An Australian research team has shown why training for strength is important for cyclists. Untrained men who were not cyclists used a hack-squat apparatus (a weight-lifting machine used to strengthen the legs and buttocks) to lift 85 percent of the heaviest weight that they could lift once, five times in a row. Then they rested and repeated the sets of five. They did this four times, in three sessions per week. They did no cycling during the strength-training period of the study. They were given cycling endurance tests before and after.

The study concluded that the strength training made men far more efficient in cycling ( Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise , July 2005.) Efficiency is the amount of energy a person uses to perform a certain amount of work at high intensity. However, strength training did not improve the men