Most cyclists are aware of an obvious example of how physical strength can affect their results: namely, in the sprint efforts that conclude most cycling events. Physical strength will affect your cycling performance in other, less obvious ways as well. For example, the surges in effort that are so much a part of cycling - those required to prevent gaps from forming in a paceline or to get back on when you reach the end of a paceline, or those needed to bridge small gaps between groups or to 'jump' over those noxious little hills that dot the countryside - all require strength. In fact, your ability to produce any intense, short burst of effort will be affected by your physical strength. And, as mentioned above, your strength performance is determined by an energy production system that is totally, distinct from your endurance performance energy system.

I noticed very early in my racing career that many 'strong’ riders who seemed able to grind my legs slowly to stumps during training rides, simply could not tolerate the rapid changes in speed so typical of bicycle racing.

Competitive cycling is unique for an endurance sport because it is not just a steady, smooth continuous effort. Instead, it consists of periods of low-intensity efforts, separated by periods of extremely high-intensity efforts, all jumbled together in a seemingly random fashion. This places a premium on strength performance factors not normally associated with endurance. Cycling is also unique in that participants tend to travel in ‘packs,' which offer so much protection to their members that it requires an almost superhuman effort for individuals or smaller groups to break away. Again, such super-maximal explosive efforts rely on a special energy production system that is intimately tied to your muscular strength.

Unfortunately, training for optimal physical strength requires that you overload your energy production and musculoskeletal systems in a manner that is specific to the physiological requirements of your strength system - i.e., high-intensity, short-duration efforts. This is best accomplished by working against controlled resistance devices such as weight machines or free weights.

The good news is that training for improved strength involves such high-intensity efforts that it actually requires less time than endurance training. In fact, my three-day-a-week strength program takes only 75 minutes per session, including a shower!

Personally, my biggest problem with strength training is that I don't really enjoy the weight-lifting 'experience.' Yet it is a fact that certain limitations in cycling performance can best be overcome by leaving the roads that you enjoy so much and spending a few hours a week in the weight room.

In the periodized, seasonal approach to optimal training, the initial training period, or season, is devoted to developing a foundation of strength. Therefore, the strength period should begin the formal training process each year for the cyclist, and it should last from two to three months, depending upon your stage of development, geographic location and general interest. During this period you should continue to ride your bike in order to maintain your aerobic base, but you should devote most of your hard physical training efforts to resistance training.

Training during the strength period

Fortunately, it is possible to develop the desirable strength foundation with a remarkably simple program of weight training using either weight machines or free weights. My personal recommendation is to use machines rather than free weights because the machines are safer, do not require spotters, provide simple mechanisms for rapid setting of resistance, and are just as effective as free weights for inducing strength gains.

An optimal resistance training program should allow you to progress at or near your physiological maximal limits while keeping your risk of injury to a minimum. Unfortunately, any type of training that pushes you to the edge of your capacity has inherent risks. You can minimize these risks but you must never forget that they are ever present. I recommend a program of progressive overload with regular periods of lesser intensity. This involves combining periods of low-to-moderate-intensity high-repetition training (known as hypertrophy periods) with periods of high–to–extremely high–intensity low–repetition training (known as strength periods).

The process of combining periods of hypertrophy and strength is consistent with the periodized training approach. Since the strength period represents a smaller period, or cycle, within the annual training cycle, the smaller cycles of hypetrophy and strength within it are known as micro-cycles. This phased loading and unloading will give your body the opportunity to recover from your training effort, thereby minimizing the risk of injury.

While I use a specific 12-week program, you can easily replace it with a program of your own. Included are standard weight-lifting exercises which can be demonstrated by the instructors at your local fitness center. The one-footed toe-stand exercise is to be performed with only your body weight during the hypertrophy phases, and with additional weight equal to your body weight during the basic strength phases.

Note that the hypertrophy phase is composed of weight-lifting sessions that require approximately 15 repetitions, while the basic strength phase uses approximately six repetitions. During each phase, the resistance should be adjusted so that the last lift (six or 15) is exhaustive, i.e., you could not lift another.

Steve Johnson, Ph.D.