In some ways most of us hate hills. When out on a ride, every time we see a hill we think to ourselves, ‘I have to climb that?’. There are of course some of you, not me, that actually enjoy climbing and some that actually look forward to hills. Again not me.
Well I kind of fib, after I came to the realization that hills never get easier but I can become a faster, stronger, less fatigued climber, which makes the hate for them just a little less and has even become something I can look forward to the challenge of. I have even started planning my rides around hills, note the word around, ha ha. I actually plan rides that include hills.
I have been known to say ‘I live on a pancake’. From my house it’s a good 10 miles of riding or a 20 minute drive, to get to any hills. This makes training on hills somewhat inconvenient. So how do you get stronger on hills when you don’t have hills nearby? Simple answer, Strength Training.
Below are a number of exercises that will help decrease your hate of hills and maybe even make you somewhat enjoy climbing. It won’t happen overnight but slowly you will be able to see a hill and say to yourself, ‘I have to climb that? NO PROBLEM!’
Upper body strength is important to climbing. Think of pulling on the handlebars as you apply pressure to the pedals. A little more on this below.
Below is not an all inclusive list; there are numerous exercises that you can do to increase strength, power and muscular endurance, ask your coach, trainer at your gym, Google, etc…
For weight training select a few exercises and do 3 sets of 6-8 repetitions with a weight you can keep good form for the entire set. If you’re doing body weight do up to 12 repetitions keeping good form.
For other categories do 1-3 sets of 10-12 repetitions each, If you start at 1 set, as you get stronger increase the sets or repetitions.
Off the bike exercises: Note: Items with an * asterisk should be considered advance, master the basic version before performing the advance version.
Note: you should not do heavy weight training the day after a long ride. Do these after a slow easy ride or on a swim day. Keep good form and ask a trainer at your gym for assistance if needed.
Weight Training:
Body weight squats
Weighted squats*
Standing calf raises
Lat pulldowns
Lat rows
Bent over rows with a dumbbell
Pushups
Walking lunge – Reverse lunge
Core strength:
Bridges and planks
Lying Russian twists
Stability ball plank with walk out*
Stability ball reverse crunch*
Stability ball bridges*
Plyometrics:
Box Jumps*
Step ups
Squat jumps
Others:
Bosu ball push ups*
Bosu ball squats*
On the bike workouts and tips to be a better climber:
Mix #1 and #2 into your training rides. Generally, not on the same day, and not on consecutive days; but these intervals once or twice a week should yield results. The other tips can be practiced every ride.
Here is a good video on climbing form https://youtu.be/cUXhcFx28ok
- Heavy Pedaling – Select the hardest gear you can pedal at 60-65 RPM for 3 minutes take a 3 minute break in a gear that you can keep 80-90 RPM. Do this 5-6 times. See my previous post for other variations of this workout.
- Using the above workout as you get stronger, increase the hard pedaling time by 30-60 seconds keeping the rest time the same. This will help build sustained power and muscular endurance for longer climbs. Seven minutes should be the max time for each interval.
- Practice riding out of the saddle, this will use other muscles and core muscles that aren’t fully engaged when seated.
- Practice Push-Pull; What this means is as you apply pressure on the pedal pull the handlebar towards your chest with the opposite arm. This should cause the bike to rock under you while your spine stays straight and inline with your hips and shoulder. This will help improve climbing form.
- If out of the saddle don’t climb straight up. Bend your elbows to bring your center of gravity lower and in slightly leaned over position. This does a few things. Allows you apply more force to the pedals, engages your core, and makes you more aerodynamic.
- During long climbs for every 5 minutes or so ride out of the saddle for 10-30 seconds this will give you lower back short break.
- Keep your cadence and pedal stroke steady, when climbing it is especially important to have a good round pedal stroke not square. A round pedal stroke applies pressure during nearly the entire 360 degrees of rotation. Think of scraping mud off your shoes towards the bottom of the stoke and pull up on the back of the stroke. A square pedal stroke applies pressure pretty much only on the downward portion of the stroke causing loss of power.
- Get a good bike fit.
Thanks for reading.
Be fast, Be safe, Stay healthy
Mike