Why heavy strength training is crucial for older cyclists
Strength training in the gym for cyclists is often skipped in favor of ridding more however, I think that’s a bit short-sighted especially as you get older because the benefits of strength training are huge. It’s been shown to Increase Vo2, torque and power, lactate threshold, aerobic endurance, bone and tendon health, muscle strength, function and quality, reduce the chance of common injury.
Strength training has a profound role in your performance as you age. This is why I’ve made it one of my core training principles when training cyclists over 40.
Heavy and explosive strength training increases cycling performance not only by increasing your ability to put out more torque which means more power, it also improves your muscles endurance economy which means the stronger you are the less power you need to ride at the same speed over longer distances. Who doesn’t want that?
Strength training can improve muscle economy and power at lactate threshold independently of Vo2 max. If you think about it adding strength training in the gym is a double whammy for improving your overall ability to ride stronger up hills, faster over longer distances and it can increase your FTP.
When it comes to long-term health it helps mitigate age-related strength and muscle loss that is usually associated with older populations and has been shown to increase bone density, tendon quality and strength.
For me, this is an important aspect to highlight in older cyclist because cycling alone has been shown to reduce bone density. As you age you don’t want that to happen so adding strength into training makes sense if you want your muscles and bones to age well.
On a side note, as an observation of people that do vs people that don’t strength train as they age. Hands down the people that lift heavy invariably look and move younger.
There are 2 types of strength training I include with my cyclists
1. Building strength on the bike using hill reps and big gear torque training.
2. Heavy strength and explosive strength training in the gym.
The critical factor is where you place these in training their intensity, volume and progression
From experience getting cyclists to drop a bike session or reduce ridding volume in favor of hitting the gym is often seen with scepticism. However, once they start to see quick results that make them quicker up hills, hold faster average speeds, increase their FTP with no negative outcomes they fully embrace it.
Thanks for reading.
Simon
Performance & Nutrition Director
2 X Winner of Gym Based PT, and founder of VPCC
Links to further reading:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4849483/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1886483/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-011-2013-1
https://sportsandscience.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Ausdauer-und-Kraft.pdf