Now that we’re back to gym/off season in the northern hemisphere, question on lifting deload weeks. Is it recommended to time lifting deload weeks with cycling endurance weeks (so 3 weeks on, 1 week deload/recovery)? Or does it make more sense to stagger them?
I suppose it depends on the point of the deload week. Is it for overall recovery and absorbing recent training load? Then it makes sense to cut load across sports. But you could also deload in one sport and overload the other one if that’s the intention and fits into your plans.
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I’d line them up so you can fully recover and give yourself a chance to evaluate both your fatigue and fitness while being fully recovered. You don’t want to still feel a little tired at the end of that week and be wondering if it’s because your lifting deload is next week and you hope you’ll feel better then. And you also want to be able to evaluate your fitness gains from the previous block as you start fresh again without wondering if you didn’t improve or the lifting from the previous week is ‘hiding’ your gains.
I’m a bit late to this chain, but wanted to add my experience as I’ve been through a similar process. I can recommend this book - Science of Strength Training: Understand the anatomy and physiology to transform your body (The Science of Fitness). It’s not cycling specific, but helps with understanding strength training and developing a programme. In short, it sets out three types of exercises - muscle building, muscle strength and endurance. If you’re starting from zero, building is important, but as cyclists, training endurance in the gym isn’t too important as we already do that on the bike. Focussing on the muscle strength aspect is therefore most helpful.
In developing my training, I generally focus on reps in reserve, and often limit this to 1-2. As a rule I use 3 sets, setting weights to get me to around 10-12 reps per set. I’m not an expert, but this way I can easily track my progress over time, then spicing thing up by changing sessions between machines and free weights (I usually do 3-4 weeks machines, then 3-4 weeks free weights).
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To start, one quality workout per week is enough not to overload the nervous system. It is best to focus on basic exercises (Full Body) of 5-7 types per session, resting between sets for 1.5–2 minutes — this will allow the muscles to recover without unnecessary stress. Many practical tips on how to balance the load and fit the sport into a busy schedule without overwork can be found here: Benefits of Corporate Exercise Programs: The Secret To A Healthier and More Productive Workforce - BetterMe.
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I started another topic here but I’ll add this since my post was just replied to.
After a spring / summer of maintenance on the legs, I’ve reached a whole new level with regards to resistance training and the legs.
When I started in September of 2024, I started at maybe 160lbs on the leg press machine. That was quickly up to 220lbs in about six weeks. It was super fatiguing as I mentioned so I really just did maintenance from February to October. By maintenance I mean like two sets of 180lbs which felt ridiculously easy but it would leave my legs fresh for cycling.
This winter I started increasing the weight back to 220-240. I noticed that a few sets would not leave my legs hammered. I’d recover in one day. I increased weight to 260, 280, and now 300. I’m still recovering in a day instead of 3 or 4 days. It’s like I found a new gear with the weight training.
All I can chalk this up to is the 8-10 months of maintenance mode giving me a new level of durability. The hardest thing now is getting 300lbs off the ground. Doing the reps is not particularly hard. I’ve been thinking that maybe I should just practice getting the weight off the ground more than doing reps.
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This is great (I consider leg press as a primo strength training exercise for cycling). How many sets and reps are you doing?
I do like 4 or 5 sets. I start low, and do some easy sets like a warmup, 200-220lbs and then go up 20 pounds on each one. Getting to 300 has been new.
Just doing it for health and fitness and maybe whatever marginal cycling benefit. (Haven’t seen FTP go up from strength training.)
How many reps for each of the 4 or 5 sets, especially the 300 pounder?
Your approach is really good, allowing consistent warm up sets to get your muscles ready for the heavier, working weight, which improves over time just by being consistent as you are.
Just the last set of 10 at 300. 300 is new territory so I’m going slow.
My legs aren’t even smashed today but as I’ve learned from the last year, a little goes a long way.
The set at 300 is actually not very hard. The hardest part is getting 300 off the ground.