[Dennis Kalma]

Hi there Stijn, I am back on the wrong side of the Atlantic...

Anyway, I spent a lot of time working out with only marginal effects on muscle strength and stamina (like 10 years) and was getting frustrated. Wife found a personal trainer who knew his stuff, and I have been working with him for the last two....with much better effect. I probably am not exactly right in terms of descriptions, but here is what I have gleaned from the guy I call Eric the Evil.

First things first, a given exercise only works a given set of muscles, they get good at doing whatever exercise you are doing and then the effect plateau's a lot....very little benefit for a lot of effort. You need to change the exercises to work different muscles, just biking is too narrow a choice.

Second. Diet is important, but not for the reasons you think. As I have understood it, right after a work out, your body needs protein fairly soon to help with teh building process. I take a protein drink right after working out, and it makes a difference. Idea is you need fuel to burn, but also to build muscle.

Third, you need to give time to build. Muscles build by repairing micro-tears in the tissue. When you do a good workout, you make microscopic tears in the muscle that get repaired with "new" muscle, which in turn contributes to development of strength. Eric the Evil always wants me to have a full day between strength training sessions for recovery....do some light stuff if you want, but don't do back to back sessions, they don't work as well.

You might consider weight training. When I last bicycled a lot in 2000 (prior to the trip to NL this past month), my legs would poop out pretty easily. I have done a fair bit of strength training since then, basically I could bike at full speed around NL, Rijskwik to Kijkduin for example, and absolutely zero stress on the legs, even against wind, higher speeds etc etc. I think the difference is balanced strenght training for my whole legs...

Anyway, I would not look at biking to work as a strenght training programme, most definitely it is a good thing, but you need to do some other stuff before you can do the Arnold Schwartzenegger thing....

Take care

Dennis