While I was at the gym, my very long time friend and now cycling confidante John N texted me and asked me, “do you use dumbells or what?, I want to add weight training to my routine”. I replied, “At the gym, I’ll write it up for you…”

So here’s my 2x/week Strength Training routine, I built this to be specific to cycling but also to add some additional “upper body” work for overall physical balance and strength.

  1. Warm Up
    • Hip stretches – I have bursitis in both hips, so I do a fairly long hip stretching routine prior to riding and lifting, on days I don’t do Yoga
  2. Core Work
    • Planks – Front and both sides. 3 set, 1 minute, 45 seconds and 30 sec. I do front, side, side for 1 min as first set
    • Spiderman push ups. 1 set of 20, both sides
    • Renegade rows, 1 set of 25, each side
  3. Squat Series
    • Weighted Pistol squats, 1 set of 20, each side
    • Weighted Bulgarian Split squats – 1 set of 20, each side
    • Kettleball 2 leg squat, 1 set of 25
  4. Upper Body
    • Dips weight assisted (working the weight to be less) 3 set of 15-20
    • Pull ups – Same weight assisted, 3 sets of 15-20
    • Bench press 3 set of 20, currently at 90 lbs (self spotting machine)
    • Military press – 3 sets of 20, currently at 40 lbs + bar

The entire workout takes about 50-60 minutes, and I feel great after. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Want to share other ideas? It’s hard to assess the impact of this work on my cycling performance, but I definitely know that since I added this in October of last year, my weight has gone up a bit, but I am sure it’s all lean mass, not fat, and my cycling feels stronger and I feel better. Love it!

See ya in the Gym – Old Man Rolling

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