Strength Training

Here are some basic but essential exercises for endurance athletes to incorporate into their training not just in the winter but year-round. Ideally you would allocate 3 times per week during the fall and winter months and twice per week during the racing season with each session being 30-60 minutes. During the fall and winter you can do the strength work before your riding (or running or swimming) and during the season do the strength work after your other training. It's best to do the training that you want to emphasize first so that you give that your best effort. You don't want to do intervals one day and then strength training on what should be an off day. Keep your off days as off days.

core: planks; side planks; reverse planks; incline bench sit ups; crunch
upper body: pushups; pull ups; dips; curls; press; lat pulls
lower body: lunge; side lunge; reverse lunge; squat; box step ups

This is a pretty basic list but once you start varying the weight and number of reps you'll have no problem going 30-60 minutes. I have a list of over 100 variations on these and additional exercises that I use in my classes and with personal training clients. Contact me if you'd like to see more exercises.