On and Off-Bike Exercises for Physical Fitness Components

We’ve been through the components that define physical fitness. Now, let’s look at some exercises for physical fitness components that will develop strength, endurance, and flexibility both on the bike and off…

• Cardio-respiratory Endurance

  Cycling is obviously the most specific of exercises for physical fitness components to improve your aerobic endurance. Get on the bike and spin in the aerobic zone for long periods of time. The aerobic zone is approximately 60 – 80% of your maximum heart rate.

  Swimming is another low-impact exercise for physical fitness components that is fantastic for building cardiovascular endurance. It has the added benefit of building your lung capacity and training you to control your breathing. Both of which will translate to the bike nicely.

• Muscular Strength

  

  Increase strength on the bike by pushing gears that are a little bigger than usual. Of course you can’t do this all the time, so maybe just on hills during a ride. Or, while at home watching TV on the trainer, push big gears only during commercials.

  As cyclists, we definitely want to be hitting the weight room a few times a week during the off-season. You can cut back to once or twice during the racing season. For developing additional leg strength during the off season, squats are great for hitting the entire leg in one exercise. Also, put some time into hamstring curls to balance out those giant quads.

  Make sure to focus on your core throughout the year. Every sport requires a strong core. When I played baseball in high-school, we would spend a ton of time during the off season on abdominal exercises. The coach always said core strength was the key to transferring power between the upper and lower body. Crunches, reverse crunches, roll-outs with the exercise ball, and many yoga poses all develop great core strength.

  Cyclists don’t need a ton of upper body strength, but a little is necessary for pulling on the bars during climbs and absorbing shock on the mountain bike. Personally, I prefer body weight and compound exercises for physical fitness components over machines and isolation. Try push-ups, pull-ups, and dips.

• Muscular Endurance

  

  Cycling builds great muscular endurance in particular muscles such as the quads and glutes. You will want to work to develop more endurance in some of the muscles that are taxed on the bike and commonly ignored, such as the neck, lower back, hamstrings, hip flexors, and triceps.

  Build endurance vs. strength with longer sets of less weight instead of big weight with fewer reps. Try to hold the weight on the negative portion of these exercises for physical fitness components (i.e. coming down from a pushup or situp) for greater gains.

  Yoga is wonderful for building this type of endurance. Try the plank, the warrior, and the crane poses. These may be very difficult initially, but keep trying and you will quickly develop the strength required to hold these for a minute or so.

• Flexibility

  

  Flexibility is of major importance to all athletes. The main benefit is protection from injury. If your muscles, joints, and connecting tissue are reasonably pliable, they will be able to bend and move with you, even when you move in abrupt abnormal ways.

  Let’s face it, if you’re riding a bike daily, whether it’s on the road or on the trail, eventually you are going to fall. When you do, flexibility will help protect your muscles from tearing and your bones from breaking.

  It’s also important to stay flexible because of the tremendous amount of trauma that we put our bodies through on the bike. We are constantly tearing our muscles. This is how we build additional strength - by tearing them down and allowing them to rebuild stronger. This trauma can result in extremely tight muscles and scar tissue unless we take care to stretch them out.

  You should have a stretching routine and complete it daily. The best time to stretch is after a workout, when your muscles are a nice jelly-like consistency. Be sure to get your quads, psoas, hamstrings, lower back, and to open up your chest.

• Body Composition

  Genetics determine a good amount of body composition comes, but we can help out Mother Nature with these exercises for physical fitness components and a healthy diet. Spending a large amount of time in your aerobic heart rate zone will burn off the fat. Really, I don’t know many avid cyclists who carry around too much body fat. It just isn’t easy when you are riding so much, unless you have a poor diet.

  Eating junk will have a counter-effect on your body composition and your performance on the bike. You may not be gaining weight or looking bad, but you are adding calories without nutrition which will translate to a loss of energy. Try to stick with whole foods as much as possible and avoid processed food.

The bike gives you most of what you need to maintain a good level of physical fitness. However, there are a few areas that need special attention and these exercises for physical fitness components should help you gain a more balanced overall level of fitness.

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