How to Train to Produce More Power

Why it matters for all types of rider.

Thank you all for the very positive response the first piece we did last week on Why Every Cyclist needs Strength Training.

Here is Part 2 of my collaboration with Andrew Harding.

Andy was unlucky enough to have a stroke aged thirty-nine. Strength Training facilitated his full recovery, to the point where he is now doing some of the toughest long distance rides in the calendar. A remarkable testament to the power of the work Andy does with his clients.

Here is a link to Andy’s Website.

https://cyclestrengthpt.com

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This week, in Part 2, we are looking at:

Power and how to train to produce more of it.

Importantly, this is not just for trackies and sprinters, endurance riders benefit too.

Detailed research by a team of sports physiologists found that ‘it is likely that resistance training for endurance cyclists promotes desired adaptations that support training’.

So strength training improves performance for all types of riders and as we saw last week, it is also important for those over 40:

‘Lower-body heavy strength training performed in addition to endurance training can improve both short- and long-term endurance performance (Ronnestad and Others).

Another researcher found that strength training:

Resulted in lean lower body mass, better peak power and mean power output during 40-min all-out time trial

Strength training improves efficiency too. Here is what the research says:

Maximal strength training improves cycling efficiency (and therefore) performance, as shown by an improvement in time to exhaustion at maximal aerobic power. A 5% improvement in efficiency should account for a 5% improvement in time performance over a given distance (Sunde and others)

One piece of research I found, looked at a different aspect. This group looked at the effects something called the ‘freely chosen pedal rate’. This was found to be relatively high during steady cycling. This is a paradox because a high pedal rate is less energy efficient.

Building lower body strength resulted in a 9 rpm reduction in pedal rate and a 3% lower rate of energy expenditure. These are potentially significant during long days on the road.

So, how do we start to train our bodies to produce more power:

In the following, we will look at:

- Why Power Training Works and when it doesn’t

- Power Training specific to ‘mid-life’ cyclists

- The key principles of power training

- Some essential power exercises for cyclists

No matter how you ride your bike, how fast or slow, how long, you will become a more efficient rider, better able to extract all the joy from riding your bike.

This detailed plan is available now to paid subscribers to Cycle Scribe.

This is part 2 of the most comprehensive strength training program currently available for cyclists.

We will continue to build all this into a complete program over the next few weeks.

This information will be made available as a printable PDF, for the benefit of all paid subscribers and all those who sign up with Andy for one of his excellent programs.