Make a Muscle

Make a Muscle

BY DELAINE FRAGNOLI

You're climbing a steep hill, standing and mashing the pedals for all you're worth. It's hard, but your legs feel like they can make it. The problem is, your bike is weaving all over the road. Or, you're on your mountain bike descending a rough, twisting singletrack. By the time you reach the bottom, your arms and hands are so tired that you dread every rock and rut in your path.

Normally you can keep up with the guys, but not now. What gives? In both scenarios, the culprits are a weak torso and arms. While women are not naturally blessed with great upper-body strength, biology--in this case--is not destiny. A little mid- and upper-body weight training can greatly increase your power and improve your cycling comfort and performance.

Balance of Power

The average woman has 56 percent of the upper-body strength of the average man, according to Christine Wells, Ph.D., author of Women, Sport, and Performance: A Physiological Perspective. This is due to a number of factors: our shorter torsos and arms, lower lean body mass (we have fewer and smaller muscle fibers and more body fat, resulting in a lower ratio of strength to weight), less of the hormone testosterone and, often, little experience in the weight room.

More important than our absolute or comparative strength is our uneven distribution of power. We are relatively strong in the legs and hips (women have about 72 percent of a man's strength) and weak in the abdominal region and arms. This has significant consequences when we ride. While we produce considerable torque with our legs, we sometimes have trouble stabilizing our upper bodies and controlling our bikes' front ends, especially during power moves like out-of-the-saddle climbing and sprinting.

This strength discrepancy has other drawbacks. In cycling, 40 percent of your body weight should be supported by your upper body, points out Andrew Pruitt, Ed.D., director of Boulder Center for Sports Medicine in Colorado. A weak torso leads to incorrect riding position and early arm fatigue on long rides.

Dr. Wells concurs, noting that many women ride too heavy on the saddle--a recipe for saddle soreness and inefficient pedaling (it overworks the legs and underworks the powerful gluteus muscles). You need to have the strength to evenly distribute your weight on the handlebar, saddle, and pedals.

Dr. Pruitt adds that a weak upper body decreases your ability to absorb road (or trail) shock and to handle the effects of a fall.

In mountain biking, in particular, bike handling suffers. You may lack the power to pull up your bar enough to roll over a log, for example. As you become fatigued, steering gets sloppy and braking power diminishes.

Power Primer

The solution to these problems is simple and straightforward: Weight train your upper body. Just a little effort in this area can produce great results. "For women, a little bit of weight work does wonders," says Harvey Newton, a masters racer and a former U.S. Olympic weight-lifting coach.

While men and women respond to resistance weight training with similar strength and power gains (the major difference being that having less testosterone keeps women from bulking up), women should do a few things differently in the weight room. "A typical woman rider needs to spend a longer period of time working on maximum strength training (lifting greater weight with fewer repetitions) than most male cyclists would. She also needs to return to max strength training more frequently than the male does," says Joe Friel, a masters racer and cycling coach who has written one of the most respected books for serious riders, The Cyclist's Training Bible. Friel also recommends that women do some strength maintenance repeatedly throughout the season.

"It needs to be continual," Newton agrees.

Both Friel and Newton recommend a series of four multi-joint, cycling-specific exercises: seated rows, bench presses, crunches, and back extensions. Newton suggests that you work up to doing three sets of 6 to 12 reps, increasing the weight and the number of reps with each set until you reach about 80 percent of your maximum weight at the end of the final set. (Work with a certified fitness trainer at a reputable gym to determine your maximum lifting weight.) The first set can be a warmup set of 6 to 8 reps with light weight. The second set should include 8 to 10 reps at 60 percent. The final set should be 10 to 12 reps near 80 percent. Vary or change exercises every 4 to 6 weeks, select multi-joint exercises, and keep the workouts short.

Susan DeMattei's At-Home Workout

"I think that the best upper-body workout for mountain biking is mountain biking itself," says Olympic medalist Susan DeMattei. "Now that I'm not racing, I lack the strength that came from pulling on the handlebar while climbing, maneuvering on singletrack, and holding on during the descents."

Although she has weight trained in the past, DeMattei now favors exercises that she can do at home. "It's so expensive and time-consuming to go to the gym," she says, "and it can be intimidating." Her recommendations include pushups (start on your knees, then toes, and eventually "you can work up to doing them with a chair or stool" with your feet above your head); pullups ("This is good for your arms. A lot of women complain that their arms are flabby and this helps with the biceps"); and crunches ("I'm a crunchaholic. I do normal crunches, crunches to the side, crunches with my legs up in the air, all kinds of crunches. I find that it really helps alleviate my lower-back pain. Crunches also tone the muscles in the abs, which helps with that little pooch that a lot of cyclists get in the front of the stomach").

In addition to the exercises described above, DeMattei regularly works out with rubber bands. "They're great to take with you when you're traveling," she says.

Here are some of the exercises that DeMattei's friend Jane Tunnadine, a certified fitness trainer, recommends for upper-body strength training.

Abdominal crunches with a resistance band (targets abdominals). Lie in a supine position with your hands on either side of your body and hold the resistance band across your thighs. Lift your shoulders off the floor and try to bring your knees closer to your shoulders by lifting your hips. Breathe out as you crunch. Keep pressing the rubber band across your thighs during the exercise. Try two or three sets of 15 to 30 repetitions.

Back hyperextension (targets lower back). Lie in a prone position looking down at the ground. Place your palms down, under your face. Keep your hips, knees, and toes on the floor. Lift your arms and shoulders off the ground. Breathe out as you lift your shoulders. Do not look up. Try two or three sets of 15 to 30 repetitions.

Upright row (targets upper back and shoulders). Stand on the center of the rubber band with one foot. Keep your knees slightly bent and stand erect. Grip the handles of the band with your fingers facing your body. Pull both handles up toward your shoulders. Your hands should be shoulder-width apart. Your elbows will lead the movement and the exercise stops when your elbows are at shoulder level. Try two or three sets of 10 to 15 repetitions.

Biceps curl (targets biceps). Stand as above. Keep your arms close to your body during the exercise. Using your elbows as a pivot point, curl the handles up as far as you can. Do not let your wrists hyperextend during the movement. Try two or three sets of 12 to 15 repetitions.

Lateral shoulder raise (targets shoulders). Stand as above. Keeping slight bends in your elbows, raise both arms to shoulder level. Your hands, elbows, and shoulders should all be aligned at the end of the movement. You can also perform this exercise one arm at a time. Try two or three sets of 10 to 12 repetitions.

Triceps extension (targets triceps). Stand with your knees slightly bent and your body upright. Hold the band in one hand and place that hand firmly against your opposite shoulder just below your collarbone. Hold the end of the band in the other hand with your elbow bent. Using the elbow joint as a pivot point, extend your arm down the side of your body. Keep your elbow close to your side throughout the exercise. Repeat this exercise with the other arm. Try two or three sets of 10 to 12 repetitions.

Seated row (targets mid- and upper back and shoulders). From a seated position with the band under your feet, pull both handles back toward the sides of your body, squeezing your shoulder blades together. Do not rock back and forth with your upper body. Try two or three sets of 12 to 15 repetitions.