CYCLING
Strength training for cyclists: what to lift and how often
Add heavy leg lifting to your riding: two sessions a week of sets of 4 to 10 reps near your maximum. In a 12-week trial of 20 well-trained cyclists, that kind of lifting improved mean power in a 40-minute all-out ride and power at low lactate, while riding alone only tended to improve the 40-minute ride. Complete starts from your long-term goals, and every ride that reaches Apple Health counts toward your score, and rides of 20 minutes or more add to your training load.
What lifting does for a cyclist
Three factors set endurance performance in cycling and running: VO2max, the most oxygen your body can use; your lactate threshold, the hardest steady effort you can hold; and efficiency, how much oxygen a given power costs (Joyner and Coyle, 2008). Riding trains all three. Lifting works on the legs that turn the pedals, so you can ride a hard effort for longer.
The best evidence we found is a controlled trial of 20 well-trained cyclists. Adding heavy lifting to normal riding, with four lower-body exercises in sets of 4 to 10 reps near maximum, twice a week for 12 weeks, improved mean power in a 40-minute all-out ride and power at low lactate. Lactate builds in your blood as effort rises, and power at low lactate is how hard you can ride before it climbs. The riders who only rode tended to improve the 40-minute ride, without a clear gain (Rønnestad and colleagues, 2010).
Heavy lifts come first
A review of strength training for running and cycling recommends heavy lifting for cycling economy. It adds that the most compelling evidence of an added benefit to cycling performance is with heavy lifting rather than explosive lifting (Rønnestad and Mujika, 2014). So start with heavy lifts, and treat jumps and cleans as an add-on.
Mixing lifting with endurance work has a cost. A meta-analysis of 21 studies found that endurance training can blunt the strength, size and power you gain from lifting. It blunts them more with running than with cycling, and more as the weekly volume and frequency of endurance work rise (Wilson and colleagues, 2012). We suggest two lifting days a week, the dose the cyclist trial used.
Late-ride power and what we cannot say
Durability is how little your power drops as a long ride goes on (Maunder and colleagues, 2021). We found no cycling trial of training for it. In 10 young professional riders, the ones who held power best when tired had higher VO2max, higher peak power, higher power at both ventilatory thresholds and better efficiency (Spragg and colleagues, 2023). That study only watched riders and did not change their training, so treat it as a lead.
It points at what you train anyway: a big aerobic base, threshold power and leg strength. We found no cycling study on trunk or hip stability for holding an aero position, so this page makes no claim about it.
A cycling week with two lifting days
Keep one ride hard and your lifting heavy and short. Hard-interval blocks have raised aerobic power in trained cyclists (Rønnestad and colleagues, 2014). The weekly shape is general training advice, so move the days to fit your life. Lift on a day without a hard ride, so your legs are fresh for the squat.
| Day | Session | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Rest or an easy spin | Your legs recover from the weekend. |
| Tuesday | Hard intervals on the bike | The one hard ride of the week. |
| Wednesday | Heavy lower body: the session below | The trial used heavy lifting twice a week. This is the first. |
| Thursday | Easy ride, 45 to 60 minutes | A pace where you could hold a conversation. |
| Friday | Heavy lower body, shorter | The second weekly dose. Cut the sets if Saturday is a long ride. |
| Saturday | Long ride | Time in the saddle builds your aerobic base. |
| Sunday | Easy ride or rest | Arrive at Tuesday fresh. |
A heavy leg day from Complete’s workout library
Complete’s library holds strength sessions and no rides, so this is a strength session. It is Squat Focus, the Wednesday session above: heavy back squats, front squats for the trunk and a loaded lunge to close. It takes about 55 minutes. The trial used four lower-body exercises in sets of 4 to 10 reps. This session has three lifts, and its sets run from 5 to 10 reps.
A front squat holds the bar on the front of your shoulders. A walking lunge steps forward on each rep. To failure means you stop a set when another rep would not go up. Ramp means a couple of lighter sets that build up to your working weight.
| Block | What you do |
|---|---|
| Warm-up | Back Squat: 2 sets of 5 reps, ramping up to your working weight. Groove your brace and your depth. |
| Main | Back Squat: 3 sets of 5 reps, 240 seconds rest, about 80 percent, heavy, every rep to depth. Pause for a beat in the hole on the third rep of the second set. Front Squat: 2 sets of 6 reps, 150 seconds rest, 31X1 tempo, to failure by about 6 reps. Keep your elbows high and sit tall. |
| Finisher | Walking Lunge: 2 sets of 10 reps per side, 90 seconds rest, with moderate dumbbells. Take long, controlled steps. |
Scaling the session
If you are new to heavy squats, do all three back squat sets at about 70 percent and use goblet squats, which hold a dumbbell at your chest, in place of front squats while your rack position develops. If you have lifted for a while, do the session as written, three sets of 5 at about 80 percent. If you want more, work up to a heavy set of 3, then do two back-off sets of 5, and stop the front squats when the bar slows down. The 31X1 tempo means 3 seconds down, a 1 second pause at the bottom, a fast drive up and a 1 second hold at the top.
How Complete fits a cyclist who lifts
Complete starts from your long-term goals: build muscle, lose fat, improve cardio, get stronger, general health or become an athlete. For a cyclist who lifts, get stronger and improve cardio often fit together. They steer what Complete recommends every day, and you do not need a plan to use it.
Cycling and triathlon training come in 2027. Until then, your rides and swims already count toward your score, your training load and the recommendation for each day. A ride counts toward training load from 20 minutes. Cycling has no Road and no sport-specific training in Complete today. Lifts count too, whether you log them in Complete or your watch sends them through Apple Health.
If your watch records HRV and resting heart rate, Complete scores your recovery against your own baseline after about a week of data. If your recovery is red, today’s session turns into rest or an easy session.
Start with your goal. Complete is an iPhone app, free to download, and logging and sharing your workouts on it stay free.
Frequently asked questions
How often should cyclists lift?
The trial that showed gains used heavy lifting twice a week for 12 weeks. Two sessions is a sound start, because endurance training can blunt the strength you gain from lifting, less with cycling than with running and more as your weekly riding grows.
Should cyclists lift heavy or light?
Heavy. A review of strength training for cycling and running recommends heavy lifting for cycling economy, and says the most compelling evidence of a benefit to cycling performance is with heavy lifting rather than explosive lifting.
What is durability in cycling?
Durability is how little your power drops as a long ride goes on. We found no cycling trial of training for it. In one study of 10 young professionals, riders who held power best when tired had higher VO2max, higher peak power and better efficiency.
Does lifting hurt my cycling?
The risk is the other way around: lots of endurance work can blunt your strength gains from lifting, less with cycling than with running. In the cyclist trial, adding heavy lifting improved power over riding alone.
Does Complete plan my cycling?
No. Cycling and triathlon training come in 2027. Until then, your rides already count toward your score, your training load and the recommendation for each day, and Complete counts a ride toward training load from 20 minutes.