A. Static squats and B.better tolerance of lactate

VS1

hello,
I was wondering if static squats, until legs 'burns' are beneficial for endurance, comparing to regular squats;
I personally have a lower back problem so instead of carrying weights I do some single-leg-1/3-way-down (~ 140 egress) ones..

as to improving the tolerance of lactate, what would be the best recommended workouts for that?

Thanks!
VS1

Jono L

Ride ya bike mate.

daveryanwyoming

Are you serious??? Have you read this sticky thread: http://www.cyclingforums.com/t126133.html
Even the proponents of weight training don't expect much in the way of endurance increases from weight training. Better jump, higher peak power in sprints, overall core strength, there's lots of reasons offered by the weight training crowd, but better endurance usually isn't one of them.

Cycling endurance is about metabolic fitness, the ability to convert fuels including sugars, fats and oxygen into ATP to fuel repeated muscle contractions. It's not about strength, a healthy adult that can walk up a flight of stairs has more than enough peak strength to ride with the best pro riders. What most lack is the ability to continuously convert fuels to power. IOW it's all about metabolic fitness.

Do you really expect an isometric exercise like holding a static squat to do much for your metabolic fitness? Sure your legs might burn, but cycling fitness comes from repeated muscular contractions, not low rep efforts held till they hurt.

Like the previous poster said, if you want to improve cycling endurance "ride ya bike" if you want more specific advice, raise your sustainable power for durations relevent to your events. SST, L4 and some L5 efforts are a good way to accomplish this but wall sits, static squats or other static exercises won't do much regardless of how much "burn" you feel.

Good luck,
-Dave

Felt_Rider

Oh how I wish this squats were effective in this area. Because I have over 20 years of training in squats compared to my last couple of years training in cycling.

But alas my fast twitch fibers were of little use when I entered into the cycling world.

However SST is making things different in my new world.

Still squatting because I am addicted, but not because I believe it will help me on the bike.

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Urkiola2

Specificity principle not only in philosophy (training) but metabolically speaking is the key. I would also tell you "ride ya bike".

In terms of lactate oxidation...there are 1-2 studies which show a change in fast muscle fibers in the isoform of LDH, LDH 4-5, which is pro-lactate reducer to LDH1-2 (lactate Pro-oxidative) or at least behave like it after endurance training on fast-twitch muscle fibers. So far I don´t believe there are studies showing increased lactate clearance by increasing training of Type IIb fiber tyes..and if there is one study please let me know!.

Cheers.

Piotr

Best recommended workouts to improve lactate tolerance is to ride your bike really fast until your legs burn really bad and then some. Unfortunately, based on your posts I'm forced to conclude that you just don't like to ride bikes.
Squats to improve lactate tolerance, yoga to increase VO2max, 20 sec sprints to improve endurance?!! Not that there's anything inherently wrong with those activities, but to be a cyclist at some point you have to make a choice to like cycling, don't you think?

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VS1

Thanks Dave.

kennf

They are, however, great training for skiing!

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VS1

Thanks Urkiola2, Piotr,
yes I've been thinking on additional ways to riding, that might help to improve; always good to learn which ones does and which doesn't..

bbrauer

Sorry if some of the folks here were a little short with you. Any talk of lifting weights is verboten here amongst the Cogganites. You know what would really help your LT is a nice set of Powercranks. Forget about that...inside joke.

They're right, though, about weights an LT. Get on a good bike training schedule to improve that. You mentioned you have a bad back, though, and that is reason enough to do some weight work....CAREFULLY. I'd ditch the squats, but there are several static or isometric exercises that work pretty well on your core. I'm going to assume that your back trouble is not seriously structural, but is muscular. I've had back trouble in the past, too, but I've felt great this year after starting gyming again.

There are three pilates-style exercises I do: the Plank, the Boat Pose, and the Superman. you'll find a couple of them here: http://www.performancebike.com/content/core_muscles.cfm

I also start with ab work, which consists of leg raises while holding myself in an incline position on an ab board. You might want to start out with just extending your legs so they're suspended and parallel to the floor, and then bringing your knees to your chest. I find the lower section of the abdominals and hip flexors this exercise seems to target are the group that is most relevent for lower back stability and cycling strength.

I also like to perform deadlifts on a Smith Machine. I do higher rep sets of about 30 and keep my knees bent a little more than a typical deadlift. I do them fast, but fluid, and keep my back straight.

As for the LT, as others said, ride; and get a training program that includes some sort of structured and progressive interval routine that targets your aerobic metabolism.

good luck and best wishes.

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VS1

Thanks bbrauer.
The original questions on static squats and on how to better tolerance of lactate - w e r e 2 d i f f e r e n t q u e s t i o n s.

the 1st question was raised after I was told that 'static' workouts for the Abs. might be even better then dynamic [for the abs / core (??) ] - so I wanted to learn if it is right legs wise; reply is clear now

Thanks again.

NJK

Almost as good as a well known british cycling coach suggesting that riders do an upper body strength training programme to improve climbing ability because you need to pull up on the bars significantly.

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swampy1970

And who would that "well known british cycling coach" be?