Enhance Your Ride: Why Cyclists Need Strength Training

You know that deep burn you get when climbing a steep hill? Or what about when you’re giving that final mile everything you’ve got, but your legs feel like they’re about to give out? That’s when you probably wish you had just a little more power — and that’s where strength training can help. 

By consistently building muscle strength, you gain better endurance and power to ride stronger and longer. Strength (or resistance) training works your muscles against force, strengthening your muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments, and even bones. It’s what makes your body more resilient and stronger overall, and less prone to injury. 

With the right strength training routine, you can boost your metabolism and train your muscles to sustain more effort, so you can see a direct impact on your power and speed. Whether you’re a beginner looking to move through daily life with more ease, or an athlete wanting to perfect your ride, strength training gives you the foundation you need for better overall performance. 

Let’s dive into exactly what you’ll get from strength training, along with specific exercises, technique and proper form, and ways to simplify it into your routine.

1. More power and speed

If you want to push harder, you’ll need more than just cardio power. Muscle strength leads to better performance and output, which means more speed and efficiency. This is when the climbs and last stretch start to feel easier. 

Exercises for power and speed:

• Squats: Target your quads, hamstrings, and glutes, which are key for powering up hills and sprinting on flat terrain.
• Deadlifts:  Strengthens your posterior chain (lower back, glutes, and hamstrings), giving you more explosive power when you need it most.
• Box jumps: Plyometric (explosive) exercises improve fast-twitch muscle fibers for sprinting power.

2. Fewer injuries

If you’ve ever trained for a race only to feel your knee act up and stop you from going harder, you know how easy (and frustrating) it is to get hurt. Repetitive exercises, like cycling, can weaken the knees, lower back, and IT band. They put a heavy strain on one part of your body, and without enough rest or stabilizing strength, you get injured.  Strength training fortifies support muscles and tendons, reducing strain and lowering the risk of common cycling injuries.  

Exercises for injury prevention:

• Lunges: Strengthen stabilizing muscles to protect joints.
• Leg presses: Reinforce quads and hamstrings for knee support.
• Core strengthening (planks, Russian twists): Improve posture and balance to reduce lower back pain.

3. Longer endurance

There’s a myth that endurance just comes from cardio practice. The truth is, you can’t have long-lasting endurance without muscle strength and stamina. The stronger your muscles, the more power they can put out for longer without fatiguing. Think of cycling like a marathon for your legs, where strength training is a necessary part of the prep that reduces the chances of muscle fatigue for the home stretch. 

Exercises for endurance:

• High-rep squats: You can develop muscular endurance in the legs by doing more reps with lighter weights.
• Endurance-focused leg presses: Take the weights down and go longer to increase stamina for long rides.
• Circuit training: Cycling takes sustained effort with minimal rest, which you can practice with circuit training (similar to high-intensity interval training or HIIT) to build muscle stamina.

4. Better overall performance

Developing muscle strength comes with a host of benefits, like faster recovery, improved flexibility, stronger joints and tendons, and even better posture. Put together, that makes you much more likely to go the distance with more ease and power. You’ll start to notice that climbs feel more manageable, your descents become more stable, and you’re not as exhausted post-ride. 

Even if you’re not a fan of strength training and prefer the ride, that doesn’t mean incorporating a bit here and there can’t be fun. Take Krysta’s experience with trainwell as an example: 

“I’m Krysta Turner and I’ve been working with Jill for a few months now. I used to hate strength training, was strictly a cardio girl, but have really, truly enjoyed the workouts. I feel like I get something out of them ever time and Jill really caters them to what I need. Love trainwell!”

Check out these articles on how building muscle helps you live a longer, healthier life overall with better mental health, too. 

The strength training exercises cyclists need

Here’s a quick list of the exercises to keep top of mind. Each one targets the muscles you rely on most when cycling, helping you improve your overall performance. 

Lower body exercises for power and stability

• Squats: Strengthen quads, hamstrings, and glutes for more pedal force, making climbs and sprints easier.
• Lunges: Improve single-leg strength and balance to reduce imbalances that can lead to knee or hip pain.
• Deadlifts: Target the posterior chain for better stability and endurance for long rides.

Core exercises for control and posture

• Planks: Improves core stability to make an aerodynamic position easier to maintain on a long ride. 
• Russian twists: Enhance rotational strength for better bike handling and cornering control.
• Leg raises: Strengthen the lower abs to reduce strain on the lower back.

Upper body exercises for endurance and posture

• Push-ups: Build endurance in the chest and shoulders to maintain a strong riding position without fatigue.
• Shoulder presses: Better shoulder stability for less neck and arm strains.
• Pull-ups: Strengthen the upper back to prevent slouching. 

Train smarter, not harder

If you want to get the most out of short strength training sessions, proper form is key. You’ll not only reduce the risk of injury, but train your muscles to use their full potential in short bursts. 

Tips for good form: 

• Start light: Make sure you’re getting the right technique before you increase the weight.
• Engage your core: With a strong core, every other exercise becomes easier since your center is strong.
• Move slow: You don’t need to rush through reps. Go for slow, controlled movements to maximize muscle engagement and prevent strain. 
• Consider working with a trainer: Getting a trainer from the get-go can stop you from making bad habits early on. With trainwell, we track form and can set you up for long-term success with the exercises you need. 

How to add strength training (without losing ride time)

One of the biggest reasons why people avoid strength training is the time commitment. Luckily, it’s a myth that you need to train for 1-2 hours every session. Here’s how to start:

• Take it easy: You don’t need to do every exercise every strength session. Try one lower body and one upper body/core day with just 2-3 exercises each.  As you get more comfortable and confident, you can add more exercises. 

• Duration: While at least 30 minutes of strength training per session is ideal, even 10 minutes is better than none. A few small sets of squats and deadlifts are already enough to get the ball rolling and can take anywhere from 10-20 minutes, depending on how much you lift. 

• Frequency: To start, aim for around one to two sessions a week. As you get more comfortable, you can fluctuate between one to three sessions weekly, which is still enough to maintain and grow muscle strength. For example, a study with just one 12-minute eccentric training session weekly for older adults showed significant increases in muscle power (13%) and strength (up to 50%) in 12 weeks. The best part? The results were similar to the group that worked out twice weekly. 

• Balance cycling: If you know you have a long ride tomorrow, give yourself some rest the day before and avoid lifting heavy. You can still prioritize cycling, just think of strength training as the side dish to add on (like the veggies that you know you need). Try tacking one to two exercises to your cycling routine to start (maybe as part of your warm up). Plus, one meta-analysis even showed that replacing a portion of endurance training with strength training improved max power and performance. 

• Workout with a buddy or personal trainer: You want to make strength training fun, not a chore. See if a friend is up for working out with you, or try a personal trainer. They’re there to make you a plan you love, and offer some good company, too. 

How trainwell helps you ride stronger, longer, and faster

Trainwell’s experts design programs specific to your needs (and preferences). If you hate squats, no problem. They’ll find something else for you to try that targets all the same muscles. No gym? No problem. They can create a routine you can do straight from home or even a hotel room, no equipment needed. 

If finding a balance with consistency and enough time to add in strength training feels overwhelming, we’ve got you covered. We’re all about progress, not perfection. You don’t need to spend hours in a gym, we’ll create a routine that maximises your time and gives you results. 

With trainwell, you can level up your ride with structure and injury prevention strategies to sprint harder and stay strong on any ride. Give it a try today with our 14-day free trial and match with a trainer that suits your personality, to make it all the more fun. 

Written by Jennifer Olejarz.