough work with my own body weight.

Good start especially considering I climb with a very high cadence now;

[...]

I love to spin but maybe that's part of my problem.

Leg speed and a good pedalstroke are necessary skills so it's not a problem as such. That said it won't build the strength you're looking for. You need to push a big gear in training, starting with short blocks and increasing to 10-20 minute blocks as TT says. Doing that will build the strength you're looking for.

The low cadence work should be done at tempo first, and then when you can hold 60-70 RPM for 20 minutes at a time, raise the effort to just below threshold and try to do 5 or 10 minutes. Work until you can do 20 minute blocks of that. On flat roads without a headwind that probably means 53x11, but it sounds like you have some lovely climbs nearby so you can use more reasonable gears.

[holliscx]

How do you guesstimate 60-70 rpm?

[christian]

That'd be a revolution per second, sir.

[Chance Legstrong]

Good start especially considering I climb with a very high cadence now; some of the guys I ride with push a higher gear and drop me pretty easily at the start.

Any suggestions re: leg workouts with no gym access. Currently the only thing I do as far as leg conditioning is run 5 repeats up an insane set of stairs in the neighborhood. By the fifth set my legs feel like Jell-O; I'm working up to a set of 8. What's good for squats / leg press without equipment? Anything?

Also for flats same logic i.e. push a big gear? I love to spin but maybe that's part of my problem.

chair pose- the front of your quads will burn like your first break-up. I do this while brushing my teeth, too.

Yoga Journal - Chair Pose

[Too Tall]

How do you guesstimate 60-70 rpm?

Go ride your bike. One more lame question like that and I assign pushups!

[billrick]

I saw your thread about core workouts, too. I've been doing low weight, high rep squats over the past year. I'm a hack dough boy, but still, it has significantly improved my climbing. I recently added TRX to the mix and that has added a whole new level of leg and core strength. This will be my focus over the winter.

Just my .02, listen to the other guys here and implement.

[ned]

single speed mountain bike.

dirt skills, quad thrashing, and wahoo.

[EFHeath]

Dumbells fit a lot tighter under the bed, what do you think of a set of 15 lb dumbells - too light something more like 25 lbs? Or is a barbell that much better for squats? Dumbells would mean lunges I assume.

If TT is talking barbells, then I guess he's saying you should go for heavier weights, like working up to a bodyweight or 1.5 times bodyweight squat. I was a bit surprised to read that, since squats, barbells and suchlike get pretty short shrift around here. I happen to like them myself, because they keep my knees and back pain-free-er (especially deadlift and bent-over barbell row, which to me feels as much for the hams and glutes as for the back).

Without any gear, you could try the progression to pistols (a one-leg squat, full depth, with the other leg held horizontally out in front of you) as in Pavel Tsatsouline's book about body weight exercises. I only know one person who can do one, and it ain't me. (But then I don't hang around with a lot of athletes).

[zetroc]

Stairs are it. I run up and down stairs like crazy - two at a time sometimes. feel the burn.

[Britishbane]

chair pose- the front of your quads will burn like your first break-up. I do this while brushing my teeth, too.

You and my wife both. She found the balance much easier when she had an electric tooth brush.

[Chance Legstrong]

You and my wife both. She found the balance much easier when she had an electric tooth brush.

balance+control=more power

[BShow]

chair pose- the front of your quads will burn like your first break-up. I do this while brushing my teeth, too.

Yoga Journal - Chair Pose

That's great! I love the outside the box type of stuff to get in a workout. For some of us, it's all about maximizing time.

single speed mountain bike.

dirt skills, quad thrashing, and wahoo.

^^^ This is my power workout. Problem is that I ride my road bike and my cross bike and my geared mountain bike like I ride my singlespeed.

[holliscx]

Stairs are it. I run up and down stairs like crazy - two at a time sometimes. feel the burn.

You run down stairs wow - running up I've always wondered whether it's better to hit all stairs i.e. fast steps or in my case two steps for each stride. Basically I try to haul # # # up the steps so I treat it like a sprint and my legs are stupid drunk towards the top. I think the current staircase I like is 100 steps and it shoots straight up for a decent vertical.

[Chance Legstrong]

You run down stairs wow - running up I've always wondered whether it's better to hit all stairs i.e. fast steps or in my case two steps for each stride. Basically I try to haul # # # up the steps so I treat it like a sprint and my legs are stupid drunk towards the top. I think the current staircase I like is 100 steps and it shoots straight up for a decent vertical.

strengthen your knees and ankles before stairs

[Too Tall]

chair pose- the front of your quads will burn like your first break-up. I do this while brushing my teeth, too.

Yoga Journal - Chair Pose

We sir are freaks. I do warrior while shaving and yes I'm ambidextrous.