Maximal Strength Training for Endurance Cyclist

This report discusses the importance of maximal strength training for an endurance cyclist and provides a four-week training plan for Athlete B. The plan includes exercises such as bench press, back squat, deadlift, broad jumps, kettlebell swings, and ball slams. The rationale for training includes improved cycling performance, reduced risk of injury, prevention of muscle loss due to age, potential for performance improvement, and improved bone density.

Resistant Training

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Section 1: Rationale for Training....................................................................................................3
Section 2: Training Plan..................................................................................................................5
Section 3: Training Plan Rationale..................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Resistant training is a form of exercise which is aimed at improving muscular strength
and endurance. During training trainee moves their limbs against resistance which is provided by
body weight, gravity, bands, weighted bar and dumbbells. Trainee can also use exercise
machines for this. This report includes training plan for a endurance cyclist. Endurance cyclist
refers to cyclist who is involved in enduring style of cycling. The cyclist has been told that her
performance can be improved by adding some maximal strength work to her traditional
endurance based training. The cyclist is 28 and has experience of resistance training for targeting
muscular endurance but not maximal strength. This report will involve a maximal strength
development plan for Athlete B which is ultimately aimed at improving her cycling performance.
Section 1: Rationale for Training
Maximum strength is ability of the athlete to exert force upon an external object. This
capacity of the athlete is measured by 1 rap max on a barbell based exercise like squat or press. 1
rap max refers to 1 repetition maximum and barbell refers to exercise equipment which is used in
weight training this consist of weight bar. In barbell exercise trainee squat along with weight bar
rest on rare shoulder of the trainee and barbell based press involves that trainee press themselves
along with weight bar (Colquhoun and et.al., 2018). Such exercise is involved in maximum
strength training. This is important because maximum strength training is ability to exert force
upon external force. In case of athlete B she is a cyclist and in his sport cycle is an external force
and as maximum strength training will increase his ability to exert more force on external object
this will increase and improve her performance in endurance cycling. Along with capacity to
exert force on external force this will also improve her muscular strength. Both this will
contribute in his improved performance in endurance cycling. Other than this there are some
rationale for maximal strength training such as;
Reduced risk of injury
Stronger and more flexible muscles have more connective tissues and they are less likely to get
to be injured from overuse and injuries. This will ensure and will decrease the possibility of
getting affected by small and minor injuries (Tekade and Gupta, 2019). This is important for a

cyclist that they are ready to face small injuries without getting affected from that without letting
their performance get affected as well.
Strength training wards off muscle loss because of age
This is another rationale because of which Athlete B requires muscle and maximal
strength training because she is 28 year old and this is not far from the age when individual
staring loosing muscle loss because of increasing and this is the reason that she requires maximal
strength training so that she can reduce the impact of age and related muscle loss because of that.
Good muscle and mass will keep Athlete B active ad strong for her cycling and she will be able
to perform to level best.
Potential for cycling performance improvement
Athlete B has been told that she can improve her performance and this requires her more
strong muscles and strength training will allow her to get stronger muscles and this will improve
her ability to exert more force on the pedals (Del Vecchio and et.al.,2016). This is an important
requirement for a cyclist and especially for an endurance cyclist. Along with pedalling with more
power strength training also improves power output.
Weight bearing exercise improves bone density
Maintaining stronger bones is important and this is more important for athletes and this is
why Athlete B requires having strong bone. This is more important when cyclist faces falls and
crashes strong bone density ensures that Athlete does not severely affected because of these falls
and crashes. This also reduces possibilities of bones getting broken while falling on or because of
injuries which cyclist faces in their routine life.
Maintaining Body weight
This is very important that as a cyclist Athlete B maintains her body weight and this is
why it is important that she do resistance exercise. This is because along with all other benefits
these resistance exercises will increase metabolism which is important and helpful in maintaining
body weight. This is another reason that Athlete B requires to do resistance training and maximal
strength training is required and important for Athlete B.

The above mentioned reasons suggests that Athlete B will be able to improve her
performance in its all forms and improve strength of muscles will improve performance in
cycling and pedalling (Weber and et.al., 2018). Along with increased bone density will reduce
possibilities of injuries getting more serious and severe while falls during cycling. This will also
be helpful to reduce effect of age on muscle strength.
Section 2: Training Plan
The following plan contains exercise and how many times Athlete B will be requiring
doing this in order to her training for maximal strength. This covers four weeks plan and Athlete
B will do 3 sessions each week. These sessions are on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and on
other day it will be off from this session (Beattie and et.al., 2017). During this Athlete B can
carry on with her regular and routine sessions for exercise because on these three days Athlete B
will only do exercise for maximal strength. These exercise and training is intense and this is why
Athlete B will not do anything on these three days of session for four weeks. Major exercise that
are included in these training session for Maximal strength are Bench press & pylo push up, Back
squat & Jump Squat, Dead lift &bent over dumbbell row, Broad jumps, Kettle Swings, Ball slams.
Other than this some of the exercise which are light than these are calves, abs, biceps, forearm work,
shoulder and triceps. These exercise and their sets differs on the basis of days and session all exercises
will not be done in one attempt (Hayter and et.al., 2016). This is based on different sets on different
days. But in this sessions heavy and light exercise and their set has kept same. Along with rep max has
also be kept same as they will be done intensely. This plan also includes rest time for the trainee which is
after completion is along with small exercises which trainee is doing on regular basis but those which are
light. This will also have 5 minutes break in between different exercises.
Bench
press
&
pylo
push
up
Back
squat
&
Jump
Squa
t
Dead
lift
&bent
over
dumb
bell
row
Broa
d
jum
ps
Kettl
e
Swin
gs
Ball
slams Calves Abs Bicep
Forea
rm
work
Shoul
der
Tricep
s
Week 1
Monda
y
5x
(work
upto
70- 8x 15 min 15 min

75%
of
1RM)
Tuesda
y
Wedne
sday
5x
(work
upto
70-
75%
of
1RM) 2x 15 min 15 min
Thursd
ay
Friday
3x
(work
upto
80-
85%
of 1
RM) 2x 15 min 15 min
Saturday
Sunday
Week 2
Monda
y
3x
(work
upto
80-
85%
of 1
RM) 2x 15 min
15
min
Tuesda
y
Wedne
sday
5x
(work
upto
70-
75%
of
1RM) 2x 15 min 15 min
Thursd
ay
Friday 5x
(work
upto
70-
75%
of
8x 15 min 15 min

1RM)
Saturday
Sunday
Week 3
Monda
y
5x
(work
upto
70-
75%
of
1RM) 2x 15 min 15 min
Tuesda
y
Wedne
sday
5x
(work
upto
70-
75%
of
1RM) 8x 15 min 15 min
Thursd
ay
Friday
3x
(work
upto
80-
85%
of 1
RM) 2x 15 min
15
min
Saturday
Sunday
Week 4
Monda
y
5x
(work
upto
70-
75%
of
1RM) 2x 15 min 15 min
Tuesda
y
Wedne
sday
3x
(work
upto
80-
85%
2x 15 min 15
min

of 1
RM)
Thursd
ay
Friday
5x
(work
upto
70-
75%
of
1RM) 8x 15 min 15 min
Saturday
Sunday
Section 3: Training Plan Rationale
Strength is important for every type of sport and this is important for cycling and cyclist
as well. This report is based on training of Athlete B who is an endurance cyclist and she has
been told that her cycling performance can be improved but it requires her to get maximal
strength along with her traditional endurance based training (Kyröläinen and et.al., 2018).
Maximal strength requires more efforts and exercise which are done in maximal strength training
are also difficult and along with this they are required to be done with intensity this means that
these exercises are done applying more power so that the trainee can develop maximal strength
in his body. In this report first section involved rationale for why Athlete B requires getting
maximal strength training and how this will help her improve her cycling performance. In
section 2 involved a plan which is for four week maximal strength training for Athlete B an
endurance cyclist. The above plan for Athlete has been divided on the basis of four weeks and
these four weeks she will have three sessions of maximal strength training. In first session
training will involve bench press & pylo push up (Berryman and et.al., 2018). Bench press is to
work on back and shoulder and biceps and because this is a maximal strength exercise this is
why this will be done with more intensity and will involve more strength this means up to 70-
75% of 1RM. This will be right for Athlete two because this is a maximal strength training and
she is already involved in traditional endurance training so she will not face much of difficulty
and this will also help her developing maximal endurance. Another exercise on the same
Monday is Pylo push ups, this is an advance exercise and this involves working on chest triceps,
abs and shoulder in one attempt and because this is advanced and training session is maximal

training session this is why this will be done with a jumping element to increase difficulty and
explosive and ultimately will increase strength. Along with these two exercises kettlebell swings
has also been included in training session of Monday this is because kettlebell swings increase
strength of muscle and this is why they have been included in maximal strength training. In light
exercise Athlete B will do calves and abs in Monday (Wirth and et.al., 2016). This will be done
for 15 minutes and with less difficulty because other exercises are being done with more
intensity. This will be done with less difficulty in order to give adequate pressure to body. The
next session is on Wednesday after break of one day in between the exercise on Wednesday will
be back squat & Jump Squat, this will help in working on leg muscles, lower abs and improve
strength and balance and these are important for a endurance cyclist. In maximal strength these
are important and will be done with more intensity and this will be done 5 rep max. Broad jumps
is another exercise in session of Wednesday and this is to target strength in calves. Along with
this biceps and forearm will be targeted for work and they will be done with less difficulty
because other two exercises are requiring intensity and extra strength. In third session of the
week first dead lift & bent over dumbbell row will be done in maximum strength training.
Deadlift is an important exercise and for maximum strength training this exercise is must
because this exercise triggers several muscles and this is why this is important. Muscles which
are worked by deadlift are upper back of legs, middle neck muscle, upper neck muscle, lower
back etc. and this along with working on these muscles improves strength of the body. Neck is
important to target in maximum strength training because for a cyclist possibilities are high for
injuring and hurting neck (Rauch and et.al., 2020). Strong neck muscles will prevent serious
injuries over falls. Bent over row is an exercise which targets several back muscles and this has
been involved in maximum strength training so that back of the Athlete B can be strengthen
which is important for overall maximal strength training. This is important that all the muscles
are strong and does not prevent her performance in endurance cycling. Ball slams in another
exercise in third session of first week, this is to improve abs, calves and this basically involves
full body workout and has many benefits ad this is why this has been involves in maximum
strength training. Shoulder and triceps are light exercises which has been included in training for
third session of first week.
In second, third and four weeks exercises are same but their order has been changed in order to
keep body flexible to get used to different types of exercise and this will also provide overall

benefit to Athlete B in her maximum strength training (Williams and et.al., 2017). The second
week involves reverse order of sessions and exercises which has been done in first week and this
order for third and fourth week has also been changed. This will help Athlete B to stay flexible in
her exercises routine and along with that get most benefits of maximum strength training.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion it can be concluded that Athlete can develop maximum
strength through maximal strength training. This will improve her performance in her endurance
cycling. There are lots of benefits of maximal strength training and for cyclist this becomes more
important because they deal with more injuries and also require lots of strength and resistant
exercise and maximal strength training will help her to prevent injuries and perform better. This
is why one four week plan three sessions each week has been developed for Athlete B so that she
can take advantage of the training and improve her strength which will work on her various
muscles and provide strength.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Beattie, K and et.al.,2017. The effect of maximal-and explosive-strength training on performance
indicators in cyclists. International journal of sports physiology and
performance. 12(4). pp.470-480.
Berryman, N and et.al., 2018. Strength training for middle-and long-distance performance: a
meta-analysis. International journal of sports physiology and performance. 13(1).
pp.57-64.
Colquhoun, R.J and et.al., 2018. Training volume, not frequency, indicative of maximal strength
adaptations to resistance training. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning
Research. 32(5). pp.1207-1213.
Del Vecchio, L and et.al.,2016. Concurrent Resistance Training and Flying 200-Meter Time
Trial Program for a Masters Track Cyclist. Strength and Conditioning Journal. 38(3).
pp.1-10.
Hayter, K.J., and et.al.,2016. The comparison of cold-water immersion and cold air therapy on
maximal cycling performance and recovery markers following strength
exercises. PeerJ. 4. p.e1841.
Kyröläinen, H and et.al.,2018. Effects of combined strength and endurance training on physical
performance and biomarkers of healthy young women. The Journal of Strength &
Conditioning Research. 32(6). pp.1554-1561.
Rauch, J.T and et.al., 2020. Auto-regulated exercise selection training regimen produces small
increases in lean body mass and maximal strength adaptations in strength-trained
individuals. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 34(4). pp.1133-1140.
Tekade, A. and Gupta, Y., 2019. Cross Sectional Analytical Study of Effects of Resistance
Training on the Improvement of Cardiovascular Endurance, Flexibility & Muscular
Endurance in Adults. International Journal of Physiology. 7(4). pp.40-45.
Weber, N and et.al., April. High-intensity, sport-specific cardiac rehabilitation training of a 22-
year-old competitive cyclist after spontaneous coronary artery dissection. In Baylor
University Medical Center Proceedings (Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 207-209). Taylor &
Francis.
Williams, T.D and et.al., 2017. Comparison of periodized and non-periodized resistance training
on maximal strength: a meta-analysis. Sports medicine. 47(10). pp.2083-2100.
Wirth, K and et.al.,2016. The impact of back squat and leg-press exercises on maximal strength
and speed-strength parameters. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning
Research. 30(5). pp.1205-1212.