Endurance athletes have notoriously low hip ROM and ankle ROM on a population average compared with folks who exclusively lift. This causes spinal flexion under load during squats below parallel for most that I’ve seen. (Sans wl shoes).
There will of course be many who can squat to depth barefoot without an elevated heel. Congrats on maintaining strong mobility!
Thanks for clarifying. I guess on my own personal level that’s how I look at it. I’m just trying to stay as mobile as possible the older I get.
Thanks to @Jonathan for putting “tippy birds” in my head. Not the movement Romanian Deadlift which sounds STRONG. The title tippy bird which was the image I had in my head today doing them. Had to listen to some Metallica to get my testosterone level above whimper again.
Anyone measuring their strength training by total weight moved?
I was adding an RPE based TSS column for lifting last year but looking back it just looks silly, so a few googles later there seems to be some support for recording the total weight moved.
SO I just want to check I’m doing it right. I did 5x5 today, 55kg squats, 42.5kg bench, 42.5kg row.
So my “score” is (5x5x55) + 2(5x5x42.5) yeah? 1375+2125 = 3500 units
Sounds impressive. 
Yep, it’s called “Volume Load” (VL) in the scientific literature. It’s one of the best predictors of hypertrophy assuming that primarily compound, large ROM, movements are being used. More is better… for hypertrophy.
For muscle growth, high VL is key.
For strength, moderate VL and higher intensities are key.
For power, lower VL & very high intensities are the goal.
For endurance, low-moderate VL & moderate to high intensities are optimal.
Peaking tip: VL should approach 0 in the final weeks of race prep.
Anecdote: I hit VL = 20,000 a few times back in my bobsledding days in hypertrophy phases of training. During peaking phases I would usually be in the 1000-2500 range. Bobsled = power.
If I were training for cycling I’d be targeting probably more like 4000-8000 for my highest volume phases, and down to 0-1000 in race prep.
Thanks, that’s a good idea. I looked it up and found an approach I prefer:
“Simply counting hard sets is a much simpler way of accomplishing the same purpose, without unnecessarily biasing some exercises or loading schemes over others.
For strength + size, it’s a simple issue of the number of heavy (80-85ish%+) sets you do, for size + muscular endurance, it’s a matter of the number of relatively light (65% and below) sets you do, and for a blend of the two, it’s just about the number of hard sets you do in the intermediate intensity range.”
Yep, standard industry practice for tracking hypertrophy training. Maybe not the most useful for strength/power or specifically enhancing those things in cyclists or triathletes.
During sweetspot base high volume i did strengh training but i am now general build hv and i stopped it. Because the build itself is really demanding and also i am trying to make caloris deficits (500 per day). So i do not want to block my progress but i wonder should i still keep doing strength training or wait for next base (4 weeks later after build i will come back base period).
Yes, I think you should try to maintain your strength gains with one or two sessions a week. If you do fewer sets and reps and don’t try to add weight you should be able to keep the strength gains you’ve made so you aren’t starting over again in four weeks, plus continuing to lift helps to keep you durable on the bike during the build phase.
For me, lifting in the evening after a hard workout in the morning works to keep the easier days easy. It can feel tough on the legs at first but after a couple of warm-up sets I’m OK to lift “heavy.”
Once per week at a maintenance weight.
I’m not sure calorie deficit is ever a good idea when you’re in training season.
I’m overwhelmed by strength training. I’d really like to add weights alongside my normal training plan. However, I’ve read some books, looked at posts, have lots of different lists of exercises etc etc, but when it comes to putting it down on paper for what exercises I’m going to do which days and how many sets… my brain just starts turning to mush and I just go ride my bike instead.
Any suggestions on building a plan sort of how TRs plan builder works? What is the best way to add strength training to my TR calendar? Or is there a better way to to manage both strength and cycling training? (Like use TR for the cycling but trainingpeaks for the sum of all strength+cycling?)
I’m overwhelmed by this thread too, I tried to skim all 780+ posts but maybe this has been answered and I missed it.
I’d recommend keeping them separate (no need to track TSS for lifting), and starting with two days of strength a week on the days that work best for you (I like to do it in the evening on the same days as my hard workouts).
StrongLifts 5x5 is a great intro program, super simple, just three lifts per session (I now do all five every session, at least until the weights get heavy again). It starts you off really easily and then builds up weight progressively.
That’s helpful not worrying about TSS w/ strength training.
Week before last’s podcast ep 296 had some gems from 38:58 to 52:00 if you missed it:
I tried for a couple of years and couldn’t crack the code. Last year I bought an off-season resistance training plan from FasCat. Used that June - August 2020. Success. Moving beyond that is a separate discussion, and I now have some strong opinions for myself that may not apply to you.
So like any training, I think you need to start with a little self-analysis - what are you strengths and weaknesses? What are your cycling goals? What are your strength goals?
Some people want stretching and conditioning, so might go down the bodyweight exercise route, lunges, pistol squats, Spider-Man press route…or you might get a bit get-strong daft like me and buy a powercage, barbell and weights for beginner powerlifting. There’s other guys and gals who come to cycling from a weightlifting history.
As I recently posted in the ep 296 podcast thread, these are all very different things when you are balancing it with TR plans which as Chad says are not easy days of training. So if your strength workouts are Hard you’ll want to do them in your offseason then switch down intensity/weight when you get into TRs Base/Build/Speciality cycle.
This for sure.
@Dennis, I also have a customizable strength program that I wrote/designed for endurance athletes that does what you’re after, that I financially benefit from, in my link in my bio.
Yeah, that’s a fun way if looking at it.
In my lifting days, before I started cycling, I once did a 10.000kg squat session. I believe it was 20 sets of 5 reps @ 100kg. Knocked me out for a good couple days lol.
Crikey. That is shifting some iron. 
I would try not to get caught up in the details. As a beginner almost anything will be better than nothing and will help you to build the routine while you get more comfortable with self programming. So don’t worry about trying to find the “best” exercises just do the basics.
Also, in the grand scheme of things most lifting programs will closely mirror how cycling programs are structured. They’ll start with higher volume and lower weight with sets and reps around the 3x10ish range (base). Then they’ll progress to med volume and med weight with 4-5x5-6 (build). And then go heavy weight and low reps with 6-8x2-3 (specialty).