Strength Training for Cyclists Calculator

We built a handy tool to calculate the suggested strength training requirements for you based on the guidelines in this article.

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Add in your weight and gender, and it will give you weight/rep suggestions for Climbers, All-Rounders and Sprinters for the following exercises:

  • Deadlift
  • Back Squat
  • Bench Press
  • Barbell Row
  • Pull/Chin-ups
  • Military Press

Kudos to one of our awesome designers @dominikrymsza for putting this together!

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Thank you for providing us with yet another way of validating our sense of self-esteem.

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This is awesome,thank you

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Tool doesnā€™t work, it thinks Iā€™m a sprinter!!!

:grimacing:

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I was going to mention this on the podcast. Just because youā€™re strong enough to be a sprinter doesnā€™t mean youā€™re a sprinter :smiley:.

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Trainer Road: ā€œDonā€™t pigeon hole yourself as a specific type of riderā€
Also Trainer Road: ā€œYouā€™re a climberā€.

:stuck_out_tongue: :smiley:

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lol. What weā€™re trying to say is these are the basic strength requirements, not that you ARE something. If you are a climber and have ā€œSprinterā€™s strengthā€ you probably donā€™t need to get any stronger at all unless you have other goals.

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I was going to say this is awesome, but Mcruz beat me to it. Since Mcruz hasnā€™t posted for a long time, does that mean the opinion is no longer valid?

I know! :crazy_face:

I donā€™t think there is such thing as having too strong of a body for any time of sportā€¦ well, except darts of course, in which you measure your strength in pints.

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Minor suggestion here. How about show calculator input on url querystring and whenever user changes input, querystring also changes. for example

https://www.trainerroad.com/strength-training-calculator?units=metric&weight=65&gender=male

It would make bookmarking slightly handy.

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It feels like many people misinterprets these benchmarks and/or try and poke holes in them.
Thanks to @chad and the Trainer Road team for these. They are interesting and good to know. I am still surprised at how low they are. I am not a strong person at all, but the ā€œSprinterā€ weights are quite doable.
So it does make sense that people should be able to hit these weights at a minimum for basic health; I canā€™t imagine struggling with a 40kg squat :astonished:

  • Yes, I know I said people try and poke holes in this and then I proceeded to tangentially do the same :smiley:
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Is there an article on podcast that elaborates on the statement ā€œDonā€™t pigeon hole yourself as a specific type of riderā€? Iā€™m a lightweight and Iā€™m okay at climbing but I do terrible with ā€œreal racersā€ on the open road. So Iā€™ve kind of pigeon holed myself I guess. Iā€™d love to hear an expert tell me I can someday complete with my local racers.

This gets brought up pretty much, whenever someone starts their question with ā€œI am a sprinter, but ā€¦ā€, or ā€œI have a great 1 minute power, but ā€¦ā€.

The point guys at TR are trying to make is that you can be whatever type of rider you want and with enough specific training be very very good at it.

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Legs = Sprinter
Arms = Girlyman

(slinks away ashamed :pensive: )

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:laughing:

What if I military press your suggestion for my deadlift :joy: what kind of sprinter does that make me

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A crossfiter.

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Given often-mentioned later-life changes in strength/muscle adaptations, are there any ā€˜modifiersā€™ a later-life cyclist should consider here?

[Me: ā€˜noviceā€™, ā€˜sedentary for decadesā€™ now halfway ā€˜fitā€™, 54, male, 64kg @ 174cm]

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Or crushing it, as the case may be?

glances at the single pull-up recommendation and cries

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There are guys winning bunch sprints on the pro tours in the 65-70kg range (Cavendish, Ewan, Viviani for example), and there are some really tiny guys like Contador and Quintana who are in the ~60kg range who have national TT titles under their belt, so lightweight doesnā€™t have to mean that all you can do is climb. I regularly get beaten by guys much smaller and with fewer watts than me, even on flat races, because they have better tactics and timing on the day.

Pigeon holing yourself means deciding youā€™re a climber and then training and racing like a climber. Not bothering to train your short power. Not working on your sprint technique and timing. Not bothering to work on being more aero. Maybe calorie restricting yourself to stay light (though that might not be a good idea for climbing either!). Not entering races unless thereā€™s a lot of climbing, or if you do enter them sitting at the back of the pack because you feel you have no business being at the front or in a break.

Not pigeon holing yourself means going out and working on all those things. Working on your sprint. Getting more aero. Figuring out how to apply power as effectively on the flat as you do on the climbs. Hitting the gym and doing some strength work, maybe putting on a few pounds of muscle. Doing some flat races where you try and get in a break, or sit in and wait for the sprint. You may never win a bunch sprint (most people donā€™t!). But if your local racers are somewhat comparable to you in age and training commitment then thereā€™s really no reason why you canā€™t at least get to a stage where you can hang with them to the finish and see the race unfold. Of course if theyā€™re all 20 years younger than you and doing double the training volume, then thatā€™s a different matterā€¦

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