Pick one (no overthinking 😉) 🦚Look pro, go slow / 🏎️ look weird, go fast Let’s see what our priorities are.

This one is overcomplicated by many. Not by you after reading this. To become a faster cyclist, you don’t need to rotate 28 different exercises. The goal of the exercises should only be to load the muscles that you use on the bike. You mostly use your calves, quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes for cycling. And from these four, your quadriceps and glutes are the most important. That’s why I use the following exercises in my base training plan. 1. Jump squat Primary muscles: quadriceps, glutes Secondary muscles: calves, core, hamstrings 2. Bulgarian split squat Primary muscles: quadriceps, glutes Secondary muscles: hamstrings, calves, core 3. Deadlift Primary muscles: glutes, hamstrings, lower back Secondary muscles: forearms, trapezius, core, quadriceps 4. Back squat Primary muscles: quadriceps, glutes, adductors Secondary muscles: hamstrings, lower back, core, calves 5. Romanian deadlift Primary muscles: hamstrings, glutes Secondary muscles: lower back, core, forearms 6. Reverse lunge Primary muscles: quadriceps, glutes Secondary muscles: hamstrings, calves, core All these exercises are compound lifts, because they involve multiple joints and muscle groups. Great for efficient training. They also improve bone health more than isolation exercises that only involve one joint. Do you have other exercises that you like? And why? Notes on strength training series: 1. Start ✅ 2. Periodization ✅ 3. Weekplanning ✅ 4. Quality or quantity? ✅ 5. What exercises? ✅ 6. What range of motion? 7. Rep range and weight 8. How many sets? 9. How much rest?  10. Core training? 11. Fuelling strength sessions 12. Supplements

I got this question from @Jonas Refsgaard Klinge: -- I'm a bit in doubt how to sequence my strength and on-the-bike sessions in terms of getting the best recovery. You want to be fresh for the hard bike sessions (VO2max/ Max Aerobic Power), but then also recover adequately afterwards. With 2 strength training sessions and 3 bike sessions per week, I'm running out of recovery days - which are needed for me. I'm 48 and for the past year I've improved quite a lot by getting the hang of my recovery. -- I thought more of you could have this issue, so I wanted to address it here. When building strength with 2 sessions per week, you want to lower the amount of hard bike sessions. I count the strength training sessions as 2 of the 3 hard sessions you should aim for per week. So 2 strength sessions and 1 hard on-the-bike session is a better approach during the off season and base training season. I would also lower the intensity of the on-the-bike training during this part of the periodization cycle. With a periodization cycle I mean the tradidional Off season - Base - Build - Peak cycle. When you get closer to your goal, your training should become more specific. For many of you it means that in the ‘build’ and ‘peak’ phases of your periodization cycle, you lower the intensity of the strength training to a maintenance level. Now you can up the frequency and intensity of hard on-the-bike training and recover well at the same time. I like to do the maintenance gym sessions after hard on-the-bike training, so I can space the intensity evenly over the entire week. Do you have a question that more cyclists could benefit from knowing the answer to? Just post it here in the community.