Why strength training payoff isn't until later in the year

Someone asked me why I'd written that the benefits of my weight room work won't be realized until April. I'm just parroting what Dave Morris writes in his book but It seems to agree with my experiences.

Strength gains are speed specific. What that means is that the increase in muscular strength you get from workouts is seen only at the speeds (of contractions) that you've been performing. Lifting weights in the gym is done at a significantly slower speed than cycling is performed at.

Part of the key to cycling specific lifting programs is to convert weight room specific strength into cycling specific strength. Just Big legs alone do not make a fast cyclist. Muscle size is one issue but as important is muscle fiber recruitment and the force per fiber contraction.

I've just transitioned into the last phase of my weight room work. The power phase of my workout has me doing lifts as fast as I can at relatively low weights. With the squats I'm actually jumping off the ground.

Even this speed is still much slower than cycling. However the power phase is sort of a gateway to transforming my weight room strength gains into cycling strength. Along with the higher speeds of lifting, I've just started doing sprints on the trainer which require lots of muscle contraction and will soon do Muscle Endurance workouts on the bike. These workouts are where you climb a hill or ride in a big big gear and turn the pedals at very slow cadence (50rpm as compared to a more normal 80-100rpm).

This kind of workout is like weightlifting on a bike.

Converting the weight room strength to cycling strength takes time which is why I don't realize the benefits of the weight room work until later in the year.

There is huge debate in the cycling world regarding whether time spent in the weight room is time well spent. Many feel that sprints and muscle endurance workouts on the bike are sufficient to building cycling power. And many feel that there is too much loss in aerobic capacity when you're in the gym.

The way I look at is in terms of potential. From a baseline my muscle have a potential of X to do work. If I skip the weights and go right into sprints/muscle endurance than I'm taking X and making it cycling specific.

With the cycling specific weight training I'm taking X and making it 2X or whatever. If I then take 2X and do my sprints /muscle endurance I've got more potential to start with and ideally will be able to create more cycling specific strength.

There is definitely a hit to the aerobic conditioning when you are lifting and not riding. However Dave feels that muscular development is key to increasing sustainable power. And that the aerobic conditioning is relatively easy compared to the muscular part.

Truth, fallacy. Don't know. Don't care. Well.. I care, but at the same time I'm trying not to care.

Find something to believe in.

Be consistent, slowly, one foot in front of the other. One day at a time. Over the course of years. (I'm going on 3 years now with consistent training)

Believe.

In an interview with Dave I asked him what are the characteristics that separate elite athletes from amateur athletes. He said: From a mental standpoint, the pros seem to stay more focused on doing what they need to do to get the job done, while amateurs will often allow themselves to become distracted. They preoccupy themselves with things that don’t really matter and lose site of the big picture.

Changing your training program every 2 months based on the latest article in Bicycling or a forum post (which is what I did for many many years) got me nowhere. My personality of 100% energy diversion to little mini-obsessions (skills, tech bike geek issues) hurts more than it helps, although it's part of the fun.