How quickly you can cycle on a bike depends on your cardiovascular endurance, as well as the strength and power in your legs. The force produced by your leg muscles, specifically your glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves, drive the pedals and thus make the wheels on your bike move faster. Improving your average cycling speed can be accomplished by incorporating weight training and plyometrics, or explosive exercises into your workout regimen.
Step 1
Complete a weight training and plyometric workout twice per week, with at least 72 hours of rest in between each session.
Step 2
Complete weight training and plyometric exercises that develop the lower body muscles involved in cycling. Weight training exercises include squats, lunges, step-ups and deadlifts. Plyometric exercises include squat jumps, box jumps, cone hops and depth jumps.
Step 3
Superset the weight training with the plyometric exercises during each session. Complete a set of squats and then a set of squat jumps, moving back and forth between the two exercises until all of the assigned sets are completed. Superset lunges with box jumps, step-ups with cone hops, and deadlifts with depth jumps. Each exercise should be done for three sets of 10, except for deadlifts, which should be completed at three sets of six.
Step 4
Choose weights that are appropriate for each exercise. Use dumbbells so that each weight-training exercise overloads your muscles to stimulate development. You should be struggling to finish the final three repetitions in each set. Begin by using only your body weight while completing the plyometric exercises, but as your power improves, you can add dumbbells to squat jumps and step-ups.
Step 5
Incorporate a bike ride with hills once per week. Riding at an incline will help transfer the strength and power you build during the weight training and plyometric workouts to your bike rides.
Step 6
Get adequate rest. Take at least one day off from training per week. When not riding hills, most cycle workouts should be done on flat surfaces.
Tips and Warnings
- Weight training exercises are meant to be completed at a slow and controlled pace, focusing primarily on achieving the full range of motion. Plyometric exercises, however, must be completed explosively in order to increase the power in your legs. For example, on squat jumps, you are to lower down into the squat position slowly, then come up as explosively as possible so that you leave the floor and achieve your maximum height.
- Do not complete the weight training and plyometric workout more than twice per week in an attempt to maximize results. It’s during this recovery period that the muscles heal and adapt to training. You may need to adjust the workout schedule so that it doesn’t interfere with your biking workouts. Stop the workout a couple days in advance f you’re planning an upcoming intense or long ride.
Things You'll Need
- Dumbbells
- Plyo box
- Cones
- Bike
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