Best cycling workouts for strength and speed

It is the responsibility of all cyclists to train themselves for better strength and speed. If their muscles are not trained properly, or you cannot rotate your legs at a faster speed, you won’t be able to achieve the everyday cycling goal. That’s why in this article, we have described some of the best workouts that every cyclist should include in their exercise routine for speed and strength. 

But before that, let us introduce you to the reasons for exercises are needed for cyclists. 

Reasons for working out as a cyclist

First of all, we will learn about the need to exercise as a cyclist. Cycling itself is an exercise and on top of that, you have to follow another routine. As many can ask why doing so, we have given here some clarifications. 

1. Exercising will keep your body fit and toned so that you don’t have to face any problems. 
2. It will keep your joints safe from soreness and stiffness, especially the knees. Therefore, you can easily pedal the cycle faster or deal with the energy while pedalling on off-beat roads. 
3. With the help of a proper fitness regime, you can increase your endurance and tolerance levels. 
4. Besides practising cycling with the gym cycle, you can increase your pedalling speed. 

Top strength and speed workout plans for a cyclist 

Over the years, cyclists have engaged themselves in different cycling exercises that helped them to increase their overall strength and speed. In the below section, we have described these exercises, along with the timing breakups, for your better understanding. 

1. Hill charge intervals- climbing 

Climbing up the hills is one of the best exercises that will train your body so that you can pedal faster and easily gear up along the uphill terrain. Furthermore, this is one of the most important exercise forms because it will allow you to cover off-beat roads without putting too much pressure on your legs and thighs. 

1. As usual, a start-up by warming for 15 minutes at the least. Make sure you are not increasing the cycling speed by any chance. Be consistent and slow-paced. 
2. Out of saddle climb is increasing your speed by giving all your efforts in pedalling for 30 seconds. 
3. Cooldown and recover yourself for thirty seconds.
4. Again speed up but stay on your saddle for 30 seconds and increase the pedalling speed. 
5. Recover by releasing your hold on the pedal for thirty seconds. 
6. Once the average speed is attained, you can cycle at a consistent speed for about 10 minutes. 
7. Repeat from steps 2 to 6 once again, and then start to cool down by decreasing your speed and coming to rest. 

2. Tabata- strength and power

A Japanese scientist developed Tabata to train the body of cyclists intensely and make sure it can engage all the muscles together. This exercise pattern will also help you increase the intensity so that you can continue to cycle around at different speeds over a 60-minute time interval. 

1. Start with warming up for about 15 minutes. 
2. Without wasting any more time, increase the speed and pedal faster. Make sure you start a sprint phase and hold out for 20 seconds.
3. Recover yourself by slowing down the speed for 10 seconds. Do not let go of the pedal or immediately come to rest. 
4. Cycle at a constant speed for cooling down and regaining the energy to repeat the set. This will be for 10 minutes in total. 

3. Attack intervals- threshold

This exercise pattern will help you improve the overall threshold and make sure you can speed up and speed down easily without going out of breath. To practice this form of exercise, you need to follow these steps: 

1. First, a warm-up for 15 minutes by slowly cycling and getting up the pace. Make sure to maintain a constant speed at the lowest levels. 
2. For the next 2 to 3 minutes, you have to give everything into the pedalling and take the speed to the highest possible level. 
3. Take about 2 to 3 minutes to recover yourself and catch your breath. Lower down the speed but do not stop pedalling. 
4. Bring down the speed to the lowest value and allow yourself to cool down for 10 minutes. 

You have to repeat this entire set two times every day. This will help you endure and walk out of every attacking point so that you won’t have to stop cycling to recover immediately. 

Top ways to get the best out of the exercise routine 

To get the best out of these exercises described above, you can practice five different types of freehand exercises every day without fail. 

1. Planks: Even though it is one of the simplest exercise forms, it will help in increasing the core strength. It will help you target the shoulder muscles, lower back, and abdomen muscles. 
2. Lunges: In the lunges, you will exercise one leg at a time. Therefore, you can easily target your quadriceps, hamstrings, and hip muscles. Do not start with carrying loads immediately, resulting in muscle strains and internal injuries. 
3. Burpee: This will involve your entire body and make sure that the joints are mobilized appropriately. Alternatively, you can alternate between pushups and standing leg exercises to train both the core and leg muscles. 

Conclusion 

Now that you have learned everything about the workouts you need to do as a cyclist, it’s time to get started with making a routine. Apart from this, you also need to take care of your diet and treat the injuries you might suffer from cycling or the freehand body training exercises. Make sure that you don’t miss the routine and do the sets as mentioned. Since cycling is a complicated form of exercise, make sure that the bike you have chosen is ideal for performing the exercises.