Generally my clients don’t injure themselves riding their bikes (excluding a few crashes) they generally hurt themselves gardening, kicking a football or diving for a cricket catch, doing something energetic with a child or a grandchild, lifting a piece of furniture or falling or tripping on something. Everyone, even you, potentially a doubter, is at risk, and it will happen sooner or later. Strength training is your insurance policy for resilience to these off the bike activities, as well as giving you extra oomph to push hard on your pedals for longer, and to give you the residual strength to draw on during the second half of long rides and events. (over 3 hours in duration)
Strength training is an all year round affair, but the volume and sheer weight and intensity ebbs and flows throughout the year, titrating directly with cycling volumes and any other draws on your energy levels.
The hierarchy of strength training is as follows.
- Sessions using equipment and free weights in a gym, directly supervised with a PT on a one to one basis.
- Sessions at home with a PT using weights.
- Sessions using equipment and free weights in a gym, self guided.
- Sessions at home using weights self guided.
- Self guided sessions at home – no equipment
- Yoga or pilates only (using either in conjunction with gym based strength work is great)
- Not doing any strength work at all.
The Big Strength Block.
With some sessions over 2-3 weeks to prepare your muscles for the onslaught that is autumn strength , then follows a 10 week programme, when cycling hours are minimised, so you save your energy for the lifting. Max 2 rides (or 4 hours tops) riding per week, and ideally 3x gym sessions. Focussing on lifting heavy, building strength, and having the space to recover between sessions to continue the build. This is a 10 week progressive block.
Then onto winter maintenance, a 2x weekly maintenance block trying to maintain the absolute strength built, but not creating the fatigue, everything is a bit less intense, strength gains are more gradual, reps and sets are higher. This is in conjunction with base training on the bike. 16 weeks of increasing volume, with gradually building intensity and development of strength and endurance on the bike. This is on a build and recovery cycle.
Then the switch to In-season strength workouts. These are on a build and recovery cycle, again looking to maintain the strength and form developed in the autumn, without accumulating gym fatigue. We are saving your main energy for the bike, building and maintaining strength endurance, speed and absolute power on the bike, raising FTP boosting performance and searching for achievements that feel rewarding and satisfying. In the weeks before your ‘A” event strength will reduce down to recovery week levels and the focus will be on building your bike performance by recovering enough that you ‘Peak’ on target for your A event.
FAQ
What if I hate strength work?
Like a lot of things that are good for us, we don’t automatically like them straightaway, if we are not used to doing them. If you want results, longevity (in healthspan, life and on the bike) you need to suck it up, and develop a good strength training habit. Like broccoli or chia seeds you may not like it at first but in the end you get used to it, and the results quite quickly become evident and speak for themselves.
I don’t like gyms.
You don’t have to go to the gym, (see the hierarchy of strength work above) ANYTHING is better than nothing. If you currently do nothing, then adding something, anything strength related is going to improve things. I do suggest you keep your mind open, and try different ways of doing strength work. Once you get started you may find that things you have previously hated actually work quite well for you now. And there is nothing to compare to the feeling of being strong, powering up a hill on your bike, quickly lifting a piece of furniture at home, even just carrying the shopping or a heavy suitcase. Strength work easily transfers to daily life.
I’ve never done strength work and I’ve been ok up until now.
You have never been the age you are now before, and every year that passes that number increases, and with it the natural dissipation of muscle mass from the age of 30 (reality check, sorry) called sarcopenia. You can negate the gallop of this by including strength work in your weekly regime, all year round. This will also help maintain your bone density, so that if you do fall over, or crash your bike, your bones will be more resilient and less likely to break
I’ve still got riding I want to do in the Autumn, to enjoy the weather/my fitness.
In which case you have a decision to make, either you are riding for the moment, enjoying maximal time on your bike, or you are thinking forward to getting the very most out of next year, improving on things from this season, and setting yourself up for greater things going forward. It’s simply not possible to do both properly. If you want another month of high volume riding then the strength build will be shorter, and therefore far less effective. At the end of the day, its your training and its up to you, but the pragmatic coaching view is to look forward and plan for next year.
I don’t want to bulk up.
‘Bulking up’ without steroids is really hard to do. Especially for women. Mostly you will become leaner, reducing the amount of body fat you are carrying and increasing your muscle mass. This is good news as muscle is metabolically greedy and more muscle means you need more calories to stay the same, so if you have more muscle you can eat more! Win,win. If your muscle mass is very low (or only on your legs) you may get a bit more defined, but that can only be a good thing right?
How will I know its working ?
You will feel it! You will notice that you can push up a hill grinding out power in a way that has previously eluded you, keeping going for longer before you need to pull back. Your clothes may start to fit differently, you may notice emerging muscles appearing on your abs, glutes and shoulders. Your energy levels on and off the bike may increase and your ability to maintain anything strength or muscle related will increase. From unscrewing jam jars and getting boxes out of the roof, to dropping your oldest opponent on your favourite climb.
So, lets make next season the one you either got strong or stronger, if you already have a regular strength routine, congratulations! You are already making the best choices for longevity both on and off the bike. I don’t mean just living to be 90 something, I mean having a great healthspan, (definition … the part of a person’s life during which they are generally in good health.) and making your body strong and resilient ready to accept the challenges that life may send you both on and off the bike. And should you draw an unlucky card healthwise over the next few years, building muscle and bone density will help you to withstand treatment that you may need to undergo, much more than simply cycling alone can do.