Squats
- Thread starter mikeruss
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Tin Pot
Guru
nickyboy
Norven Mankey
- Location
- You want hills? We got hills
This topic comes up again and again so obviously there is a fairly fundamental misunderstanding as regards what's needed to become a faster cyclist.
When you're cycling up a hill, it's very similar to climbing up a flight of stairs. The forces involved, the repetitive nature, the "rpm" are quite similar. Pretty well everyone can climb a flight of stairs with their current muscles. Pretty well everyone can climb a flight of stairs at, say, 80 stairs per minute. But climbing 20 flights of stairs at that pace? That's hard to do.
But the question is why is it hard to do? It is nothing to do with how strong you are. You've already shown you're strong enough by being able to climb one flight. Of course you get out of breath and the legs start to burn with lactic acid build up. That's your cardio vascular system limiting how quickly you can climb 20 flights of stairs. Exactly the same cycling up a hill. So if you want to climb 20 flights of stairs more quickly or cycle up a hill more quickly, your cardio vascular system is what's holding you back
When you're cycling up a hill, it's very similar to climbing up a flight of stairs. The forces involved, the repetitive nature, the "rpm" are quite similar. Pretty well everyone can climb a flight of stairs with their current muscles. Pretty well everyone can climb a flight of stairs at, say, 80 stairs per minute. But climbing 20 flights of stairs at that pace? That's hard to do.
But the question is why is it hard to do? It is nothing to do with how strong you are. You've already shown you're strong enough by being able to climb one flight. Of course you get out of breath and the legs start to burn with lactic acid build up. That's your cardio vascular system limiting how quickly you can climb 20 flights of stairs. Exactly the same cycling up a hill. So if you want to climb 20 flights of stairs more quickly or cycle up a hill more quickly, your cardio vascular system is what's holding you back
Broadly yes, but with bikes your have the added complexity of gears. In theory, more power allows a higher gear which allows you to get up the hill faster than someone else at the same cadence but in a lower gear.
vickster
Legendary Member
Unless you ride fixed/SS
Unless you ride fixed/SS
In my limited experience of fixed/ss and proper hills1 (I am a coward) then strength is even more important as you don't have gearing to get you out of trouble.
1. Definition of 'proper hill' for a Milkfloat is 2% over a distance greater than 50m
Citius
Guest
Where do you think the power comes from?
Citius
Guest
Strength is not a limiter on a bicycle - the number of gears is irrelevant.
From doing squats!
Fine, then you won't mind demonstrating this by climbing a decent hill in a very high gear, ideally with a good cadence. Of course it is a limiter, it may not be the most important limiter, but it is still a limiter. Obviously a balance is required for optimum performance.
Citius
Guest
Optimum power comes from pedalling an optimum gear at an optimum cadence. Riding a single speed with an unreasonable gear up a steep hill would simply require a higher amount of power - not a higher amount of strength. I don't think you understand the difference.
This article by Coggan is well worth reading, if you can stay with it:
http://www.aboc.com.au/tips-and-hints/why-we-dont-use-strength-endurance-anymore
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From what I understand getting fast is the ability to get enough oxygen into your system to sustain the effort . Yes you need food and muscles but you have reserves of those . Not enough oxygen and you are going nowhere very very fast .
So you need to train yourself at breathing rather than squatting . The best way to do that is to hit the hills ! Or rampant sex .
So you need to train yourself at breathing rather than squatting . The best way to do that is to hit the hills ! Or rampant sex .
dan_bo
How much does it cost to Oldham?
Squats and leg presses= improved climbing.
dan_bo
How much does it cost to Oldham?
At least it's working for me....