Adding weights to weekly TSS (Strength Training)

Training
41

I’m still convinced that TSS and CTL are endurance training tools, so for myself it’s only used for cycling and walking/hiking. All of my weight lifting has zero TSS.

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42

I don’t count it towards my TSS at all, at least not on Training Peaks - however, I’ve got my two strength workouts that average about 45 minutes a week on both TR’s calendar and TP’s too. I count them as completed here on TR and it gives a score of 48 FWIW. I think once you get over that initial adaptation phase and past the most severe DOMS, then it’s just a matter of doing the workout to a level that doesn’t take away from your riding. With that said, your resistance training should be periodized just like your cycling and they should be in balance so that your body has a chance to recover and adapt.

2 Likes
43

Aerobic training load :+1:

44

I go in and zero it out for all strength work - not comparable in demands, and I’m not ever crushing myself in a strength workout the way I can occasionally do on the bike. I merely track completion in my calendar and am monitoring exercises, weight, sets, reps, etc. separately.

What I do monitor closely is whether or not the strength work is leaving any residual soreness or is impacting my bike workouts as that’s the ultimate goal.

2 Likes
45

Using TSS for strength training is like tracking speed in kgs.

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46

Yes TSS is a metric for the cycling training load (duration of cycling and intensity). Your fitness score is calculated based on TSS and your ftp number. It just doesn’t make sense to assign a TSS number for weight training. If you did so, it would upward bias your fitness score.

3 Likes
47

Agree. In TP I track my 1 hour strength workouts each week but assign a very low TSS (20). This doesn’t affect my CTL/ATL whether I include them in my weekly totals or not, but accounts for some stress I’m accumulating. This is more for myself when later I drop strength and replace it with more cycling.

2 Likes
48

Still trying to figure out how to enter Strain (TSS or XSS) from weight lifting into Xert and Trainer Road.

Found this on the Wahoo website.

Wahoo defines TSS as:

For a more in-depth explanation of cycling, metrics visit The Metrics that Matter. For a quick review, check out the following factors that are involved in TSS calculation below:

TSS is calculated by the following equation:

TSS = (sec x NP x IF) / (FTP x 3600) x 100

sec: the total number of seconds in the session

NP: Normalized Power (more on this in a bit)

IF: Intensity Factor (more on this in a bit)

FTP: Functional Threshold Power (power you can hold for the 60-minute duration)

3600: total number of seconds in an hour

For example, a 60-minute ride at FTP (functional threshold power) would yield a TSS score of 100.

Keeping this in mind, it is also important to distinguish that not all TSS scores are the same. What do we mean by this? Since duration and intensity are both used in calculating TSS, you can go for a 3-hour easy ride and have your TSS equal to a 90 minute VO2 max interval session, but one of these sessions leaves you more physically exhausted than the other. Why is that? It is not that the metric is wrong, but the way we approach TSS is skewed. Not all TSS numbers are created the same, and we cannot always view the same number as meaning the same type of intensity effort. In your easy long ride, you were taxing a different energy system than you were when you did your VO2 max repeats. One session allowed you to remain in Zones 1 and 2 for your heart rate, while the other had you drifting into Zone 5 throughout multiple intervals. So while each workout was taxing in its own right, the same score did not represent the same amount of recovery needed post-sessions.

Joe Friels The Cyclist’s Training Bible page 225 method to compute TSS from lifting weights is:
Volume = Mass x reps x sets
Tonnage = Volume / 2,000
TSS = Tonnage x 10

Xert has a way to enter Weight Training in the planner with XSS

I use Trainer Road for my structured workouts but still like the feedback Xert gives me.

49

Seriously, Wahoo needs to give credit to Dr Andrew Coggan. Embarrassing that Wahoo “defines” it.

1 Like
50

Aerobic training load.

If I gave TSS to weight lifting, I’d have to assign a training load to all the poolside beers this past week on vacation!

I just can’t bring myself to do that. There are other ways.

51

Using Intervals, you can add weight training to only add to fatigue, rather than it being included in fitness.

It doesnt make you aerobically stronger but does reduce ability to perform. It works well for me.

52

Wahoo is an ethical embarrassment.

53

Straight from the horse’s (inventor’s) mouth:

  1. Don’t attempt to assign TSS to weight lifting (or any other activity);

  2. Don’t combine TSS with any of its imitators (e.g., rTSS);

  3. don’t call (or think of) CTL as “fitness”, etc.

Failure to follow the above rules will undermine the usefulness of the PMC concept and earn you demerits from this instructor.

5 Likes
54

I agree. Incorporating lifting and a heavy load of cycling is remains the biggest challenge for serious cyclists today.

55

Try throwing kettlebells, it’s more conditioning than pure strength work but so far it’s been 5 months sustainable and peaceful co-existence.

56

This is a problem. Strength is the thing you want to maximize….along with Vo2 Max

57

It’s really not a problem… and I’m not going to write a novella… party pooper :crazy_face:

1 Like
58

What’s the difference?

59

The emphasis, muscular endurance, which we get enough of that in the bike vs neuromuscular strength, which is the key variable you want to improve.

1 Like
60

What is “muscular endurance”?

We’re talking exercise here…isn’t it just “endurance” (or as I prefer, “fatigue resistance”)?