While most cyclists and runners aren’t concerned with having big arms, arm strength comes in handy for XC skiing, swimming, kayaking, BMX, mountain biking, and even bike repair! So let’s look at building big arms…

A Question On Bicep Curls!?
Right. Im 14 and am naturally quite skinny in the arms. I have started doing bicep curls with a 3kg weight. Any ideas until i notice a difference and what can i do to make the process happen quicker. E.g. Should i eat more fatty foods etc. I want to stay complelty away from steroids.

Thanks!
-Skinny Steven

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but doing bicep curls with a 3kg (~6lb) dumbbell isn’t going to get you anywhere. You could curl all day but your arms will stay just as skinny as they are now.

So the first thing I would do is just forget the curls altogether. You could work your way up to heavier weights, but even then, you can lift more weight with other exercises. I’m not saying you can’t do curls later, but if you want to pack on some real size in a relatively short amount of time, look elsewhere!

There are four main exercises I suggest: pull ups, chin ups, dips, and shoulder presses. These exercises involve compound movements that work your entire arm, which allows you to move heavier weights, which leads to greater gains in size and strength.

Pull ups, chin ups, and dips can all be started with just your body weight. That will be a little safer than jumping into a big weight lifting program.

Shoulder presses will require a barbell and/or dumbbells, but you could start out with pike push ups (or handstand push ups) to work your shoulders before hitting the big weights.

How many sets and reps should you do for these bodyweight exercises? Read this: Determining Sets and Reps for Bodyweight Exercises.

More weight lifting and lots of eating wouldn’t hurt, either.

For example, you could add in a lift like the deadlift (maybe some squats too.) By working big muscles in your legs and back, your body will produce more of a testosterone response from your workouts. This could lead to better growth in your arm muscles for the same workout (studies are conflicting.) Regardless, it wouldn’t hurt to work out your entire body and not just your arms!

Being a beginner, I’d suggest following a pre-made plan from an expert. A book that would probably work for you (that you might enjoy reading as well) is Nate Green’s Built For Show.

And you need to eat extra calories if you want to build muscle. As in, LOTS of food!

As for your diet, stay away from junk food. Make sure you eat healthy foods like lean meats, whole grains, and lots of fruits and vegetables. You can eat fatty foods to get more calories, but stick with fatty foods like almonds, avocados, and olive oil. No junk food!!

Basically, if you do a good amount of weight lifting and eat lots of natural, unprocessed foods, you should see some results! It won’t happen overnight, but stick with it for a couple months, and I think you’ll be pleased.

BUILT FOR SHOW: Four Body-Changing Workouts for Building Muscle, Losing Fat, And Looking Good Enough To Hook Up

Catchy title, huh?

Me being a fairly skinny and not very muscular cyclist who spends more time with bicycles than anything/one else, the book caught my eye for sure. It’s also cool that Nate Green is 23 years old, so he’s about my age, and also about my height. One small difference though – he’s big and strong!

The “big and strong” thing may not appeal to cyclists, but I think it’s important for cyclists to be lifting weights to supplement endurance training, and it’s a good idea to learn about weight lifting from actual weight lifters, who are typically years ahead of cycling coaches when it comes to building strength and size in the gym.

So you (as an endurance athlete) may not follow everything in this book exactly, but you can still apply many of the principles in this book when you do lift weights.

If I have convinced you so far, let’s review the book…

The First Honest Weight Lifting Book

BUILT FOR SHOW is the book everyone wanted to buy, but couldn’t get till 2008. What I mean is that every time some guy bought a book about body building and/or strength training, it wasn’t truly about getting big and strong. Rather, it was to impress the ladies.

And throughout this book, Nate is making some sort of remark about how a certain lift will build certain attractive body parts that women really admire, how this exercise will help you perform better, etc.

Nate explains that in the intro better than I can, so even if you don’t want the book, I suggest taking a peek at the intro when you’re in a bookstore.

As you can imagine, it’s fun to read. It’s one of the most enjoyable “how-to” books out there. It focuses on the truth, but it contains plenty of humor and good stories to make it fun. It’s written in a good tone, mainly for testosterone-filled teenagers and young men.

Quality Information

Don’t let the humor fool you – when it comes to getting big and strong, Nate means business. BUILT FOR SHOW is packed with training and nutrition advice, how-to photos, and four complete training plans.

First, there’s a section on flexibility and mobility. These traits are important for athletes of all types, from weight lifters to cyclists to badminton champions.

Next, the workout programs themselves are well thought out and easy to understand.

The actual plans may look complicated (like most exercise plans do,) but Nate explains it in simple language. It makes a lot of sense how he lays out the plans, and you don’t have to be a mathematician to follow along with the recommended sets and reps.

How Nate sets up the plans is cool, too, specifically how he combines various numbers of sets and reps into the same program. That should decrease boredom and provide a well-rounded approach suitable for the target audience.

After you get through the plans, you need to see how to perform the exercises properly, so Nate includes a detailed section complete with photos.

There are typically only two pictures per exercise, so it’s not quite as good as a video would be, but the pictures are clear and the text makes sense. (This section spans 80 freakin pages, so yeah, it’s thorough!)

The only downfall here is that some of the exercises require a gym membership, or at least a killer home gym. We’re talking a power cage for $500 or more, plus attachments, a cable station, lots of weights, and of course, a room of your home to put this stuff in.

Fortunately, when you can substitute similar exercises requiring less equipment, Nate goes ahead and gives you the “garage variation” for those of you who workout at home with nothing more than a barbell and plates.

(But if you have a gym membership anyway, no sweat.)

Moving along, the nutrition guidelines are spot-on. They are surprisingly close to what I would recommend.

My only true disagreement is that Nate recommends, “if you drink beer, drink light beer.” I don’t recommend light beer at all (it’s like white bread vs whole wheat bread,) but if we put minor differences aside, Nate has a great book.

Finally, the style and fashion advice is great. Some stuff I was aware of, some stuff not. It’s great for guys because it covers enough stuff, but doesn’t get too complicated.

Especially great is the part about picking clothes to make your skinny body look more built. That probably applies to 99% of all pro road cyclists, so cyclists shouldn’t feel left out of this book after all!

BUILT FOR SHOW, For Cyclists

This book isn’t written for cyclists, but at the same time, it kind of is.

If you’ve been a bike racer for any length of time, you know it’s not really a sport that’s going to attract a lot of girls, so you might not be looking for the sex appeal aspect of this book. Also, a bike racer won’t be dedicating their entire week to gym workouts, so you can’t just jump into this program head first.

But there’s plenty of good stuff left for us, like the principles of strength training. Cyclists that do hit the gym (which I recommend) don’t typically spend a lot of time or effort to develop the best weight training regimen. They end up with some beginner workouts and high-rep, low-weight crap that isn’t very effective in any regard.

But if you look at the exercises and guidelines in this book, and take the “myth busting” part of the book to heart, you’ll be much better off than if you follow a more mainstream program (i.e. the one found in The Lance Armstrong Performance Program, which I don’t think is even close to what Lance does in the weight room.)

So it’s funny, this is actually a great book for cyclists who need some true weight lifting advice (even if you don’t know you need it.) It’s an easy-to-read book with everything you need to know about developing a real, worthwhile weight lifting plan. You just have to adapt the actual workouts to your limited training time (due to your full schedule of on-bike training.)

My final verdict is…

If you like the title, you’ll love the book.

Me? I love the book. Great advice. Fun to read. Perfect for anyone looking to build a good, strong body, especially if you’re new to weight training or you’ve been doing it a while but not getting results.

As for cyclists, I still whole-heartedly recommend the book, because the advice is spot-on, and I don’t recommend skimping on weight training.

Official website: www.BuiltForShow.com

Author blog: www.TheNateGreenExperience.com

Buy online: www.Amazon.com

Just like bicycle mechanics can debate endlessly over “which chain lube is best?,” coaches are going to debate endlessly over the idea of weight training for cyclists…

Should I do upper body weights/conditioning as a road/mtb cyclist. My coach and other people on my team say ‘no’ that it isn’t important. Seems like it would be a good idea though.

Thanks,
Bulging Biceps Billy

Hi Billy,

I’m a big fan of upper body conditioning, especially for mountain bikers. I think everyone should lift weights, at least in the off season.

I certainly don’t recommend any sort of bodybuilding routine, but a straightforward strength training program composed of some basic exercises is great. During the off season, that might be squats, lunges, deadlifts, rows, dips, push ups, and pull ups done 2-3 times per week.

Once racing season begins, you should probably drop the weighted squats and lunges and ease up on the arm exercises a little. At this point you might only lift once per week, if at all.

But you can still do your calisthenics during the season. At the very least, competitive cyclists should be doing basic body weight workouts – push ups, planks, bird dog, lunges, mountain climbers, etc.

A nice compromise between weight lifting and the easier body weight exercises is plyometrics. These jumps and explosive movements are intense like weight lifting, but they don’t require weights or a gym!

Personally I like to hit the heavy weights in the off season (full body) but then switch to mostly body weight workouts and plyometrics during the season. I’ll still do shoulder presses, dips, and pull-ups (with weights) during the season, but I have to back off on the squats once the serious interval training begins.

This strength training will get rid of muscle imbalances and possible posture problems from hunkering down over a bike for hours on end, as well as strengthen your bones, which is VERY important for cyclists!

(Cycling being a relatively low impact activity, it doesn’t promote bone strengthening to the extent that weight lifting does.)

The weight lifting is not going to increase your aerobic capacity so you can ride the Tour de France. And you do have to give up a little bit of riding time since you’ll need increased recovery from adding in weight training.

But I feel the general health and injury prevention benefits outweigh the risks! (As long as you are lifting with proper form, that is.)

And contrary to popular belief, you won’t turn into a hulk just by weight lifting (unless you’re on steroids!)

Today’s question is about how to get back into racing shape after a long layoff and the resulting weight gain…

I have a question. I raced from 1994-2003 and when I stopped I was pretty close to cat 2 status. Then I got married, house, kid, second career and grad school all during which I haven’t done anything riding-wise. My time I spent on cycling I sacrificed for some other things but now it’s time to get back what I lost. Being a real rider. I really miss cycling and want to get back to riding enough so I could amybe think about racing. I’m 6′1″ 215 lbs (racing weight was 180-85, eesh!) What is step one? Lose weight and diet? weights? Just get back on the bike and ride? It’s cold here in Illinois so right now I’ll be doing stuff indoors. Any advice would be appreciated.

-Determined Drew

Hi Drew,

This is an interesting question for me, because I have been in a similar situation quite a few times, albeit on a smaller scale. But whatever the cause, it’s always a challenge to get back in the game, and it can be aggravating due to all the hard work it takes just to get back to the shape you were in. (I always tried to jump back in right where I was before and blast some hill intervals – big mistake!)

Being winter, this is actually a good time for you to get back into it. Here’s why…

Your initial goals will be lose weight and put some miles in your legs. The weight loss will come from weight lifting and diet changes, two things that go well with the winter weather. (You probably already know how hard it is to diet during the season and still maintain enough energy for big miles and hard training. So work on the diet now.)

Now when I say diet, I mean cutting out junk food and not eating too far in excess. You’ll probably still need a decent amount of food since you’ll be training, so don’t do any severe calorie restriction. Just focus on healthy, natural foods.

For weight lifting, I’d recommend doing some intense weight lifting. And I mean a real weight lifting program with heavy squats and deadlifts, lunges, overhead press, incline bench press, pull ups, chin ups, and dips. (You could even try the 5×5 program from www.StrongLifts.com to get started.)

A lot of cyclists would shudder at this advice, thinking they’ll gain a ton of muscle mass. But I think you’ll find that you shed a lot of fat and end up losing weight with this approach!

At the same time, you need to get your legs adjusted to the motion of pedaling a bicycle for hours on end, once again. After a long layoff, the tendency is to overdo it and end up overtrained, which is another reason the winter weather is good for you. By forcing you to ride an indoor trainer, you’ll be able to keep mileage in check. (Even the most motivated riders coming back from 5 year layoffs would have a hard time doing 4-8 hour rides indoors!)

I’d shoot for six 30-minute rides or three 60-minute rides per week, done at an easy to moderate pace. You can alter this each week, but I’d stick with the shorter and easier rides to get your aerobic base built up. The intensity in your training will come from the weight lifting. (And as the weather gets nicer and your legs get accustomed to the bike again, you can cut back on the weight lifting and gradually ramp up the intensity of your rides.)

Good luck! Just keep working hard and you’ll be racing Cat 2 soon enough!

Now, with the cold winds and snow outside, it’s the time of year we cyclists and runners hit the gym for a little weight lifting. Doing some weight lifting and other cross-training is a good idea for a few reasons, such as improving overall fitness, correcting any muscle imbalances, and of course, injury prevention.

We need to be strong everywhere to make sure our bodies can stand up to the rigors of our racing season, so that our legs get the chance to do their job. Just like yoga is great for mountain bikers, weight lifting has benefits for riding that you just can’t get from riding.

But if you don’t do it right, you’ll just waste your time (or worse, get hurt.) So here are the exercises you need to AVOID, (along with better options I do recommend):

1. The Bicep Curl

Why: The bicep curl is extremely popular because so many guys are focused on how their arms look in the traditional “which way to the gun show?” pose. Whether they just like to flex in front of the mirror, or believe women want to see big arms, the bicep curl is their savior.

Why not: Just think about it – what good do your biceps do? Very little.

Your biceps, no matter how much you work them, are a relatively small muscle. They don’t do much of anything, and they certainly don’t have much use in sports like cycling, running, and swimming.

Try this instead: Do chin ups or supinated pull downs. These are compound movements that work your biceps along with the rest of your arms and shoulders.

2. The Leg Extension

Why: It’s easy – you just sit down in the machine and lift your feet.

Why not: It’s not practical. When cycling, your legs don’t move anything like that. Machines and their typical isolation exercises are useless for functional strength, too.

Try this instead: Lunges and reverse lunges are much better for a quad workout. They give you a serious workout, and they do it in a way that will actually translate to useful leg strength.

3. The Pec Deck

Why: Pecs are second only to biceps when it comes to flexing for oneself in front of the mirror.

Why not: It’s a useless movement controlled by a machine. The strength gained here will not translate to anything worthwhile outside of the gym.

Try this instead: The bench press and incline bench press (not to mention push-ups) give you all the chest workout you need, plus they work your arms at the same time. These exercises strengthen your entire upper body, including smaller stabilizer muscles, which leads to better bike control.

4. The Hamstring Curl

Why: This is simply another easy machine to work out on.

Why not: When you’re out riding or running, how often do you stretch forward and pull your feet onto your back, while being held in place? Never? OK then.

Try this instead: The traditional squat and deadlift provides all the stimulus you need for building super strong and powerful legs and back.

5. Triceps Kickback

Why: The next step once one realizes the bicep curl is useless, is to switch to a little isolation exercise for the other side of the arm.

Why not: While your triceps are important, the triceps kickback is pointless. If you want to gain strength, you need to lift heavy weights, and this exercise just doesn’t let you accomplish that.

Try this instead: Save your triceps strength for performing dips and pull-ups. Want to add weight? Get a dipping belt and pack it on.

Weighted dips will skyrocket your arm strength in no time!

Bonus section!

6. “Any exercise done with improper form”

Even good exercises like the deadlift, squat, and bench press are useless (or worse, detrimental) when done with improper form. Improper form leads to torn muscles and ligaments and other pains and injuries that will set you back.

So whatever exercise you do (whether with dumbbells or barbells or plates hanging off your waist,) make sure you are using perfect form. If you’re not sure, get some help from a smart and experienced lifter.

Also, don’t fall into the trap of using machines, thinking that they are safer than free weights and encourage proper form. Just the opposite! Smith rack squats and bench press machines don’t allow you to use a proper range of motion, effectively forcing you to use improper form!

And those are the biggest time wasters in the gym.

They might serve some small purpose for competitive bodybuilders or Olympic lifters, but for multisport endurance athletes, these are nothing more than a waste of time.

The only real way to get better at cycling is by cycling, so don’t spend all day in the gym doing every exercise you can find. Simply stick with my recommendations for good exercises and you’ll get stronger in less time, and you’ll ride faster and more “in control” next spring!

Photo credit: o0bcessed