The truth is many of the cyclists I know refuse to do any type of resistance training in the off season.  I hear a variety of reasons as to why they don’t make the effort, and one of the most common is that the athletes believe that resistance training will not benefit their cycling.  This is absolutely not true.  There is not only plenty of anecdotal evidence that resistance training will make you a stronger cyclist, but there is also plenty of scientific literature that comes to the same conclusion.  Covering every type of program, for every type of person, is beyond the scope of this post.  So my plan here is to lay down the GENERAL guidelines for a sets and reps scheme that will benefit a cyclist.  Here are the assumptions that I will work with:

• The athlete has a racing season that starts from March onward
• The athlete is healthy enough to get involved in a resistance training program
• The athlete is coming off of a recovery period and is physically rested, and mentally motivated
• The protocol below is for the lower body progression training at 2times per week.  For the upper body I would recommend completing 2 sets of 12-15 reps on 4-5 exercises throughout the training period.
• I would recommend doing the lifting either 2 days before an important on the bike training session, or immediately after the important ride.

December:

• Week of 7th – 13th      :: Sets @ 2 – 3 / Reps @ 12 / Exercises @ 4 – 5
• Week of 14th – 20th   :: Sets @ 3 – 4 / Reps @ 12 – 14 / Exercises @ 4 – 5
• Week of 21st – 27th    :: Sets @ 4 – 5 / Reps @ 14 – 15 / Exercises @ 5
• Week of 28th – 3rd     :: Sets @ 5 / Reps @ 15  / Exercises @ 5 – 6

January:

• Week of 4th – 10th      :: Sets @ 2 / Reps @ 10-12  / Exercises @ 4 -5
• Week of 11th – 17th     :: Sets @ 4  / Reps @ 12  / Exercises @ 5
• Week of 18th – 24th    :: Sets @ 3 – 4  / Reps @ 10 – 12  / Exercises @ 4 – 5
• Week of 25th – 31st     :: Sets @ 3  / Reps @ 10  / Exercises @ 4 – 5

February:

• Week of 1st – 7th         :: Sets @ 2  / Reps @ 8 – 10  / Exercises @ 4 – 5
• Week of 8th – 14th      :: Sets @ 3  / Reps @ 8  / Exercises @ 4 – 5
• Week of 15th – 21st     :: Sets @ 3  / Reps @ 6 – 8  / Exercises @ 4 – 5
• Week of 22nd – 28th   :: Sets @ 3  / Reps @ 6 – 8  / Exercises @ 4 – 5

March onward – I would recommend continuing the Set / Rep / Exercise scheme of February 22nd – 28th, at 2 times per week, until 1 week before the racing season begins.  Then the athlete can transition into a full time racing schedule with the benefits that the off season resistance training program has given them.  Please contact me if you have any questions about how to implement off season resistance training into your program.

-Jason