The Best Strength Training Tips for Cyclists

Cycling and strength training go hand in hand. Ask anyone who cycles and they’ll tell you: It’s a sport of power and endurance. In either case, developing the right muscles can make you that much better of a rider. Do you need muscles that power you through sprints up the hills or muscles that drive you toward the finish line, many miles into your ride? Your answer will dictate the type of workout routine you do. And while many of those workouts will be on your bike, you can get a head start by adding in some strength training moves for cycling as well. What you achieve off the bike helps you progress on it. Learn more about how strength training for cycling can make you a better rider and the types of exercises to do based on your goals.

How Strength Training Improves Cycling Success

Peloton instructor and track cyclist Christine D’Ercole explains that off-bike strength training is essential if you’re looking for a performance boost. “A balance of core, back, arms, lower, and upper body strength will help improve your stamina,” she says. Plus, by improving your posture through strength training, you won’t sink your weight on your joints during rides. 

It’s not just anecdotal: A study in the Journal of Sports Sciences found that cyclists who followed a 10-week program of twice weekly strength training were able to increase their power output during sprints and 30-minute cycling trials more than cyclists who did not strength train. This jives with another study that found competitive cyclists who performed eight weeks of strength training exercises, three times a week, improved their cycling economy, efficiency, and time to exhaustion compared to those who trained on the bike alone.

How to Add Strength Training to Your Cycling Routine

In general, Christine recommends working three rides, two strength sessions, and a yoga class into your weekly routine. (And don’t forget to make time for a recovery day, too!) 

But tailoring your routine exactly requires you to know your goals and the type of cycling you prefer. For Christine, as a champion sprinter, sometimes her races are mere seconds long, which means her fast-twitch muscle fibers deliver big bursts of power in a short amount of time. Endurance cyclists, however, develop slow-twitch fibers, which allow them to maintain a slower pace for longer.

Trying different types of cycling classes can help you determine what you enjoy most or what comes naturally, Christine says. Is it high-intensity classes like Tabata or endurance-driving Power Zones? “Experiment and discover what you might be built for,” she says, “and dig into that.” 

Once you know what works for you, set a goal. Do you want to PR in a Tabata class? Are you considering a century ride? Do you want to boost your FTP for Power Zones? A clear goal, whether power-focused or endurance-based, dictates your training program.

“Making your goal specific and attainable—and maybe slightly out of reach—is the best way to stay committed,” Christine says. Noting your progress along the way, she adds, will keep you motivated.

If you have a sprint goal, she suggests heavy weights and short reps; for endurance, lighter weights and higher reps.

The Best Strength Training Exercises for Cycling

Regardless of whether you’re trying to build fast-twitch or slow-twitch muscle fibers, any cycling strength routine is going to involve a lot of lower-body moves aimed at your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves. But don’t stop there! A strong core is essential for keeping you stable in the saddle, and the stronger your arms, the better able they are to support you as you pedal.

To build strength for cycling, start with these seven moves, split into power (fast-twitch) or endurance (slow-twitch).

Strength Moves for Power

Squat Jumps

These jumps build explosiveness in your quads for those gnarly hill sprints.

Muscles worked: Glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings

Front-to-Side Lunge Push-Offs

You’ll develop faster reflexes with this multi-directional exercise.

Muscles worked: Glutes, quadriceps

Push-Ups With Arm Raise

When you put down the power during a sprint, you need a rock-solid upper body to drive you forward on the bike.

Muscles worked: Biceps, triceps, lower back, core

Strength Moves for Endurance

Bicycle Crunches

Learning to continue the cycling motion even as your muscles fatigue trains your slow-twitch fibers to get you across the finish line.

Muscles worked: Deep core, obliques

Leg Lifts

Feel the burn take on new meaning, especially in those all-important biking support muscles—your hip flexors.

Muscles worked: Abdominals, hip flexors, quadriceps

Pull-Ups

Pull-ups develop upper-body stabilization that makes cycling long distances a little easier.

Muscles worked: Latissimus dorsi, trapezoids, biceps

Plank Walkout

When you’re two hours deep into a century ride, the stronger your core, the better your odds of toughing it out.

Muscles worked: Core, quadriceps, hamstrings, biceps, triceps

Warm Up and Cool Down

In addition to these strength-building exercises, it’s important to warm up and cool down. Warm-up classes help you last longer and push harder in your main class, and cool-down classes help calm your heart and bring your circulation back to normal. Both help you maximize your workout. Recovery rides are important as well for helping your body heal. If you don’t take the time to warm up, cool down and recover, you risk injury and even losing your motivation. 

Channel Positive Energy

At the end of the day, no matter how strong or fit you are, the nature of any sport is that you want to continue to be better than you were the day or week before. Your mental strength is an essential ingredient to help you on that journey, which is why Christine recommends meditation classes to help with attitude awareness. 

“When I have … an attitude of curiosity instead of judgment and comparison, I always come out on top,” she says. “Winning is finishing something you didn't think you could finish, regardless of where you land on the Leaderboard.”

“The numbers are not there to have power over you,” Christine adds. “The numbers are there to empower you.”