Pumping Iron

Over the winter, I lift three times a week, but once I start riding a lot, I can only manage 1 or 2 sessions, and typically do them on rainy days. When I'm too tired from riding, it's impossible to lift.

Most sessions, I focus on my core and legs. I do back extensions and crunches for my core. For the legs, I do leg presses in sets of 12 and leg extensions and curls. I isolate my right quads with the leg extensions to try to rebuild the muscle to normal strength. Even 1 year after the accident, it's still only 75-80% in spite of all my work. Once a week, I'll mix in the rest of the machines.

The benefits from lifting are pretty obvious. More core strength translates to comfort on the bike in aerodynamic position, and while climbing out of the saddle. More leg strength makes it possible to push the pedals harder. When I only ride, my fitness seems to plateua. To load my cardio system, I need to be able to push the pedals harder. Lifting very heavy weights at low reps seems to help my sprint.

As I chase the 40 mph barrier, I'll mix in more low rep/high weight sessions, plyometrics, and power lift moves.