Enough rest before starting weight training & plan questions

Hey all,

Currently taking a rest from the bike, this being my 2nd season of cycling I completed my first structured plan, 18 Weeks Sweet Spot last winter which I completed at the end of June and had fantastic results, couldn’t have been happier. I joined a local club and was one of the strongest riders in the group. YTD I’ve ridden 9193 miles (14 796kms); Saturday and Sunday were long club rides, while Tuesday & Thursday nights were 50kms smash-fests and took every Monday & Friday as rest days. The last few week night group rides in early-mid October I went pretty deep on one of them then the next ride I just couldn’t deliver any power much above my tempo zone, similar results a week or so later with no power. I took this as a sign so I’ve been laying low and haven’t ridden much in the past 2.5 weeks, if I did it was nothing over endurance. I plan on taking till the beginning of December off.

This brings me to a couple of questions I have as I enjoy structured training and thinking about adding in some weights this season before getting back on the bike.

  • Is 1 month or so long enough before starting weight training or should I wait till the New Year? I"m thinking about doing the 10 Weeks Weight training plan then into the 18 Weeks Sweet Spot I did last season. In hindsight I wish I had started earlier as I would’ve liked to have completed it earlier but had to wait for my power meter - ideally I"d like to be done end of May to join the group in June but if it makes sense to rest till the new year I can do that.

  • Is there another shorter weight training plan I should consider perhaps I missed - I did see the 6 Week Home session but I don’t have any of the equipment so going to the rec centre since it’s just down the street seems easier.

  • In the 10 weeks weight training plan how long are the gym sessions, I ask as I have to go to the local community rec centre however given COVID restrictions only allowed to book 1 hr at a time with restricted capacity (Ontario, Canada) but I can book several sessions in advance.

My CTL when I completed 18 Week Sweet Spot at the end of June was 98 with a slight dip down to 89 around the end of July. Season high was 114 September 10th and been on a steady decline since then and I"m sitting at 68 as of this morning.

Looking forward to any input/suggestions.

Cheers,
Gavin

Hi Gavin!

Yeah really just a proper off season break. This would include 2 weeks off the bike completely. But once you do that you should be able to get back with the training. The good thing is if you did complete the resistance training you would spend more time lifting than riding. So its a good transition in the training from being heavily on the bike to mixing in gym work to get strength training in. So once you take the two weeks completely off you can start back with either 3 week foundation work (separate plan or start of our 30 week off season plan or start right with the strength training.

The strength training is 10 weeks and there is no real shorter version. It is 4 phases. The adaptation phase, hypertrophy phase, strength phase and power phase. You should be able to complete the workouts in this program in an hour. You only do three exercises, though each have a few sets. You will do squats, leg press and leg curls.

Once you complete that you can jump into the 18 week of sweet spot training plan. We do have a new 16 week sweet spot plan and again that would be also found in our 30 week plan. The best part of the 30 week off season plan is it has the foundation, resistance training and 16 weeks of sweet spot training built in with proper rest weeks and such. Just a great value having it all in one plan. Plus it is updated on the older 18 week sweet spot plan.

To me it sounds like maybe too many fast rides at the end of the year there. It is good to jump into one or two as this maybe like your ‘race’ season. But when you are doing 4 a week it becomes far too much intensity and work and leads to massive amount of fatigue built up. Even when you get to this point in your year remember to take proper rest weeks as well and a few easier zone 2 days that are not hard group rides. You could look into one of our race and recover plans and use the group rides as your races to help guide you with a plan during this time.

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