GYM
Gym Training for Endurance Athletes According to the Experts
Interesting Facts About Gym Training
- Almost all pro cyclists do gym training at one point throughout the year.
- You will find an increase in sustained and maximum power from gym training. But this isn’t the greatest benefit.
- Gym training doesn’t lead to weight or size gain if you do it properly.
Simply put, everyone can benefit from gym training. From big sprinters in a criterium to ultra-endurance lightweight climbers. The secret is how you manage it for your specific requirements.
Contents
Who Uses Gym Training?
Currently, you will probably struggle to find professional endurance athletes that don’t do some form of gym work. However, for some sports it is more important than others. We had a conversation with John Wakefield (current performance coach at Bora Hansgrohe cycling team and ex-head of performance at UAE Team Emirates) about his training approaches and how he uses gym training for cyclists.
Lucy Charles-Barclay finished second at the 2022 Ironman world champs after coping with a hip injury that kept her away from running for almost a year. She credited much of her quick recovery to the strength and conditioning work she did with Red Bull.
Kiwi Pro Cyclist George Bennet on Gym Training with UAE Team Emirates
I do now [gym training]. I’ve gone from zero gym to two or three times a week. In fact, during the early days of the off-season I’d be in the gym every day. And it’s not simply been high-repetition stuff for conditioning. It’s been about growing bigger, stronger legs, so lots of leg press. It’s about maximal damage exercises – about trying to rip my muscles up and grow them. Then again, I haven’t managed to add much muscle yet. I suspect I’m not that way inclined. But it’s a balancing act as I’m looking to build muscle while stripping fat built up in the break after the 2021 season. You’re not going to gain muscle if you’re calorie-negative. It’s tricky.” – Interview with Rouleur
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Commonly Known Benefits
Power = force x velocity. Gym training increases power because it increases the force your body can exert at any velocity. We talk about how later in the guide.
Another commonly known benefit is reduced chance of injury. This makes sense when you consider how stronger muscles will be able to take more force. Due to cycling being such a low-impact sport, cyclists’ bodies are usually fragile which can lead to issues when put under high stress or high impact. Running, on the other hand, is a high-impact sport, therefore runners’ bodies need to be able to take high loads of force, or else, they may find themselves with stress injuries. This is very common.
Less Known Benefits
The two main benefits of gym training according to Wakefield are repeatability and consistency. Especially at high intensities. For example, if you are doing 5 x 10-minute intervals, you will be able to sustain a more consistent speed throughout each interval rather than dropping off towards the last reps.
Resistance training can increase the number and size of capillaries in your body, improving oxygen and nutrient delivery to muscles. They also help to clear the byproducts of exercise including lactic acid. This is known to be one of the most important traits of the world’s best. Think Tadej Pogacar, Kristian Blumenfelt. They can use lactic acid as energy very efficiently. Strength training can also increase the size and strength of the heart, leading to improved oxygen delivery during exercise, and increase enzyme activity involved in oxidative metabolism, resulting in improved endurance and delayed onset of fatigue during long endurance events.
An article on Training Peaks written by Landry Bobo sums up the neuromuscular effect gym training has on your economy/efficiency. The following is directly taken from the article.
When you lift heavy things or do explosive plyometrics, you maximally recruit all of your muscle fibres. Over time, this results in enhanced neuromuscular recruitment, which is essentially the connection between your brain and muscles. After even just a few strength training sessions, your body will learn to recruit your muscles more synchronously. All of the muscle fibres will learn to work in unison. Your body will also learn to send stronger signals to your muscles, resulting in greater force production. Done properly, this new ability will transfer over to your sport and teach your muscles to work together and improve your economy.
For runners, strength training can increase the stiffness of your muscles which helps you to store elastic energy. Basically, your legs will have a bungee cord effect which can help propel you without increasing energy expenditure.
Low cadence training on the bike has a similar effect. You can read about this topic and our interview with Wakefield here.
How the World Tour Pro's Plan Their Time in the Gym?
A gym session that includes weights, core, and stability should usually last between 30 minutes and an hour. While just core and stability could take between 10 and 20 minutes. We recommend starting your gym training in the off-season as when you first start you will likely have very sore muscles.
According to Wakefield, in terms of timing throughout the week you will want to be in the gym 2 times a week and ideally have 2-3 days of no gym between heavy lifting days. These heavy-lifting sessions should always be done after your primary sport training as that should always take priority. This way you won’t be fatigued for the main training in your day.
“Aim to get atleast 3 hours of recovery time in after your ride so your body has time to recover and adapt. The way I see it, you should be going into each training feeling as fresh as possible so you can put in more and therefore get more out of the session.”
“I definitely never give riders gym training on off days as this is where they need to fully recover and if they are in the gym then they are still training. Instead, I will give it to them after an endurance day or an easy day.”
If we break it down through a season your gym schedule should look a little like this…
Off-season: 2-3 weights sessions including core and stability per week. + optional extra 2-3 core and stability sessions.
During the season: 2 weight sessions including some core and stability per week. + optional 1-2 core and stability sessions.
4 weeks out from your targeted race: 0 weights sessions. Optional 1-2 core and stability sessions per week.
Reps, Sets, and Rest
The most common mistake is probably a lack of knowledge around these three terms. We want to avoid doing between 6 and 10 reps as this will promote hypertrophy (growth in muscle size). Instead, we want to start looking at 12-16 reps for muscular endurance and gym adaptation. After your muscles have adapted (3-5 weeks) and your technique is good enough, then you can look at the lower rep work. 3-6 reps for strength is where you will make the most gains.
In terms of sets it’s relatively simple, 3-4 sets with pretty much every exercise.
Regarding rest, it is very important that when doing low rep work, you have a large rest between sets (2-4 minutes). Without the proper rest, your muscles won’t have time to properly recover. When doing higher rep work, however, rest between sets is not as important (1-2 minutes will be fine).
Are There Any Downsides?
According to the research, there is only one real downside of training in the gym. And that is its effect on fatiguing your body, as it leaves you with less energy available for you to use in your specific sessions. Therefore timing and when you choose to do your gym training are crucial.
For those of you who are worried that gym training will make you put on mass, here is a day of gym training with Chris Froome (a man well-known to obsess over weight).
Recommend Weight Exercises
Renowned coach Joe Friel (founder of Training Peaks) suggests that gym training for endurance athletes should focus on developing functional strength and power, utilising exercises that mimic the movements and demands of their sport, such as squats, lunges, and deadlifts. Plyometric exercises, such as box jumps and explosive push-ups, can also be useful for developing explosive power. Therefore there are different exercises that benefit different athletes. Here are some recommendations. (Please seek advice from a professional in your sport code to personalise your training and teach proper technique).
- Back Squats (all cyclists, triathletes)
- Leg press (all cyclists, triathletes)
- Deadlift (all cyclists, triathletes)
- Lunges (all cyclists, triathletes)
- Plyometrics (not a weight exercise but still useful). Examples of good plyometric exercises include box jumps and broad jumps.
Recommended Core and Stability Exercises
If you ever walk into a physio, chances are they won’t be happy with the lack of strength in your supporting muscles. This is very common as these supporting muscles are not being worked as hard as your primary muscles. Think of it this way. Your supporting muscles and core strength are your foundation. A small foundation equals a smaller building, you know the story. When you don’t specifically train your core and smaller muscles, your larger primary muscles (quads, hamstrings….) have to do all the work. However, when you train the smaller muscles this is where the primary muscles have more of a foundation to work with and can reach greater potential while also saving more energy.
Stability
- Lying down leg abduction
- Glute bridge with leg extension
- Leg extension
- 1 minute Wall sits (weighted or unweighted)
Core
- Plank
- Plank variations (hand tap out front, bird dog, weighted)
- Leg raise
- Bird dog
- Dead Bug