I think I have banged on enough now about how important strength training is to cycling. Yes muscular endurance is more important but you can't have that quick burst of power without working on your maximum strength!!
First we make the legs bloody strong then we can go on to make them powerful and improve their endurance capabilites.
So when you are training maximum strength the weights are heavy and the reps are few. There are many sets but you get a good long rest in between. The programme I am doing myself follows this protocol.
85 x 4 x 6
So recapping from the last post 85% 1RM 4 reps, 6 sets.
I only selected 4 exercises because the fewer the exercises means you can perform more sets. so the programme is as follows.
- Squats 85 x 4 x 6
- Single leg seated hamstring curl 85 x 4 x 6
- Deadlift 85 x 4 x 6
- Stiff - leg Deadlift 85 x 4 x 6
The rest interval should be at least 3 minutes. This is very important because you want the creatine phosphate to be fully restored before the next set. If this does not happen, at the end of the routine your stores will be exhausted. Once stores are exhausted the body compensates by creating more which in simple terms is larger muscles. In some sports, and when strutting along the beach, larger muscles (hypertrophy) are required, however in cycling they are not. Unless you are a sprint track cyclist of course!!
If you're unsure about any of the exercises then check this youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6TRaqsCQQBI0QF6aSBz4nw
Now the guys on here are all absolute monsters but they do know their stuff when it comes to this type of training so if you can get through the macho nonsense its useful stuff!
I wouldn't recommend the max strength phase for any longer than 6 weeks for us cyclists before moving on to the conversion phase. Normally this would be performed in prep phase of your yearly programme i.e. in the winter before the racing season starts, but I wanted to get all this stuff out before then so you can have a good read and hopefully fit it into your programme. I'll be revisiting this topic after the summer to recap everything.
However if you decide you want to work on your strength during this season I would recommend doing it after a big event and leading up to another one. So for example I completed the South Downs Sportive 2 weeks ago and I have to drag my arse up Alp D'Huez in July so I am doing 2 weeks of strength training twice a week before I move on to Muscular endurance.
One last point, as you progress through the max strength phase you need to vary the loading pattern so for example a 6 week programme's loading pattern will look like. Low - Medium - High, Low - Medium - High.
Start by adding a set, then increase the weight, remove a set, add a set, then increase the weight. For my 2 week strength stint I will add a set on session 2, increase the weight by 5% on session 3 then add a set for session 4. So more medium - medium - high.
After the strength phase we will move to the conversion phase where we will work on muscular endurance and power.
In the meantime enjoy the lifting and safe riding!
After the strength phase we will move to the conversion phase where we will work on muscular endurance and power.
In the meantime enjoy the lifting and safe riding!
