I cannot speak to effectiveness because I’m still in the adaptation phase. However, something I would consider before purchasing.
The anchor of the whole plan is the barbell back squat.
Depending on your level of experience, this may or may not be a good thing. I sort of blindly bought an Olympic barbell and weight set and went ahead and built my own rack w/o really considering the downsides of doing the classic back squat or other barbell lifts for that matter.
I wish Frank would speak more to the importance of developing form and progressing from an unloaded bodyweight squat to a barbell back squat. If done improperly there is some serious injury potential. I’m not sure the risk is worth the reward when weighted goblet squats and split squats can be incredibly effective.
Aside from the squat, the plan focuses on lunge movements with the VIPR tube. Again, I’m not sold on needing this piece of equipment, it’s expensive, and I think you could get the same benefit with a weighted sandbag
The lunges. There are so many of them. The plan seems lunge-focused. I can’t speak to whether or not this is good or not. Having 3 lunge movements and squats make up the entirely of the program feels a little, limiting or hyper-focused.
Back-to-back days twice per week during hypertrophy. Again, not sure if this is ok, but it kind of goes against conventional thinking with regards to having 24 hours of recovery between sessions. Having this many days per week also loads up the sets. Frank has you doing 6 sets per exercise. That’s 24 sets per week. Definitely exceeds the high limit from what I’ve read.
That being said, I found this article interesting. It poses a question to the 48 hour rule in that you might actually find benefit in stacking days.
Overall, we’ll see how it goes. I’m a little hesitant to follow the plan as described because I feel like it’s way too focused on lunge movements and leaves some other very good exercises off the table.
Right now I’ve modified the plan and my routine looks like this:
Low Body
Goblet Squat w/elevated heels and focusing on slow eccentric (replaces barbell back squat)
Single Leg Deadlift
Split Squat (compliments goblet squat and adds another unilateral movement)
Upper Body
Single Arm Bent Over Row
Push Up
Single Arm Overhead Press
I bought the FasCat gym plan before the pandemic, and worked with a local strength coach to modify it because the gym was closed.
We ended up modifying the plan so that my hypertrophy (heavy) days looked like this during the last week of that phase:
Monday, July 27, 2020 at 5:36 PM
Band Walk New
Set 1: +6 lb × 10
Set 2: +6 lb × 10
Hip Abduction
Set 1: 6 lb × 10
Set 2: 6 lb × 10
Hip Hinge
Set 1: 10 reps
Set 2: 10 reps
Romanian Deadlift (kettlebell)
Set 1: 80 lb × 10
Set 2: 80 lb × 10
Set 3: 80 lb × 10
Set 4: 80 lb × 10
Set 5: 80 lb × 10
Set 6: 80 lb × 10
Goblet Squat (Kettlebell)
Set 1: 35 lb × 10
Set 2: 35 lb × 10
Set 3: 35 lb × 10
Set 4: 35 lb × 10
Set 5: 35 lb × 10
Set 6: 35 lb × 10
Step-up (Dumbbells)
Set 1: 40 lb × 10
Set 2: 40 lb × 10
Set 3: 40 lb × 10
Set 4: 40 lb × 10
Set 5: 40 lb × 10
Set 6: 40 lb × 10
Now keep in mind I spent 30+ years as a desk jockey and prior to this plan I have only been able to barbell bench press at the gym. A year ago ANY weighted leg work put me in a world of hurt and sidetracked my cycling for days. So after a year of remediation and development this plan became the “final exam” so to speak of getting to the point where I could do leg work in the gym AND cycle. The ruler shows 2+ inch increase in my upper thighs but you would never know it - my wife simply shrugged her shoulders and said what? As far as I’m concerned, it put muscle back on that I had lost over 15+ years starting in my early 40s.
The real benefit so far - I’m a lot more durable. Right now I can do twice a week sprint work and lift in the gym (doing trap bar deadlifts now in the gym). At my age muscle mass is lost without lifting heavy, so I’m super happy with the results of the plan.
Thanks for posting. I’m curious how you progressed your goblet squat–this will be the hardest lift for me to progress as I only have a 35lb KB.
At some point I might transition into a true barbell front or back squat, but I really want to focus on developing good form and mobility before going to heavy barbell lifts.
Also, I’ll have to come up with a solution to load my single leg deadlifts a bit more. I’m starting with 35lb KB, but can push that out to 2x 45lb plates if need be. Should keep me busy for a while. Thankfully I have a barbell and plates so I can always work in the classic Romanian deadlift into my routine.
Even after a couple weeks of the adaptation phase I can already sense strength training will pay off HUGE. Assuming I maintain good form and don’t injure myself!
I’m on the exact same boat! I’ve purchased their 32-week base & strength plan and I’m right about to jump into the strength training phase. While I much appreciate the idea of having a plan where bike and strength workouts are well laid out in the calendar, there is absolutely no chance I’m doing the strength training program they prescribe for pretty much the same reasons you mentioned. In fact, I will instead do something real close to what you are actually doing. I’m also not a fan of their 30-minute core circuit as it’s written just for the sheer amount of equipment it requires. There are much simpler and cheaper variations that will achieve the same goal without burdening your basement, IMO. I guess I really paid for them to slot my strength sessions into their base cycling program in the end!
As for the 48-hour “rule”, I can only speak for myself, but when lifting / GPP was my main focus, I would train 5-6 days a week, always full body. My weekly workouts were instead split by the type of strength I was targeting (max, power and conditioning/endurance) as opposed to muscle groups. I’ve seen good and consistent gains for three years it lasted in all three strength qualities. Caveat: I was in my late 20’s early 30’s. While I couldn’t handle the same volume and intensity today, I have a hard time seeing consecutive full-body workouts as detrimental or worthless in any way.
Guess I’ll pass on buying the FasCat plan if everyone that buys it changes everything about it. I’ve been following the GZCLP plan/progression recommended by @brendanhousler on Evoq.Bike.
Alternating squat and deadlift days.
Day 1: barbell back squat
Kettlebell swings
Bulgarian split squats
Day 2: barbell deadlift
Pullups
Goblet squats or walking lunges
I’ll probably add another lift or two in a few weeks, but I am still adapting and getting pretty bad DOMS.
I tend to keep it simple and prefer compound movements. I also try to pack in some power training over the winter to match my indoor season for a comprehensive strength build.
Strength Build Jan - Mar three times a week
Maintain Mar - May twice a week
Sustain May - Oct once a week
Reintegration Oct - Dec - twice a week.
My current workout is designed to work on my hamstrings - which have been neglected after a long spring/summer season on the bike. Also, looking to build back muscle memory and strength lost through dropping weight and lack of gym time moving steel. I am doing 3x10 sets during this reintegration training phase. During the strength phase I will drop the reps to 3x3, add weight, and focus the third day on power exercises like clean/press, etc.
Day 1
Squats, Military Press, Dumbbell Curls (gotta look good in that skin tight sleeve!), kettle bell snatch, kettle bell step ups, kettle bell bent row, kettle bell single leg squat inclined sit ups (3x20), planks (3x1min), standing twists with medicine ball
Day 2
Deadlift, flat benchpress, dips, kettle bell swing, kettle bell thrusters, kettle bell goblet squat, side plans (30 sec each side), leg lifts (3x20), Russian twists with medicine ball, barbell lat rows
Once I go into my strength phase I add the following:
Day 3
Clean and Press 3x3
Box jumps 3x10
Weighted pull ups
Front squat
huge fan. Throw in the OHP rotation as well if you have time; will develop some upper body strength for power over rolling hills and quick accelerations, while also giving the lower body a break from heavy heavy every time. Can T2 some DL or squat variations that day as well then!
Waited until after my second consultation with a sports physiotherapist before adding to this thread, but my main advice would be to focus on correct form for compound lifts, especially with squats.
Before taking up cycling back in 2012, I mainly played school rugby and then club rugby thereafter, with supplemental training in the gym for strength and mass. I never trained with a personal trainer and always thought that due to seeing gains from progressive overload in the gym, that I was probably doing all the movements correctly. Well, I was WRONG!
I’ve always been in decent shape and am still fairly young at 36 years old and thought that I’d get back into strength work, following the Stronglifts 5X5 program. I hadn’t even progressed to the point where the weights were to difficult to complete any of the 5 sets yet, but I have to stop squatting and deadlifts now due to an anterior hip pain on my left side. After an assessment with a physiotherapist, he uncovered the real issue, which was muscular imbalance, with my left hip flexor, glute and adductor being weaker than the right side.
So my basement gym with power rack, olympic bar and weights, etc., that I put together during lockdown will have to gather dust for a few weeks while I follow a rehab program to reduce and hopefully fully correct the imbalance. The worst part is that when doing any climbing when I’m out riding, I feel that anterior pain but not as severely as when doing squats.
So my advice is to please focus on correct form and if possible have an instructor or someone knowledgeable in weight lifting or resistance training to assess your form before going too far and injuring yourself like I did!
I believe that some sort of shoulder work is important for cyclists not just because it can help performance on the bike but mostly because shoulders are the prime Injury point if you crash on a bike. (When old masters racers talk about the toll cycling takes on the body, bad shoulders are what you hear about)
Not sure stronger shoulders are necessarily going to prevent an injury (it might in some cases) but I do believe it will make it easier to recover if you do some work in advance.
I started as a #10 but then moved to #12 and eventually #13 as well
I preferred #13 actually, especially if the #10 was a good distributor, allowing me to attack the space outside. Didn’t really spend too much time at #12 but I must say, I don’t miss seeing a big #6, #7 or #8 running your channel a lot during game…the beating your body takes from all those tackles!
I found Jay Johnson on YouTube and really enjoyed one of his strength and mobility videos on core strength… Pairing the plank routines with the V-sits makes for a killer core routine.
Here is a good resource for his content–he has links to videos and PDFs midway down…
SAM is not a nice to do , but rather a need to do . This work is not optional if you want to become the best runner you can be and decrease your chance of injury.
Just strained an adductor muscle on the left leg after a session this morning. Hoping it’s light and I can come back in a few days. I think it was doing single leg dead lifts. Felt like I was warmed up after my squat sets, but who knows. It’s probably because I haven’t engaged those muscles in any meaningful way ever.
Damn, hope you recover quickly man! This is going to be hard, but do try and rest it properly. I made the mistake of carrying on with the weight training, but reducing the weight, but that actually aggrivated it and made it a lot worse. One thing that is helping me is to basically do a complete reset with no added weights, but just focusing on the mind-muscle connection and getting the right muscles activated for the movements in your program. I discovered that my left glute pretty much forgot that it is meant to do work! Now that I’ve been concentrating on ensuring I contract the muscles that need to, I find that my hip flexor doesn’t pain at all while doing body weight squats.
There’s a lot of talk of 5x5 in this thread. I’d just like to say that 5x5 is a pretty advanced plan and pretty overkill for people with relatively little strength training history. Especially if you are doing other training at the same time (ie cycling 10+hrs a week).
Lots of people can make great progress with 3x5 for many months. You really don’t need to go mad with the number of sets at the start. You can get away with low volume and avoid most of the DOMS/muscle soreness associated with lifting.
I would recommend picking up a copy of Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. Also Practical Programming for Strength Training by the same author if you are interested in how to structure your lifting even more.
N. B. They are not cycling specific books so you may want to tailor the exercise selection with the principles discussed in the books. (including less upper body and more single leg work for example).
Another great book is The Little Black Book of Training Wisdom by Dan Cleather which is has useful information on balancing general load. Just a great read for any athlete.
Apologies if this Q has been answered. I’ve made may way through a lot of this post but not found it.
I am looking to continue strength training outside of the off season, at least into base phase. What would be the best sessions to do?
I’m sensing 1-2 times a week, doing Something like 5x5 workouts as this will maintain strength. If I am doing 5x5 can anyone give an Indication of how heavy the 5 Reps should be as a % of 1 rep max. I’m thinking maybe 70-80%?
