Coach Chad's Strength Training Recommendations For Cyclists

This seems more like strength training goals than a strength training plan. A plan would incorporate more detail about how many sets to do, how often to train, what level to start at, what sort of progression to aim for (e.g. 2.5kg per week), whether to do every exercise in every session or alternate between bench press and military press, etc.

That said, it’s a pretty well balanced set of exercises and targets. As an approach it also seems pretty closely aligned with the 5x5 lifting program from the Stronglifts website, albeit with targets tailored to cyclists instead of lifters. For those looking to make increases in strength it’s worth checking that out as it’s a very time-efficient approach (with the caveat that if combining with endurance training you probably don’t want to lift 3x a week, and you’re unlikely to progress as quickly) - StrongLifts 5×5 workout: Get Stronger by Lifting 3x/Week

I do some kind of strength training most weeks. I generally do something similar to the 5x5 approach for a couple of months during off season and early base (more like 2x a week than 3 though), then maintain through the rest of the season with maybe 1 lifting session per week supplemented by some bodyweight exercises (pushups, single leg squats, lunges, etc) done at home as and when I have time. Even if I skip the gym and just do 10-15 minutes of bodyweight exercises a couple of times a week it really helps. From build phase onwards I tend to avoid the squats and dead lifts in favour of higher reps and bodyweight exercises for the legs as I find otherwise it impacts the quality of the high intensity sessions. I could hit all of the level 3 targets for chest and legs, for the barbell row and pull ups I’m currently closer to the level 2 targets, which is mainly a function of not having very good options at home for targeting those muscle groups. That’s quite reassuring as I’m somewhere between level 2 and 3 as a rider (rolling road races, TTs and a few crits)!

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