Eric Strength Training (GS20 Workout)

For the past 3 months I have been doing some strength training to help my cycling in the off-season. Last winter, I just used my own body weight and what I called the poor-man's bow flex, which are those resistive bands. That was a good start since it got me doing something while off my bike and I was able to control my body weight fairly well. This season, I wanted to really take advantage of the winter so I went to the nearest gym and talked to the head guru. It just so happen, that this gym was using the GS20 workout program which he told me would build lean muscle and wouldn't give me a lot of body mass if I kept a high cardio program too. I decided to give it a try and also decided to take up running. The running comes from two different reasons; one, Ben is a runner and he can run circles around me (literally and figuratively) when it comes to endurance on the bike; and two, I didn't really want to be in the saddle all winter since I just got off a long and active end of season for cycling.

Part of me writing this out is because in the GS20 system you track/log your progress. Well, being a number orientated person I took my end of year log and started analyzing and graphing. The graphs show some interesting things, there is one big dip in my charts which I bet would line up with a big cycling event, maybe Iceman or the time Chris and I did C's and B's at a cyclocross event. I also got to visually see my progress over the months in a picture instead of a table of numbers.

Anyways, the GS20 is a high intensity, low repetition program. I know a lot of cyclist would disagree with this method but I am always up to try new things. The goal is to max out your muscle group between 8 to 12 repetitions; when you can hit 12 repetitions then you add 5 lbs to the weight set on your next workout. Pretty simply, but did it do anything? That is a hard question to answer really, I didn't follow the three times a week schedule due to getting busy at times or feeling ill (there was also a nice winter camping vacation that took me out of the gym for a week) and I was running anywhere from one to three times a week which could play an important factor. The thing I can say is, I gained strength, I stayed active, and I didn't gain any body weight (according to my bathroom scale which has a mind of its own since getting ran over by a car). So on to the data.

What the graphs are showing are a few of the major muscle groups with weight lifted in blue (equalized and adjusted to the GS20 system and my own custom scaling) and percentage increase of weight from workout to workout (Delta %). They all have one good thing in common, from start to finish the weight lifted is rising! That is good to see, but what you also see are a few negative dips in the Delta %, these are what I am assuming are from doing a workout after a large intense cycling event. Luckily, on the next workout I see the strength pop right back up, so I could almost predict my recovery period needed after an intense event.

What did I gain over that few month period with poorly scheduled gym visits?

Leg Curl: 27%
Leg Ext: 15%
Squat: 15%
Abdominal: 28%
Triceps: 37%
Biceps: 13%
Lower Back: 36%

Does this translate over to cycling? Before starting the GS20 program, I did a run on my VR trainer to see what my average power output was and then before Christmas my brother and I did some runs on the VR trainer.

Initial: 185 watts
End of Dec: 250 watts

Of course, any scientist could rip me up and down about not taking multiple samples and keeping track over time, but he wouldn't have to be the one to get on a bike and pedal either. I should also note that I wouldn't classify my trainer has certified or precise, but I always assume that I can look at the differences just as long as I am always using my trainer's data for comparison. So this would tell me I had an increase of 20% in power output without much body weight gain, so my power to weight ratio has increased. Not bad considering I didn't have to be in the saddle and I could still get outside to back country ski and run.

I only present this information as being interesting and wouldn't want anyone to take it as truth. I find it very interesting and if anyone has any questions or comments then feel free to contact me.