How to build strength that boosts your cycling
Nov 7, 2025
How to build strength that boosts your cycling
Nov 7, 2025
How to build strength that boosts your cycling
Nov 7, 2025
The goal when cycling is usually to keep going for as long as possible. However, the decisive moments are often determined by who can accelerate or sprint the fastest. Even after three weeks of cycling through France, it is often that one sprint that makes the difference between winning and losing. This difference is determined by how much power you can transfer from your leg muscles to the pedals. To explain how this works, it is important to explain a little bit about muscle physiology.
Muscle fiber types
Roughly speaking, there are two types of muscle fibers in the body: slow muscle fibers and fast muscle fibers. These slow muscle fibers mainly burn fat and can keep going for a long time, but generate little power. In addition, there are, of course, the fast muscle fibers, which can generate a lot of power in a short time but are quickly exhausted. Everyone has both types of muscle fibers, but the ratio depends on your genetic predisposition and how you train. If you mainly do long, gentle training sessions on your bike, you will mainly improve in this area and may even notice that your sprinting suffers as a result. Conversely, if you only do strength training, you will find it more difficult to sustain a long cycling workout. That is why it is wise to work on both elements in the ratio that suits your goal.
The goal when cycling is usually to keep going for as long as possible. However, the decisive moments are often determined by who can accelerate or sprint the fastest. Even after three weeks of cycling through France, it is often that one sprint that makes the difference between winning and losing. This difference is determined by how much power you can transfer from your leg muscles to the pedals. To explain how this works, it is important to explain a little bit about muscle physiology.
Muscle fiber types
Roughly speaking, there are two types of muscle fibers in the body: slow muscle fibers and fast muscle fibers. These slow muscle fibers mainly burn fat and can keep going for a long time, but generate little power. In addition, there are, of course, the fast muscle fibers, which can generate a lot of power in a short time but are quickly exhausted. Everyone has both types of muscle fibers, but the ratio depends on your genetic predisposition and how you train. If you mainly do long, gentle training sessions on your bike, you will mainly improve in this area and may even notice that your sprinting suffers as a result. Conversely, if you only do strength training, you will find it more difficult to sustain a long cycling workout. That is why it is wise to work on both elements in the ratio that suits your goal.
The goal when cycling is usually to keep going for as long as possible. However, the decisive moments are often determined by who can accelerate or sprint the fastest. Even after three weeks of cycling through France, it is often that one sprint that makes the difference between winning and losing. This difference is determined by how much power you can transfer from your leg muscles to the pedals. To explain how this works, it is important to explain a little bit about muscle physiology.
Muscle fiber types
Roughly speaking, there are two types of muscle fibers in the body: slow muscle fibers and fast muscle fibers. These slow muscle fibers mainly burn fat and can keep going for a long time, but generate little power. In addition, there are, of course, the fast muscle fibers, which can generate a lot of power in a short time but are quickly exhausted. Everyone has both types of muscle fibers, but the ratio depends on your genetic predisposition and how you train. If you mainly do long, gentle training sessions on your bike, you will mainly improve in this area and may even notice that your sprinting suffers as a result. Conversely, if you only do strength training, you will find it more difficult to sustain a long cycling workout. That is why it is wise to work on both elements in the ratio that suits your goal.
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JOIN bringt dein Radtraining weiter
Du willst smarter trainieren? JOIN erstellt personalisierte Radfahr-Trainingspläne basierend auf deinem Ziel und Fortschritt.
JOIN bringt dein Radtraining weiter
Du willst smarter trainieren? JOIN erstellt personalisierte Radfahr-Trainingspläne basierend auf deinem Ziel und Fortschritt.
Exercises with free weights
If you want to improve your sprint or short explosive effort on the bike, strength training is the way to go. In fact, only a few exercises are really suitable for this purpose. At the top of the list is the squat. With a barbell on your neck, you bend your knees (not too deeply) and then stand back up. The advantage of working with so-called ‘free weights’ is that you also train your balance and coordination. This has a greater effect on your cycling performance, but it is also very difficult to perform and very injury-prone. Exercises such as lunges and step-ups also have this problem. If you do decide to do these, we strongly recommend that you do so with a coach or someone who can guide you through the execution.
What exercises should you do as a cyclist?
If you want to start with something more accessible, it is better to start with leg presses, leg extensions, and leg curls. How many repetitions you do per exercise depends on your goal. To improve your longer sprints and strength endurance, 2-3 sets of 15 to 25 repetitions per exercise are most suitable. If you are focusing more on very short explosive sprints, 4-6 sets of 4 to 8 repetitions are better.
How to make it work with JOIN
JOIN does not plan gym sessions. However, if you track your strength workouts and sync them to JOIN, it will adjust your cycling sessions based on your feedback and training load.
Add your strength workouts to your connected training platform (Strava, Wahoo or Garmin) so they sync with JOIN or just do it manually directly in JOIN. Provide feedback based on how hard it felt. JOIN will use this information to adapt your cycling training accordingly, helping you avoid overload and keep progressing.
How many repetitions
It is best to build this up gradually, starting with 2 to 3 weeks of 2 sets of 25 repetitions per exercise. Then focus more on strength endurance for 3 to 4 weeks with 3 sets of 15 repetitions. Finally, add another 3 to 4 weeks of 5 sets of 6 repetitions.
All year round
The question remains as to how often you should do this. If you really want to improve in this area, you should try to do strength training twice a week in addition to your cycling training. If the goal is just to maintain your fitness, then once a week is fine. Many cyclists mainly do strength training in the winter months because they cycle less during this period. However, it is better to continue strength training throughout the year. Of course, you can choose to do it once a week during the summer months, which is enough to leave everyone in your wake during a sprint.
Exercises with free weights
If you want to improve your sprint or short explosive effort on the bike, strength training is the way to go. In fact, only a few exercises are really suitable for this purpose. At the top of the list is the squat. With a barbell on your neck, you bend your knees (not too deeply) and then stand back up. The advantage of working with so-called ‘free weights’ is that you also train your balance and coordination. This has a greater effect on your cycling performance, but it is also very difficult to perform and very injury-prone. Exercises such as lunges and step-ups also have this problem. If you do decide to do these, we strongly recommend that you do so with a coach or someone who can guide you through the execution.
What exercises should you do as a cyclist?
If you want to start with something more accessible, it is better to start with leg presses, leg extensions, and leg curls. How many repetitions you do per exercise depends on your goal. To improve your longer sprints and strength endurance, 2-3 sets of 15 to 25 repetitions per exercise are most suitable. If you are focusing more on very short explosive sprints, 4-6 sets of 4 to 8 repetitions are better.
How to make it work with JOIN
JOIN does not plan gym sessions. However, if you track your strength workouts and sync them to JOIN, it will adjust your cycling sessions based on your feedback and training load.
Add your strength workouts to your connected training platform (Strava, Wahoo or Garmin) so they sync with JOIN or just do it manually directly in JOIN. Provide feedback based on how hard it felt. JOIN will use this information to adapt your cycling training accordingly, helping you avoid overload and keep progressing.
How many repetitions
It is best to build this up gradually, starting with 2 to 3 weeks of 2 sets of 25 repetitions per exercise. Then focus more on strength endurance for 3 to 4 weeks with 3 sets of 15 repetitions. Finally, add another 3 to 4 weeks of 5 sets of 6 repetitions.
All year round
The question remains as to how often you should do this. If you really want to improve in this area, you should try to do strength training twice a week in addition to your cycling training. If the goal is just to maintain your fitness, then once a week is fine. Many cyclists mainly do strength training in the winter months because they cycle less during this period. However, it is better to continue strength training throughout the year. Of course, you can choose to do it once a week during the summer months, which is enough to leave everyone in your wake during a sprint.
Exercises with free weights
If you want to improve your sprint or short explosive effort on the bike, strength training is the way to go. In fact, only a few exercises are really suitable for this purpose. At the top of the list is the squat. With a barbell on your neck, you bend your knees (not too deeply) and then stand back up. The advantage of working with so-called ‘free weights’ is that you also train your balance and coordination. This has a greater effect on your cycling performance, but it is also very difficult to perform and very injury-prone. Exercises such as lunges and step-ups also have this problem. If you do decide to do these, we strongly recommend that you do so with a coach or someone who can guide you through the execution.
What exercises should you do as a cyclist?
If you want to start with something more accessible, it is better to start with leg presses, leg extensions, and leg curls. How many repetitions you do per exercise depends on your goal. To improve your longer sprints and strength endurance, 2-3 sets of 15 to 25 repetitions per exercise are most suitable. If you are focusing more on very short explosive sprints, 4-6 sets of 4 to 8 repetitions are better.
How to make it work with JOIN
JOIN does not plan gym sessions. However, if you track your strength workouts and sync them to JOIN, it will adjust your cycling sessions based on your feedback and training load.
Add your strength workouts to your connected training platform (Strava, Wahoo or Garmin) so they sync with JOIN or just do it manually directly in JOIN. Provide feedback based on how hard it felt. JOIN will use this information to adapt your cycling training accordingly, helping you avoid overload and keep progressing.
How many repetitions
It is best to build this up gradually, starting with 2 to 3 weeks of 2 sets of 25 repetitions per exercise. Then focus more on strength endurance for 3 to 4 weeks with 3 sets of 15 repetitions. Finally, add another 3 to 4 weeks of 5 sets of 6 repetitions.
All year round
The question remains as to how often you should do this. If you really want to improve in this area, you should try to do strength training twice a week in addition to your cycling training. If the goal is just to maintain your fitness, then once a week is fine. Many cyclists mainly do strength training in the winter months because they cycle less during this period. However, it is better to continue strength training throughout the year. Of course, you can choose to do it once a week during the summer months, which is enough to leave everyone in your wake during a sprint.
More Relevant Articles
Discover valuable training tips to enhance your cycling performance.
More Relevant Articles
Discover valuable training tips to enhance your cycling performance.
More Relevant Articles
Discover valuable training tips to enhance your cycling performance.
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Unlock Your Cycling Potential Today
Join thousands of cyclists who have improved their performance with JOIN's training plans.
By joining, you agree to our Terms and Conditions and our Privacy Policy.