A 2025 meta-analysis in the European Journal of Applied Physiology just reviewed 17 studies covering 262 cyclists and found that heavy strength training significantly improves cycling efficiency, anaerobic power, and time trial performance. No negative effect on VO2 max. None. And the benefits appear to be greater for riders over 40 than for younger athletes. If you're training four or five days a week on the bike and doing nothing in the gym, this episode is the one to change that.
Key Takeaways
The physiology is straightforward. After 40, you lose roughly 8% of muscle mass per decade, and the type 2 fibers, the ones that let you respond to attacks and surge over a climb, can be 10 to 40% smaller in older adults compared to younger ones. Zone 2 and threshold work don't touch those fibers. Heavy compound lifting does. I started taking this seriously about two years ago and the difference in the last hour of a long day is real. One of the lads in our Not Done Yet coaching community added two sessions a week back in January and his 20-minute power was up 5% inside three months. It's like anything in training, consistency beats intensity. Two sessions in the gym every single week beats one heroic block in November and then nothing until next winter.
The protocol the meta-analysis supports isn't complicated. Two sessions per week, 30 to 40 minutes each, built around heavy compound lower-body movements: barbell squats, leg press, Romanian deadlifts, step-ups. Three to four exercises, three to four sets, four to six reps at a load that's genuinely challenging. If you can do 12 reps comfortably, the weight is too light. And keep going through the season. The research shows adaptations can be lost within six to eight weeks of stopping, but you can maintain them with as little as one session per week. The mistake most cyclists make is banking the gym work over winter and then dropping it the moment the roads dry out. Don't do that. Give yourself 48 hours between heavy sessions and key workouts and you'll barely notice the extra load.
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If you want to see the specific exercises worth building a session around, the best exercises for cyclists episode goes through the compound movements in detail. And if you're newer to strength work and wondering where to start with programming, the core strength for cyclists part 2 episode covers how to layer it into a training week without wrecking your legs before a ride.