Over the last couple months, many of us have been diligently working on our strength training and hitting the weights two or three days a week. But as we head towards spring, those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere tend to begin to lose motivation (aka energy and will) to keep showing up to do the consistent work necessary in resistance training to keep our results building through the season. Here's the quick and easy on how to keep your strength training on point and results pouring in both now and for the coming summer season.
Your 1 Rep Max is Variable
If you're like most endurance athletes, you're probably a bit overwhelmed these days at all the scientific research coming out in support of strength training. However, it was only in the last five to eight years or so that the attitudes toward strength training for endurance athletes have changed.
This has led a lot of athletes to focus on heavier weights (80+ percent of 1 rep max) as their guiding light and main takeaway. While heavier weights do have a time and a use, this limited focus of the research actually leads many cyclists to drop their strength training in the spring, as they just cannot train or ride with quality due to the fatigue or soreness caused by strength training at these levels.
The great news is that what many of these studies don't tell us is that our 1 rep max can vary +/- 17% (or more), depending on our training readiness and fatigue levels. And even more important than the fact that this variability is normal, if we guide our weight/resistance based on RPE (rate of perceived exertion), with a 10 being a max effort, we'll see the same (or slightly better) gains than if we trained off a 1 rep max.
So if you're coming off your first week or two of adding in some lactate threshold work or harder efforts and are feeling like your weights for your strength training feel heavier than usual, you're actually right; they are.
The Pro Strength Coach Way to Lift for On-Bike Performance
If you're showing up expecting the weights you use to go up from week to week, and you keep trying to push that direction, you'll achieve exactly what you are sowing: burnout, fatigue, and muscle soreness that keeps you from riding with quality, any of which are the reasons given by riders of all levels and abilities from around the globe as to why they stopped their strength training in the spring.
So what's a gal or guy to do?
Simple: Follow the feels!
Especially when we begin to add training load on the bike, the body is going to begin to divert more energy and resources toward the biggest and most time-intensive task you perform each week. As an endurance athlete, that would be riding, running, or swimming.
This means that we simply must turn our strength training resistance/weight selection over to the day-to-day feeling of the weights and of how well we can perform the exercises with great technique for each entire set throughout the strength training session.
The challenge most endurance athletes face is in their own heads, as we pride ourselves on being hard women and hard men, capable of undertaking more suffering than the next bloke. When it comes to strength training for performance, this is a recipe for poor in-sport returns, loss of training quality, and even burnout.
Just KISS It
While the science and research will (eventually) catch up, pro athletes across all sports have learned that in order to see performance (in-sport) gains, they must adjust their weight selection on a day-to-day basis, which allows for taking into account their physical and mental preparedness, ability to focus, and a host of other variables that will affect human performance.
Yes, there are high-tech tools and tests that these pros have access to in order to help them guide their training in the weight room, but when these technologies or tools have issues and the training must get done, they shift to using a tool that every one of us has access to for free:
How heavy does the weight feel for this set and for my ability to keep great technique for the entire set?
This is also known as RPE (rate of perceived exertion).
So as you head into the build phase of your training/riding year, dial in your strength training by dialing into how you and your body feel on each given day at each given time.
By checking your ego at the door and not being attached to how much you move, but rather how you move, you're not only self-regulating to meet your body where it is, but also stacking the deck in your favor to your best riding season ever, thanks to consistent and regular strength training that helps improve and speed up your recovery, adaptation, and riding power and speed.
Keep it simple, silly
Aim for RPEs of 6-7 for your lifts while keeping great technique, continue to show up consistently for your strength training two to three days a week, and you'll see wonderful results in the coming weeks, months, and season.
At BaseCamp we believe that every cyclist has the potential to achieve greatness, no matter where they start. Our mission is to create a community-driven training environment where cyclists and triathletes of all levels can train together, support each other, and grow stronger, faster, and more confident in their abilities. Our cycling training programs are expert driven and tailored to your needs. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just getting started, BaseCamp is where you belong.
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