{"id":177591,"date":"2020-04-28T08:48:18","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T08:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=177591"},"modified":"2020-05-20T11:39:26","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T11:39:26","slug":"training-at-home-building-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/28\/training-at-home-building-strength\/","title":{"rendered":"Training at Home \u2013 Building Strength"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span lang=\"en-GB\">Training at home is the best opportunity to build strength as a cyclist. Strength is often neglected because of the fear of putting on muscle. If done right, strength training can protect against injury and even improve strength endurance on the bike without any risk of becoming heavier. Let\u2019s take a look at how to do that right at home.<\/span><\/strong><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span lang=\"en-GB\">Prevent injury and build bone density<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span lang=\"en-GB\">Stronger and more flexible muscles and tendons are less likely to be injured from overuse, crashes, and daily life. That\u2019s the main reason why all cyclists should do some strength training. But it can also help protect against muscle imbalances created by repetitive training. Cyclists very commonly have rolled-forward shoulders and knee tracking or ITB issues. Some research also claims that doing only non-weight-bearing endurance exercise like cycling can lead to osteoporosis. The addition of strength training is the ideal solution for maintaining healthy bones.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BZqx3eOnDK7\/?utm_source=ig_embed<\/p>\n<h2><strong><span lang=\"en-GB\">Grow strength not size<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span lang=\"en-GB\">Lifting heavy weights doesn\u2019t have to mean growing big muscles. <\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">Bodybuilders<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"> who are focused on hypertrophy adjust their training in a specific way to maximize muscle growth. They do a lot of reps, train to failure, and do isolated single<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">&#8211;<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">muscle exercises. You don\u2019t have to do strength training like that as a cyclist. Here are general guidelines for strength training to promote strength development, not muscle growth.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span lang=\"en-GB\">Lift heavy loads. Gradually increase weights and reduce the number of repetitions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"en-GB\">Do 1-5 reps in each set and have at least 3 minutes of rest between sets to fully recover.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"en-GB\">Do 3-6 sets of full<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">&#8211;<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">body movements like squats or deadlifts, no isolated exercises.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"en-GB\">Do 2-3 sessions a week<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">,<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"> not more.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span lang=\"en-GB\">You can use our previous article to check out which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/01\/04\/4-strength-workouts-really-need-cycling\/\">full<\/a><\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">&#8211;<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/01\/04\/4-strength-workouts-really-need-cycling\/\">body exercises<\/a> are good for cyclists and how to do them properly.<\/span><\/p>\n<lite-youtube videoid=ynUw0YsrmSg params=\"enablejsapi=1\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/ynUw0YsrmSg\/maxresdefault.webp');\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<h2><strong><span lang=\"en-GB\">Periodise your strength training<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span lang=\"en-GB\">If you want to take your strength training to another level<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">,<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"> you should introduce periodisation and adjust the style of lifting you do from month to month. Before you get to the <\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">abovementioned<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"> maximum strength phase, you should spend a few weeks getting your muscles and tendons ready, especially if you\u2019re new to this. In this phase<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">,<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"> you should <\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">do<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"> 20-30 reps per set at slow speed with 2-5 sets per session and 90 seconds recovery between sets to keep things really easy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The prep should be followed by <span lang=\"en-GB\">a <\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">maximum strength phase and after that, you should focus on converting your newly-acquired strength into power. For power<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">,<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"> you should do 8-15 reps in 2-3 sets with 3-5 minutes <\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">of<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"> recovery in between them and the speed of the lift should be fast but controlled. And lastly, for muscular endurance<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">,<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"> you should do 40-60 reps in 1-3 sets with weights at 30-50 % of the weight of your heaviest lift, and maintain 1-2 <\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">minutes of<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"> recovery between sets. The last phase is simply maintenance. For that do 6-12 reps in 2-3 sets with weights at 30-50 % of the weight of your heaviest lift and 1-2 minutes <\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">of<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"> recovery in between. This is how it might look like spread across a season. <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span lang=\"en-GB\">4 weeks preparatory phase<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"en-GB\">4 weeks maximum strength phase<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"en-GB\">3-6 weeks power endurance<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"en-GB\">4-8 weeks muscular endurance<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"en-GB\">strength maintenance<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_177595\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-177595\" style=\"width: 1280px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-177595\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2020\/04\/kettlebell-and-yoga-mat-2836961.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-177595\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The most versatile thing for weight training you can buy is a kettlebell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong><span lang=\"en-GB\">Improvised home gym<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Unfortunately, most of us don\u2019t have a fully equipped gym at home with all the barbells and weights needed. The good news is that you can do a lot at home with very little. The most versatile thing for weight training you can buy is a kettlebell. You only really need one to make all <span lang=\"en-GB\">bodyweight<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"> exercises harder. That should be your first investment, maybe except for a pull<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">&#8211;<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">up bar. If you don\u2019t want to or can\u2019t invest in any new equipment then work with what you have at home. You can fill socks with rice and create dumbbells that way. Or you can <\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">go <\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">even bigger and create a sandbag or a rice-bag that you can use for heavy squats or lunges. Canisters or bottles filled with water can also be used that way. Get creative and make your own improvised gym at home.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Training at home is the best opportunity to build strength as a cyclist. Strength is often neglected because of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":177594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4142,332],"tags":[4098,3305,4040],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-177591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ride2unite","category-health-and-training","tag-building-strength","tag-cycling-training","tag-training-at-home","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Training at Home \u2013 Building Strength - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Training at home is the best opportunity to build strength as a cyclist. Strength is often neglected because of the fear of putting on muscle. 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