Strength for cycling: heavy loads and studied protocols
The meta-analysis
A 2025 systematic review with meta-analysis included 17 studies with 262 endurance cyclists (60 women), with a mean starting VO₂max of 61 ml/kg/min. Interventions lasted 5 to 25 weeks, one to three sessions per week, with loads of at least 80% of 1RM. Compared with controls who only cycled, heavy strength showed significant effects on cycling efficiency (ES 0.35), anaerobic power (ES 0.56) and performance, time to exhaustion and time trial combined (ES 0.46). No significant effect on VO₂max, power at VO₂max, maximal metabolic steady state or anaerobic capacity.1
In short: strength is not a way to raise VO₂max. It may help produce the same power at lower cost and give more peak power.
One studied protocol
Rønnestad and colleagues compared 20 well-trained cyclists: usual training plus heavy strength versus usual training only.2
| Parameter | In the study |
|---|---|
| Length and frequency | 12 weeks, two sessions per week |
| Exercises | four lower-body exercises |
| Sets and load | 3 sets of 4-10 RM |
| Results | increased thigh muscle cross-sectional area, isometric force and Wingate peak power; power at 2 mmol/L lactate and mean power in a 40-minute all-out trial improved. VO₂max rose similarly in both groups. No increase in body mass. |
Data: 11 men in the strength group, 9 (7 men and 2 women) in the control group. The number of exercises is not a recommended minimum, and the study does not prove that a single protocol is optimal.
What the general review says
Rønnestad and Mujika write that heavy strength is recommended for cycling economy, and that the additive effect on cycling performance has the most compelling evidence with heavy strength. They propose possible explanations: delayed recruitment of less efficient fibres, better neuromuscular efficiency and higher musculo-tendinous stiffness. These are hypotheses.3
Limits
- The meta-analysis authors conclude, in the abstract, that the low certainty of evidence (rated with GRADE) precludes robust recommendations on how to apply heavy strength training. Read the results as indications, not a protocol.
- The meta-analysis considers only heavy strength. It neither confirms nor rules out other methods (plyometrics, moderate loads) in cyclists.
- The group is mostly men (202 of 262) and cyclists with a high average VO₂max: applicability to other levels is not shown.
- Sessions need to fit around key work: for strength next to aerobic work, in-season maintenance and interference see Strength for runners and cyclists.
- For running the methods and evidence are different: see Strength for running. They should not be merged into one programme.
Sources
- Heavy strength training effects on physiological determinants of endurance cyclist performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2025. PubMed. Abstract read.
- Rønnestad, Hansen, Raastad. Effect of heavy strength training on thigh muscle cross-sectional area, performance determinants, and performance in well-trained cyclists. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2010. PubMed. Abstract read.
- Rønnestad, Mujika. Optimizing strength training for running and cycling endurance performance: a review. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 2014. PubMed. Abstract read.
Sources rechecked on 28 October 2026.