Putting It All Together – Part Three
By Mat Millns
So we know what we need to do but now the question of how often do we need to do it? This very much depends on you as in individual, your free time, your work load, where you are in your season/life and your rest and recovery requirements from not just your biking but all of your life including work stresses and family commitments.
Starting Point
A good starting point is 3-4 times a week in the off season trying to gain maximal strength looking to increase the loads you’re able to lift. If your races or cycling adventures are mainly summer based this can be a great way of staying out of riding in the biting cold, warm and inside a gym, whilst safe in the knowledge you’re still preparing for the planned events to come. Then dropping to 1-2 times a week when focus turns more to event preparation and peaking where we simply look to maintain the gains in strength we have made rather than necessarily increasing them.
Gym Sessions
As with efforts on the bike, in the gym sessions we still need hard, harder and easy weeks to stress the body make progress and allow the body to make any adaptions. It is also essential to keep an eye on our health metrics including sleep, mood, concentration, overall wellness, resting heart rate and if available to you, heart rate variability to ensure you are coping with the exercise load.
With that I will leave you to get down the gym and prepare for the coming season. If you have any questions feel free to drop me a line and we can discuss how to take you further and faster on your cycling adventures.
Example Gym Session
Warm-up (10-15 minutes)
- Stationary bike / Rowing Machine
- Dynamic stretching and mobility work
- Bodyweight squats, lunges, and arm circles
- Light kettlebell swings or resistance band activation
Main Strength Circuit (3-4 Rounds, 8-12 reps per exercise)
- Squats
- Deadlifts
- Weighted Walking Lunges
- Clean and Jerk
- Sandbag Pull Throughs
- Bench Press
- Pull-Ups
Cooldown (10 minutes)
- Foam rolling and stretching
- Hip mobility exercises
- Deep breathing and relaxation techniques
Thank you for reading our latest blog, Putting It All Together. If you have any question please Get In Touch.