Do you find session 3 affects your training on a Saturday? Are you struggling with fatigue or the ability to hold the workout, or is it just an endurance ride? Heavy gym work is as hard, if not harder, on the legs as HIT on the bike. that’s two days in a row, which is why I asked initially.
Looks like a pretty decent program. The only thing I would change is moving the Squats and Deadlifts to the first exercise of the ‘Main’ block as they are usually the heaviest and most full-body lift.
I have done them on the same days. I found my lower back was getting too sore. Probably due to poor technique as a result of fatigue. I separated to avoid injury.
Oh I didn’t mean to do them on the same day. But on their respective days you have them as third or fourth exercise. If it were my program I would move them up to the first exercise after the warm up but still on their own separate day.
You could hit heavy weights and not bulk up. That will teach your muscles to fire properly too. Plugging this in because I find this guy helpful, humorous and free of BS
This, but I guess it’s how you define “pure strength work”.
Top Cyclist / Triathaletes / Ironmen/women lift year round, just the load changes (heavy vs. light and volume).
Power / weight sports like wrestling (freestyle / roman greco), gymnasts, and competitive Olympic stle lifters are great examples of how to be as strong as possible without a lot of bulk.
Since about 2013 until recently, I used a lot of Dustin Meyer’s programming for strength and conditioning work. He’s Ohio State Wrestling’s Strength and Conditioning coach:
The In-Season and Pre-Season ones are good. Dustin is in killer shape as well… he’s over 40 and can still run a sub 1 minute 400m, and despite being pretty jacked. I’d recommend these for someone who maybe isn’t prioritizing cycling as their main sport, but wants to be all around strong and in shape.
Before that, I used programming from Cornell’s Wrestling program.
Most of the “cardio is bad” stuff comes from body building, where it does make sense. Kolie Moore covers studies in his podcast on how when push comes to shove, our bodies will prioritize aerobic fitness over anaerobic muscle gain.
Focusing now on endurance, I use the ECFit programming (https://ecfitstrength.com/). Erin was the S&C coach for Sepp Kuss when he was still Stateside, but is also the S&C for Tom Skujins, Ruther Winder and on the Tri / Iron side; Taylor Knibb, Tim O’Donnell, Rinny Carfrae, the Metzgers, and many others.
Since beginning my strength training, a lot has changed for me… As I mentioned before, I don’t race my bike. I enjoy ridding and staying fit. I do it to stay healthy.
My cycling training has taken a back seat. I am only doing two sessions per week - endurance and VO2 or anaerobic efforts. That’s it.
But the biggest change is…
I feel FANTASTIC. I am sleeping better, eating more (craving protein). My mood is better. More energy. My kids love strong dad. I noticed my “sex-drive” has increased - DRAMATICALLY…
This leads me to think that my Testosterone levels have been down for quite some time. I suspect my endurance training did not help - fatigue and raised cortisol levels. I cant be sure. All I know is how I feel and the changes I seen over the last 3 weeks.
Change 2.
I had a dexa scan. Put on 1kg (2.2pounds) of muscle. Lost about 1 pound of fat. The interesting part is that I have put on mass in the upper body and lost muscle in legs. Make sense.
Change 3.
I actually feel fresh to increase my lifting volume…I will looking to add some mobility work on my rest days.
Strength gains. 3 wks ago 4 rep max on dead lift was 110kg (242 pounds). Last week did 8 reps at 160kgs (352pounds) CRAZY…also pb on bench = 90kgs (198 pounds).
One thing, my cardiovascular fitness has helped massively…
I recently did a check at which time of the year I ride my biggest power and get most PRs on Strava. Much to my surprise it’s in the beginning of the year, around March. Winters over here are terrible for road riding, so these off seasons are mostly spent riding my MTB, running and strength training. Looks like this more well rounded approach actually makes me fitter compared to just focusing on cycling. So from now on I’m going to keep the running and strength training year round.
My strength routing is pretty basic though, just squat, push and pull twice a week, but it works wonders. Usually done after my hard day of riding, cuz at my age I can’t recover fast enough if I lift on off days.
I just wanted bto say thanks for this thread, I’m 38, a dad of 2, and a teacher. I don’t race, but I want to ride my bike with friends and feel fast, ski and feel powerful, and hike. I try to balance running, kettlebell and some free weights, and the trainer but it is tough to figure out a general fitness plan that maximizes everything (to the extent that one can) in reasonable time commitments.
For me, focusing on sleep (and correspondingly - not drinking much and regulating diet) is key for making the other stuff happen.
