I was into strength training before I started cycling. Now that I’m training for a big cycling event, I’ve reduced strength training to once or twice a week, just to maintain strength. Being strong certainly helps! I also like to think that upper body training will help if I ever crash on the bike. But I love strength training - after the event I will certainly go back to lifting more often.
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To offer another perspective, I came from anaerobic-focused sports (including lifting) into cycling. It took me about a year to be able to keep a steady cadence. Back then I could ride faster by ramming down a pedal and coasting for a half second, then ramming down the other pedal, coasting, etc, compared to my steady cadence. That was many years ago. From this background you might think I ended up in a short & sprint-y cycling discipline, but no, I actually do ultra-endurance.
Obviously having a lot of anaerobic training helps with short neuromuscular efforts. But the other place it kicks in is during very long distances. I believe the TR podcast has mentioned that during very long distances your body will start recruiting fast-twitch muscle fibers as the slow-twitch fibers fatigue.
When I get to the end of long rides and my legs are spent, I find that I still have a large reserve of anaerobic potential. If I am racing, I can transition into short sprint-rest-sprint-rest sessions and keep a faster overall pace this way. At this point climbs are also easier to do out of saddle compared to sitting and spinning. It’s like having a big backup battery.
The final place where the strength helps–and this is definitely more niche–is if you ever have to carry your bike for a significant distance.
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From what I can remember from a study I read, the ideal separation between lifting and cardio is 24 hours, but 6 is still suitable. If given a choice it’s better to do the cardio first (iirc). Z2 and lifting in the same day with 6 hours between should be fine. I bike 45 mins to my gym in Z2 and find it doesn’t have a perceivable effect on my heavy lifts. I just skip the warm-up. I don’t have an issue with threshold in the morning and lifting in the evening either. Just don’t do threshold and heavy lifting soon after (tried this once and it was a MISTAKE).
A Z2 ride (light concentric activity) should generally help alleviate DOMS soreness. One thing to remember with DOMS is that the perception doesn’t correlate to realty. DOMS soreness seems to be independent from muscle function. It’s incredibly de-motivating, but the soreness in and of itself is not an indicator that your muscle can’t perform a given activity. That said, I think you’re totally on the money to try and optimize around a fresh threshold/VO2 workout. However, DOMS is usually the worst on the 2nd day after the activity, and as-written your schedule puts your threshold/VO2 effort close to when you’re probably at peak soreness from Sunday.
I don’t think you have to give up on your threshold work; I’d move lifting to Saturday morning until DOMs is no longer a factor. Eg:
Monday-Off
Tuesday morning-VO2/Threshold on the bike
Tuesday evening - Lift
Wednesday - Z2
Thursday-Lift
Friday-Active recovery
Saturday morning -Lift
Sunday-Z2
Or
Monday-Off
Tuesday-VO2/Threshold on the bike
Wednesday-Lift*
Thursday-Lift*
Friday-Z2
Saturday morning-Lift
Sunday-Z2
*Because these are back-to-back, ideally they focus on different muscle groups. Simple example: lower body Wednesday, upper body Thursday.
From my experience, adding strength training has given me some good results. Last year was the first training season I actually started to focus on max strenght (off the bike). I´m 175 at 75kg, been training cycling for 3 years now and would say that I´m a puncheur.
- FTP around 4.5-5 on a good day
- +10W/kg on 1min efforts
- Last year increased my 1s to 20s max watts by ~200W
The most important thing, which a lot of people tend to forget, is that my max watts when fresh aren´t that much higher then after 2h of racing. And this I believe is a result of the strengt training! I know a lot of guys with similar, or higher, power to weight profile as me, people who can push 1600W watts for a second or to, but when it comes down to the finishing sprint, they are nowere to be seen!
Last year I did a “base strength period” from Sep - Nov, once a week with the 3x10 approach. Then as of Jan i started the 5x5 maximum strenght program, increasing weights by 2.5kg each week. In april/may I gradually decreased the number of efforts, but kept the weights. My A-race was in June, sprinted to a bronze in the national champs.
This year I have planned to do 2 gym sessions on normal trainingweeks (still on the 5x5 program) and once a week during rest and HIIT weeks.
Also, on top of the classic gym strenght training sessions, if your goal is to increase your sprint or punch power, then gym strength training isn´t the only way to do it! You need to have good “reaction power” and to spinn the pedals a bit faster than with a cadence of 120. 
So once a week I have my “jumping session”. A lot of plyo, strenght and elasticity (is that the correct word?) jumps. Now during winter time I´m doing say 250-300 jumps per session, which will gradually decrease when the weights in the gym sessions go up. And a positive thing is that when doing these jumps I get some hel´ of a good core strength training at the same time!
In April I will switch to on-the-bike sprint training instead.
And when it comes to high cadence work, I don´t have separate sessions for these. Instead I do them on Z2 rides or during cool-down after a trainer exercise (top tip!).
So my final words of advice:
- If you want to e.g. improve your sprinting power, add strenght to your training plan. Max strength if possible.
- Remember: have a (structured) plan! You can´t be doing 3 max gym session, a couple of VO2max sessions and three 4h rides each week. Focus on one or two things each month and week.
- Plyo, plyo, plyo! Since you have propably heard the saying: “Old men can´t jump!”
- If possible, always do strenght training when you´re fresh!
- The closer you are to the racing season and A-race, the more important it is to keep you max strenght, not increase it.
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Yesterday’s workout ‘failure’ wasn’t a result of DOMS, my legs were not sore, they were just incapable of higher intensity work. Strangely, HR has surged almost 20bpm higher than previous HR levels for equal power output.
I’m 55, 1m85, 75kg. I use a sandbag with 25kg of sand in it (capacity is 35kg – but you want the sandbag under 75-80% of it’s capacity so the sand moves; sifting weight ends up being 2-3 times more difficult to lift than static weight, depending on the distance you lift and how many planes you lift it through, and loading too much sand in the bag reduces this effect, so it just becomes a light barbell).
I do squats and deadlifts to failure (4-6 reps). I’ve been weight training for over a decade, but I can’t lift much because I’m very slow twitch (370w for 20min, 900w for 5 sec). As a result, lifting to failure one day doesn’t rubbish me for the next, because I’m not doing that much damage.
The more of a sprinter you are, the more lifting to failure is going to tear you up – so a sprinter, pursuiter, or all-rounder should leave something in reserve. If you’re a TT-er, go ahead and grunt away because you’re such a weight room weenie that you can’t do much damage to yourself anyway.
All the same, I usually lift the day before a recovery day.
I haven’t noticed a performance difference – my FTP was actually a little better in 2019 when I didn’t lift at all due to a rib cage muscle injury that I could ride with, but not lift with for much of the year. I was doing 300-mile weeks though (specificity). However, I got noticeably weaker on the bike – I wasn’t just planted on the saddle, and didn’t feel like I could put the power down on seated zone 5 and 6 efforts.
In my experience, strength training adds to stability in the saddle, more so than just doing a bunch of core stability work. It may not add to the watt score on the PM, but it certainly adds to reduce overall fatigue and a sense of control on the bike.
I would be interested to see the two workouts you’re doing each week, if you wouldn’t mind sharing them? Squats, Deadlifts and Bulgarians are my jam but I do find it hard to schedule them efficiently into my weekly training plan. Cheers
I don’t know how much improvement in FTP / TTE you’ll see … but generally being strong will allow your body to hold up better for a long event. Maybe less so for road, but certainly for MTB and maybe gravel.
For MTB, I think being strong also helps avoid crashes, as you can muscle the bike through things vs turning to a noodle and losing control of the bike.
There’s a lot of research out there that talks about how people lose muscle mass as they age, and the resulting health problems that can come along with that. Recent research indicates this is in (large?) part driven by people reducing the amount of physical activity the engage in as they age.
Separate from cycling, it’s probably a good move for overall health and well being to strength train.
I’d argue that for most people, a set of kettlebells / dumbbells will suffice - unless you are looking to lift very heavy (which is needed for some sports / levels of professionalism, and/or if you enjoy it).
Kettlebells/dumbbells allow for a lot of single leg work, and compound exercises, which are great for bike training and functional strength. As an example, do a set of 10 Turkish getups with a 40lb dumbbell and you’ll get an idea :).
Squats and deadlifts can also be done single leg, meaning less weight needed in your home gym. My “heavy” squats these days are single leg with 80lbs - a 40 lb dumbell and 40 lb kettlebell in each hand.
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I recently talked to a cyclist who dropped out of a 350 gravel race at mile 300… not due to endurance issues but due to intense back spasms (she couldn’t even walk her bike). The gravel roads beat you up over such a long distance. Anyhow, this cyclist incorporated a ton of core work in her training before the next 350er and did not have the same problem.
I’ve heard that glutes are important shock absorbers when doing running/jumping/etc activities. I’m curious if they also help dampen vibration from gravel roads.
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Ah, I see. I read “legs were lead” and the “sore and can’t hammer bike work” from a different comment and assumed DOMS. Would it be an issue to move your threshold/VO2 work around each week in response to how your legs are feeling?
Nah, I could put it anywhere in the week. Weights are so novel to my body right now that I think it’s best to just keep the bike work easy and maintain focus on the weights. May is a long time from now.
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Assuming you have proper form for the foundational kettlebell exercises you could do something like this as a beginner workout (Pulled out of an old Pavel Tsatsouline book on KBs)
Monday/Wednesday/Friday - kettlebell swings for 12 minutes. Any time you start to get tired/form starts to slip, stop for a minute.
Tuesday/Thursday - Pullups & push ups.
If you want something a bit more comprehensive you could do a workout like this;
Warm up - body weight Turkish Get Ups
upper body press (i.e. KB clean & press or KB chest press)
lower body pull (i.e. KB swing or Deadlift could be body weight and single leg)
upper body pull (i.e. Pullups / Renegade Rows)
lower body press (i.e. KB goblet squat or KB squat if you have 2 kbs of the same weight)
You could play with sets, reps and rest intervals as needed too. However, it’s always a good idea to have upper body press/pull and lower body press pull in your workouts.
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I’m aiming for 45secs effiort - 15secs rest
Hey, sorry i didnt see this mention at first:
I am relatively new to strength training, but i am quite well informed on exercise and know what i want to get ot of my training.
My workouts in the gym generally look like this:
Quick warmup first, some jogging, cycling or rowing. Some weightless squats and streches.
I do supersets where i alternate between 2 different exercises, so that i have time to rest between each set.
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Backsquats (cyclist squats with raised heel and narrow stance), alternate with 1 legges calf raises.
I usually do a slight weight progression, so perhaps do in kg 80-90-95-100-100 for squats with 5 reps. Calf raises i usually use two 20kg plates, one in each hand, and do 10 raises each leg. -
Deadlifts. Normal deadlifts, focusing on form and isolating the legs (hip hinge) movement, and not overloading them to be safe with the lower back. Usually starting with my final squat weight and working up, for instance 100-105-110-110-115. Typically 5x5 reps/sets
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Alternating Single leg romaning deadlifts and bulgarian splitsquats. To finish off each leg individually using these two one legged and less risky exercises (allows me to do to failure without risk). Doing 5x5 reps/sets usually at same weights, possibly doing the last set as many reps i am able to. I load these with the same bar as i use for squats and deadlifts, but with less weight obviously. Typically 60kg.
This is what i have done for the last 2-3 months, working my way up from 60kg to 100kg in squats and 60 to 120kg in deadlift. I do the full program 2 times a week. Hope for the progression to contrinue, but as i am not attempting to cycle more aswell, i might ease off the progression a bit to not be too fatigued the rest of the week.
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You’re welcome! You would be surprised how far some of the online resources will take you. You can also post a video on Reddit.com/r/kettlebell for a form check and some cues.
Biggest thing with swings is to keep your shoulders packed (focus on pulling shoulder blades down and in towards the center of your back) and to focus on the hip thrust to initiate the swing. It doesn’t translate well over text but would make sense in person. Anything you can find from Pavel on KB’s whether it’s books/DVDs or both will get you started!
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Purely based on feel but riding my fixed gear bike is now less taxing after 2 months of strength training. Getting the bike up the hills doesn’t fatigue my lower back nor legs on what is a relatively big gear. Will see how that translates to performance on the velodrome in the spring.
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I used to get excruciating lower back pain at the end of hard CX and XC MTB races. When I started incorporating deadlifts into my routine 2 times per week the low back pain went away. It definitely helped strengthen those lower back muscles for me.
so short answer is yes, i’ve done strength training and i believe it has been helpful.
However just note, to get best results, how, when and what (exercises) you add will depend on your use case.
I enjoy best MTB, and i find that i go a lot faster and crash less and less hard by training mobility, stability and full body strength and durability. And I can feel a big difference. There’s a trail system near me where one downhill used to take me almost an hour and a half, with noodle arms and multiple rests to shake out the arms and legs, whereas now i can do it in less than 45 mins. Skills building doubtless helped but so did the strength training.
I train it year round but i modify the focus throughout the year. The most important thing for me is probably strength endurance, rotational stability and isometric strength in the legs, so things like isometric single leg holds, single leg squats, pushup combinations with very little rest. So in-season, body weight routines are my main jam, at least twice a week (plus a dedicated, difficult core session). I also train maximal strength, but since this is not my most important parameter, i do it backwards compared to others. Like for example, I use max strength bench press in the offseason as an assistance exercise for pushup and plank combos. Contrast that with a road sprinter or track rider (even endurance ones) where they are looking for maximal strength and explosiveness, so they’d probably use higher rep ranges just to prepare themselves for lower rep, max strength sessions, if they do them at all.
I’m not too worried about indiscriminate hypertrophy. I’ve been as light as 140 lbs, but I feel best and go the fastest–and have had my best competitive seasons in every cycling discipline i’ve ever done, including road–at about 155 to 160 lbs at 5’10". I am faster and more durable and probably have a better anaerobic capacity, and the weight penalty is i guess kinda big but not as important as the benefits.
So, of course prioritize as you see fit, but i’m a big fan.
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My two cents and words of caution…I’ve lifted for the past 7 years and am 43. Both my latest injuries have been lifting injuries. Back pain as a result of poor squat execution, and latest one, tweaked hamstring doing spilt squats. The first one was going too hard too early with poor form, the second one was just being old and trying to go too low. Happens… words of caution to myself, go light and build with good form.
With that said, I believe in lifting!
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