Strength Training and TR plan

I’m starting Sweet Spot Base mid vol next week and need some advice on how to integrate my strength training. For the past 2 months have been doing moderate strength/core routine on M,W&F. I’m dong some basic core work, some TRX reps of various sorts aimed at my upper body and 5x5 sets of deadlifts. This is partly for cycling and partly for general fitness. The only thing that is really strenuous and causing any real noticeable fatigue are the deadlifts. (I’ve fallen in love with deadlifts). I can tell I’m not going to be wanting to work at this level once I get to the specialty phase and race season and I will probably throttle back a bit even before then. But, does anyone have suggestions to how to integrate this into base? When, and how, should i cut back? Or, should I just keep this up year round?

Hey there STP!

First off, check out the following forum that goes extremely in depth about how to use strength training with cycling:

We also talked about this on the podcast here:

Once you get more into the build and specialty phases, it will be hard to do as much lifting as you are doing now just because of the fatigue you will have from the bike but during base, you can totally pull it off. If you plan on having a day when you do a TR workout and go to the gym, it is best to do the TR workout in the morning and the weight lifting in the evening (or the other way around). This should allow your body enough time to recover for your next workout.

Hope this helps!

1 Like

Anyone have a strength-plan that shows how strength days incorporate into the week with on-the-bike days? This is something I haven’t been able to perfect and the link to the podcast above doesn’t really delve into this, which is what I think OP is asking.

I find this impossible - do strength with deadlifts etc off season - and managed it in base as well - now in build - Satan will go to work on a snow plough before I can do leg weights and VO2/OU/super threshold stuff - still do press ups and core planks 3x week though.

I did this plan this off season. It’s definitely for the off season as your legs get destroyed (in a good way!) but your still on the bike 2-3x per week. I LOVED it and its paying dividends. TR needs something like this in their catalog. They have all the pieces scattered about but need to put them into an actual fully organized/in the calendar plan.

https://fascatcoaching.com/training-plans/weight-lifting-for-cycling/

4 Likes

Currently middle of SSBMV1 with additional running and cycling adding to 13-15 hours total for the week. I typically lift MWF and while it makes some days more difficult, definitely still manageable. I typically deadlift & multiple squat variations among other leg straining things.

I was training 3 days a week in the gym, 2 circuits with 4 exercise each and each 2-3 rounds. This is/was an endurance mtb training program. I did this through sweet spot base LV 1 one but was destroyed at the end. Ended up being way to much intensity as I think my ftp ended up being set to high. My advice would be to really watch the intensity in and out of the gym, your diet and plenty of rest. I have since moved to a more traditional base on the bike paying attention to my heart rate me to build my aerobic base vs constantly smashing myself on the bike and in the gym. I typically get out on my mtb 1 or 2 days a week right now and get plenty of intensity in the woods.

There are a few factors to count in and it depends on what phase you are on both in your cycling and your weight lifting. I usually recommend strength training on the day after a recovery day if possible, but if not then, on the day before a recovery day, and like to have them lined up with key workouts but not to interfere with them.

I like to do them on Mondays and Fridays because of how my training is most often scheduled. I have my longer “weekend rides” on Fridays and Saturdays, and take Sundays off and Thursdays are typically a recovery day. This leaves the most recovery between strength training days (2 and 3 days) and assures that I am fresh. If I have a “key workout” on one of these days, then I make sure to do the strength training on the other half of the day (if I cycle in the morning, strength in the evening and vice versa). For most cyclists, the best days may be Tuesday and Thursday since the longer rides are Saturday and Sunday and Monday and Wednesday are easier days. You can work it out however you would like within your training, and most studies have differing days that the cyclist were lifting, so there is something to say that it doesn’t matter too much, provided you’re not doing strength on your recovery days as that would be counterproductive.

2 Likes