Strength Training for Cyclists: A Gym Plan Around Your Rides
Cyclists get the most from the gym with two sessions a week in winter and one in the riding season, built on heavy, simple lifts: a squat or leg press pattern, a hip hinge, single-leg work, a pull, and trunk work that resists bending and twisting. Keep the reps low and the sets few, lift on the same day as your hard rides or well away from them, and never let the gym compromise the session on the bike that matters most that week. The aim is not bigger legs. It is more force per pedal stroke and a body that tolerates long hours in a fixed position.
Why riders need the gym at all
Cycling is a strange sport for the body. It loads the legs through a small range of motion, thousands of times, with almost no impact and very little demand on the upper back, the hips at full extension or the trunk in an upright position. Over years that produces riders who can hold a strong effort for hours but feel stiff after a day at a desk, struggle to stand up from a low position under load, and carry very little strength through the full range of the hip.
Heavy strength work covers three gaps. It raises the maximum force your legs can produce, which tends to help short, hard efforts: a sprint, a steep ramp, the surge to stay on a wheel. It strengthens the posterior chain and upper back, which take the strain of a long time in the drops. And for anyone over 40, it matters because cycling is not weight-bearing, so it does little for bone. The UK Chief Medical Officers’ physical activity guidelines recommend muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days a week for adults, and plenty of keen riders do none.
The movements that carry over to the bike
You do not need a long exercise list. Five patterns cover nearly everything a rider needs.
A bilateral squat pattern
A back squat, front squat or goblet squat builds the quads and glutes that drive the downstroke. Riders often squat poorly at first because their hips and ankles are used to a narrow range, so expect to spend a few weeks earning depth. Our guide on how to squat properly covers stance and bracing.
A hip hinge
The Romanian deadlift trains the hamstrings and glutes through a range the bike never asks for, and strengthens the back muscles that hold you in position. It is usually the lift riders find most useful for how they feel off the bike.
Single-leg work
Pedalling is one leg at a time. A rear-foot-elevated split squat or a step-up exposes left-right differences that a squat hides and trains the hip stabilisers that keep the knee tracking over the pedal.
A pull
A single-arm dumbbell row or seated cable row builds the upper back that rounds forward for hours on the bars. It also gives you something to pull against when you are out of the saddle.
Trunk work that resists movement
Planks, dead bugs, Pallof presses and loaded carries teach the trunk to stay still while the legs work. That is the job the core does on the bike. Endless crunches are the opposite: they train flexion, which riders already have plenty of.
How heavy, how many
For strength that carries over without adding much muscle mass, the usual approach is heavy loads for few reps: three or four sets of three to six on the main lifts, with the last rep or two of each set feeling hard but technically clean. Rest two to three minutes between heavy sets. Accessory work, such as rows and single-leg exercises, can sit in the six to ten range.
Riders often want to do high-rep leg circuits because that feels like cycling. Resist it. You already have a huge amount of muscular endurance from the bike. The gym is where you train the quality the bike does not develop, which is force.
The plan through the year
The single most useful idea for a cyclist in the gym is that the dose changes with the season. A simple version looks like this.
| Phase | Months (UK road season) | Gym sessions a week | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foundation | October to November | 2 | Learn the lifts, moderate loads, 6 to 8 reps, build range |
| Strength | December to February | 2 | Heavier, 3 to 6 reps, the main block of progress |
| Transition | March to April | 1 to 2 | Hold loads, cut sets, ride volume rises |
| Maintenance | May to September | 1 | Two or three heavy sets on two or three lifts, short session |
Maintenance is the part most riders skip, and it is why their strength disappears by July. One brief, heavy session a week is generally enough to hold onto most of what you built over winter, and it costs very little freshness.
Fitting sessions around your rides
The rule of thumb is to keep hard days hard and easy days easy. Stacking a heavy leg session on the same day as an interval session, ideally a few hours apart with the ride first, leaves the following day genuinely easy. Putting a leg session on your recovery day turns it into a moderate day and leaves you half-tired for everything.
A typical week for someone riding four times with a club ride at the weekend:
- Monday: rest or an easy spin.
- Tuesday: intervals in the morning, gym session A in the evening.
- Wednesday: easy ride or rest.
- Thursday: tempo ride, gym session B (lighter on legs, heavier on upper body and trunk).
- Friday: rest.
- Saturday: club ride or long ride.
- Sunday: easy ride.
Avoid heavy squats or hinges within 48 hours of a ride that matters. If you are building towards a sportive or a long event, our eight-week plan for a charity ride shows how to taper the gym into it.
A sample winter session
Session A, about 50 minutes including warm-up:
- Warm-up: five minutes on the air bike, then hip and ankle mobility and two lighter sets of the first lift.
- Back squat: 4 sets of 5.
- Romanian deadlift: 3 sets of 6.
- Rear-foot-elevated split squat: 3 sets of 6 each leg.
- Single-arm dumbbell row: 3 sets of 8 each side.
- Pallof press or dead bug: 3 sets.
Session B swaps the squat for a lighter goblet squat or step-up, adds a lat pulldown and an overhead press, and finishes with a farmer’s carry. That is the kind of programme we would build and adjust in the private training studio on Archway Road, where the squat rack, cable station and air bike are all yours for the hour.
Mistakes we see in riders
- Training the gym like the bike. High reps, short rests, heart rate up. You already have that engine.
- Starting heavy in March. New lifting just as ride volume rises leaves you sore on your best weeks. Start in autumn.
- Ignoring the upper back. Neck and shoulder ache on long rides is often a strength problem as much as a bike-fit one.
- Stopping completely in summer. You lose most of the winter’s work by the end of the season.
- Chasing numbers in the squat. A rider does not need a big squat. A solid, controlled one, progressed slowly, is plenty.
If you have had a knee, back or hip injury, a heart condition, or have not lifted for years, check with your GP or physiotherapist first and start lighter than you think you need to.
Questions we get asked
Will lifting make my legs heavier and slow me down on climbs?
Not with low-rep, low-volume work alongside plenty of riding. Muscle gain needs a lot of training volume and a calorie surplus, and a busy cyclist rarely has either.
Is the leg press as good as squats?
It is a useful option, especially if your back is sensitive, but squats and split squats also train balance and trunk control, which a machine does not.
I commute by bike every day. Does that change things?
Count steady commuting as easy riding. It rarely needs to change where you put your lifting, though a heavy leg day can make the ride home slower.
Should I work with a coach for this?
Many riders do well with a few months of 1-1 coaching in Highgate to learn the lifts and set loads, then run the plan themselves with occasional check-ins.
Book with The Highgate House
Ready to start training properly? Email us at [email protected] with the service and the day that suits you, and we will come back to you with times.
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