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Training for cycling

0ni

Registered Rustler
May as well share what I have learned about training for cycling in the 4 years that I have been training and competing. I'll try to make this as comprehensive as possible so if I miss anything out, I either haven't written it up yet or have forgot it. You can PM me though and I will write up about any sections you want me to. Ok, enough of that...

Why am I training?
First you need to figure out why you are training and what you are training for. Unless you have fairly specific goals then it will be hard to work towards something! Here are some things to consider before you even start to train:

  • What sort of cycling will I be doing? Time trials, BMX, Track, Touring etc
  • What distance(s) will I be racing over?
  • What role will I be playing? Will I be a sprinter, hill climber, jack of all trades etc
  • How much time can I dedicate to training?
  • How much money can I invest?

Answer these truthfully as the type of training you do depends on it.

Weight training
The number one problem with road cyclists that I find is all they do is ride their bike. Track cyclists seem to have a better idea of what to do though. Weight training will vastly improve your cycling. I'll list now the exercises that are most important for cyclists in what I think is the most important to the least important.

  • Deadlifts - The glutes are the strongest muscles in the body and deadlifts train your CNS to use them correctly
  • Squats - Great for overall power in the legs, use a full range of motion. Your not squatting to increase your squat, remember this!
  • Glute-ham raises - Many cyclists suffer from tight hamstrings (including myself) which stop them from squatting with a full ROM. GHRs losen up the hamstrings and also train your CNS to use the glutes effectively
  • One legged leg press - Unilaterals increase the number of high tension muscle fibres (HTMF) in the body. The majority of your training should be geared around increasing your numbers and efficiency of your HTMFs
  • Kroc rows - Every action has an equal and opposite action, training your back will vastly increase the power you can put down into the pedals. Again kroc rows will increase your HTMFs
  • Core work - Very important as it keeps you stable. The obliques also help put the power down when you stand up also
  • Chins and pressing - Just keeps things balanced

I haven't chosen to include olympic lifts because A: Powercleans suck for power; and B: Powersnatches are too hard to learn and you're better off doing speedpulls or snatch grip high pulls.

Again, I'd like to reiterate: Increasing your HTMFs is the most important thing in your training. It's useless being able to deadlift 200kg if it takes you 3 seconds to complete the lift. I'd much rather you deadlift 180kg and it takes you 1 second. Lets get onto some beginner routines.

Training 3x a week
You should really try and train with weights at least 3x a week. Below is just Starting Strength. You increase the weights by 2.5kg for upper body lifts and 5kg for lower body lifts EVERY SINGLE WORKOUT. I'd highly recommend reading the SS book as well.

Monday
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench press / Press (Alternating)
Chin-ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps

Wednesday
3x5 Squat
3x5 Press / Bench Press (Alternating)
1x5 Deadlift

Friday
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press / Press (Alternating)
Pull-ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps


I don't really like this program though, I don't think it has enough volume and can be improved lots. Below is what I have put my team mates and training partners on with massive success. It starts off with 5x5, when you stall take it down to 3x5. When you stall again take it down to 1x5 and finally on the 4th stall you can move onto another program. When you stall I recommend deloading to 90% also for some headroom.

Monday
5x5 Squat
5x5 Bench press / Press (Alternating)
Chin-ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps

Wednesday
5x5 Front Squat
5x5 Press / Bench Press (Alternating)
1x5 Deadlift

Friday
5x5 Squat
5x5 Bench Press / Press (Alternating)
Pull-ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps

Lets call monday and friday workout A and wednesday workout B.
This can also easily be a 4 day routine. ABxABxx | AxBxABx both work well. I've even had someone that has never lifted before do this 6 days a week! ABABABx. You will find that an absolute beginner can easily do this kind of volume. You can't overtrain if you don't have a CNS to overtrain! You can easily train 6 days a week like this until you squat 100kg. If doing this 6x a week, I would start you off on 1x5 for each exercise though. (NOTE: 1x5 6 times a week is near enough the same volume weekly as 3x5 3x a week for your lower body. 30 squatting reps + 15 deadlifting reps (45) vs 50 total reps in SS.

The advantage of squatting often as well is that you don't need to stretch to much. This was confirmed by Broz who max out on squats every day! Your cycling is going to suffer from this, there is no two ways about it but in a few months you will stop feeling like death and adapt to the training volume.

So after you have stalled four times on squat with the SS or my routine, it is time to move onto another routine.

After Starting Strength
After starting strength I would highly recommend dropping the training volume back down to 3 days a week. After increasing the weight every workout, the next step is increasing the weight once a week. I think the Bill Starr / Madcow 5x5 routine is perfect for after SS for cyclists. Here is the routine, I have altered the assistance to benefit the cyclist more though.

Link explaining the progression and an FAQ:
Bill Starr 5x5 - Madcow Intermediate or Linear Version

Monday:
Squat 5x5 Ramping weight to top set of 5 (which should equal the previous Friday's heavy triple)
Bench Press 5x5 Ramping weight to top set of 5 (which should equal the previous Friday's heavy triple)
Barbell Row 5x5 Ramping weight to top set of 5 (which should equal the previous Friday's heavy triple)
Assistance:
2xF Glute-ham raises (With bodyweight until you can do 2x20. When you can do that add weight and aim for 2x10-12 reps
5x5 Janda situps (You won't be able to do this at first, trust me. If these are easy then you're doing them wrong)

Wednesday:
Squat 4x5 First 3 sets are the same as Monday, the 4th set is repeating the 3rd set again
Military or Incline Press 4x5 Ramping weight to top set of 5
Deadlifts 4x5 Ramping weight to top set of 5
Assistance:
Front Squats 5x10 (Start with 50% of your front squat max at first. Seriously take your time with this one!

Friday:
Squat 4x5, 1x3, 1x8 First 4 sets are the same as Monday's, the triple is 2.5% above your Monday top set of 5, use the weight from the 3rd set for a final set of 8
Bench 4x5, 1x3, 1x8 First 4 sets are the same as Monday's, the triple is 2.5% above your Monday top set of 5, use the weight from the 3rd set for a final set of 8
Barbell Row 4x5, 1x3, 1x8 First 4 sets are the same as Monday's, the triple is 2.5% above your Monday top set of 5, use the weight from the 3rd set for a final set of 8
Assistance:
3 sets of weighted chins (10-12 reps), 3 sets of barbell curls and 3 sets of triceps extensions (8 reps)

Lots of upper body assistance on Friday? The reasoning behind this is that it's important to have balance, even as a cyclist. Curls and tricep extensions are very important for keeping your arm tendons healthy. When you stall on squats again, deload to 90%. When you have done this 4 times it's time to change. We still want to milk weekly progression for all it's worth though so instead of changing to month progression we can just switch around the volume. We will aim to keep a similar total volume (as it's best for strength and power) but less volume per workout with more recovery time. To do this we will now train 4 times a week. The routine: A1,B1,x,A2,x,B2,x

A1:
Bench Press 3x5
Squat 3x5
Weighted Dips 3x8-12
Hyper Extensions 3x8-12
One legged leg press 2x15 each leg

A2:
Overhead Press 3x5
Front Squat 3x5
DB Bench 3x8-12
Leg Press 3x8-12
One Legged Squats 2x15 each leg

B1:
Weighted Pullups 3x5
BB Rows 3x5
Glute-Ham Raises 3x8-12
Romanian Deadlift 3x8-12
Curls 2x15

B2:
Deadlift 3x5
Kroc Rows 3x8
Weighted Chins 3x8-12
Janda Situps 5x5

Aim to add 2.5kg on each of the main lifts each week (Press, Bench press, Squat, Front Squat, Deadlift). Start with 80% of your training max.When you stall, deload 90% as before. Do this 3 times before moving onto the next routine.

Don't have a training partner to do Janda situps? Assume the position (lol) and squeeze a phonebook or anything else of similar size and weight between your knees. Push against the floor with your feet then do the situps that way. Keep the pressure on!

Next step is monthly progression. This will be Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 routine. I think this is an absolutely fantastic routine. The only thing that I will change is when to set rep maxes and the assistance work, which will need to be changed to suit the cyclist more. We tend to need less pressing volume, equal pulling volume and more quad work than hamstring work.

Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 for cycling

I highly recommend that you read the 5/3/1 manual if you haven't already. Most questions about the routine can be solved by reading the book and there is an extensive FAQ section. Here is the routine with suitable adjustments for cyclists:

Monday, Squat day:
Squats: Do 5/3/1 sets/reps then work up to either a heavy single or triple.
Front Squats: 5x10
One Legged Leg Press: 2x8
Janda Situps: 5x5

Wednesday, Bench day:
Bench press: 5/3/1
Chins/pullups: 5x10
Curls: 3x10 (Rest/Pause DC style sets work well, or you can do straight sets. Main thing here is injury prevention than building mass

Friday, Deadlift day:
Deadlifts: 5/3/1 - Work up to a heavy triple or single once every 8 weeks.
GHR: 5x10
One legged RDL: 2x8
One legged Swiss Ball Crunches: 5x5 (Basically, get a partner to hold ONE of your feet down, elevate the other and do crunches with a full ROM on the swiss ball)

Saturday, OHP day:
OHP: 5/3/1
Chins/pullups: 5x10
Face pulls: 2x10

Beyond 5/3/1?

The 5/3/1 routine, if done correctly should last you pretty much forever. If you start stalling your lifts, recalculate your training maxes, change the tempo of your lifts, change the assistance exercises to similar ones etc. This is all explained in the 5/3/1 book so I won't go into much detail. I don't recommend changing the main exercises though. I will however give some decent assistance exercises for you to choose from though:

Squat day:
Squats, both high bar and low bar
Box squats, change the depth of the box for more variety
Front squats
Leg press
Hack squats
Jump squats (use 20-30% of your squat max)
Powercleans

Deadlift day:
Deadlifts
Deficit deadlifts
Rack pulls (below the knee)
Glute-ham raises
RDL
Reverse hypers
Hyper extensions
Powersnatches
Snatch grip deadlifts
Snatch grip high pulls

Unilaterals (not going to bother putting 'one-legged' before each exercise...)
Pistols
Squats
Leg press
Back raises
RDL
Deadlift
GHR (Kudos if you can do these! Going to list anyway because some of the smaller guys may be able to do them)
Lunges (avoid, they really do suck and you can end up dumping the weight if you get tired)
Any quad or PC movement that you can do on one leg

Speed work
Wendler does not recommend speed work, he says not to bother and that it has no place in the 5/3/1 routine. But he also says that you can incorporate the olympic lifts into the routine either as the main assistance exercise, or before squatting and deadlifting. I don't understand this logic at all and I think that Wendler said not to bother with speed work in his book to stop people overcomplicating the routine. I see no reason why you can't do speedwork or oly lifts as the main assistance or before you squat or deadlift. But like all things, if you introduce something then expect your lifts to suffer! Just remember that your main goal is not to get a big squat or deadlift but to increase your lower body strength and power, so if your lifts go down for a few months, do not worry.

Another thing you can do is alternate squats and deadlifts on Monday and dedicate Friday to speed/power work. So you will be adding weight to squats and deadlifts once every 2 months, progress on your lifts will be slower but you can progress on your speedwork really fast this way. I think that if you do speed deadlifts on max effort squat month and vice-versa you will make amazing progress in your power and HTMF recruitment (the whole purpose of training in the first place).

Westside is Bestside

Another thing you can do is switch to the Westside method. I won't go into this too much but you should read "The Westside Barbell Book of Methods" by Louie Simmons. Only thing that I would change is not swapping max effort exercises very often. You can pretty much keep the lay out of assistance the same. I'll list some suitable max effort exercises below and I only suggest switching your max effort exercise once every 2 months.

Max effort lower body exercises:
Squat variations (Should be your main exercise, try to use it for the 2 months as often as possible. High bar, low bar, off a box etc etc)
Deadlift variations (Wouldn't use this very often as it's quite stressful on the CNS maxing out on deadlift variations, only use these for a month before changing to a none-deadlift exercise
Good mornings

That pretty much wraps up weight training for cyclists. Next I'll type up how to alter your weight training to increase and recruit your HTMFs.
 
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