Cycling Fitness / Training Advice

Given a few people were talking about strength training this set of weight benchmarks might be useful from TR.

No idea how realistic they are

Level Three (Sprinter)
Criterium Racers, Short Track Cross-Country Mountain Bikers, Gravity-Oriented Mountain Bikers, Enduro Racers, Cyclocross Racers, Track Sprinters

Level Three – Men
Exercise Prescription Example Prescription (175lb/80kg)
Deadlift 5 Reps 150% BW 260 lbs / 120 kg
Back Squat 5 Reps 125% BW 220 lbs / 100 kg
Bench Press 5 Reps 90% BW 165 lbs / 75 kg
Barbell Row 5 Reps 90% BW 165 lbs / 75 kg
Pull/Chin-Ups Number of Reps 15 Reps
Military Press 5 Reps 55% BW 100 lbs / 45 kg

Level Two (All-Rounder)
Cross-Country Mountain Bikers, Time Trialists, Rolling Road Racers, Cross-Country Marathon Mountain Bikers, Full-Distance Triathletes, Endurance Track Cyclists

Level Two – Men
Exercise Prescription Example Prescription (175lb/80kg)
Deadlift 5 Reps 100% BW 175 lbs / 80 kg
Back Squat 5 Reps 75% BW 130 lbs / 60 kg
Bench Press 5 Reps 55% BW 100 lbs / 45 kg
Barbell Row 5 Reps 55% BW 100 lbs / 45 kg
Pull/Chin-Ups Number of Reps 10 Reps
Military Press 5 Reps 35% BW 60 lbs / 30 kg

Level One (Climber)
Climbing Road Racers, Sprint Triathletes, Olympic Distance Triathletes, Half-Distance Triathletes, Gravel Racers, Gran Fondo Riders

Level One – Men
Exercise Prescription Example Prescription (175lb/80kg)
Deadlift 5 Reps 75% BW 130 lbs / 60 kg
Back Squat 5 Reps 50% BW 90 lbs / 40 kg
Bench Press 5 Reps 40% BW 70 lbs / 30 kg
Barbell Row 5 Reps 40% BW 70 lbs / 30 kg
Pull/Chin-Ups Number of Reps 5 Reps
Military Press 5 Reps 20% BW 40 lbs / 20 kg

Yeah, killing it. Except for the 80kg body weight.

Pass me another Rochefort!

15 chin-ups seems a bit toppy.

Also would have thought triathletes would have better upper body requirements due to swimming than a time trialist?

Of course. But why would you expect a 'general' chart of random bollocks to apply to everything? See Coggan power profiling. See also BMI. See KOPS. You get the idea. Humans like to simplify.

Are Strava fitness scores comparable between ‘athletes’?

Is one athlete’s score relative to another’s?

Also would have thought triathletes would have better upper body requirements due to swimming than a time trialist?

If you look at the top triathletes you'll see they aren't top heavy like the top swimmers. Top swimmers don't have to run.

If you pile on the upper body to make 5 minutes on the swim it'll lose you 15 minutes on the run.

Can anyone recommend a good strech/core routine?

Are Strava fitness scores comparable between ‘athletes’?

Is one athlete’s score relative to another’s?

No, it's not even a fitness score - but how much training you've been doing.
https://science4performance.com/2019/11/04/modelling-strava-fitness-and-freshness/

We all respond differently to different training loads and not all training/riding is equal.

Can anyone recommend a good strech/core routine?

How about TRs?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqmwjwTcOY8

I'm personally going down the kettlebell and plank/push up route. A single kettlebell can go a long way and takes up little space.

Also worth getting a cheap ab roller.
Simple but evil bit of kit.

Another fan of sweetspot training.

He has ~25 hours a week of training and he probably rides quite a few long climbs at 90-95% of threshold during races so it’s probably perfect for him.

Yeah, just glancing at that article I see lots of mentions of "maximal" and "easy".

Timing is interesting. Big week, but a month before the Giro. Not sure where it falls in the three week block mind.

Well just over a week after that he was smashing it in the Tour of the Alps with Sivakov...

Ah ha.

The numbers: 24hr 45min total riding, 185min Z3+ effort

Don't think CW haven the z3+ duration right?

12.5% of time in Z3 or above, that's classic polarized no?

Maybe, the time over Z3 seems really low to me compared to what they were doing.
As sweetspot is upper end of zone 3, doesn't seem like a high % of sweetspot

I guess it comes from a viewpoint where I don't think I could climb anything sub zone 3.

On the turbo, I'm sure I do more than 3 hours at zone 3.... in a week, not much zone 1-2 though!

Has anyone got a good recommendation of a sports tracker watch with GPS and heart rate. There are so many out there now . My fitbit has started to play up. Would like it to connect to strava also. Don't really want another fit bit as it was not best.
Budget of rough 150.
Quite like the polar ones

I quite like my Garmin Vivoactive 3.
Strong battery life, 13h GPS tracking, HR. £149 with 2 year guarantee at John Lewis.
I haven't found the HR great while recording runs/exercise, but it syncs fine with ant+ devices, other than power meters.

Oh that's good esp with 2 year guarantee. Thanks

I’ve had a Forerunner 35 for the past two years and it’s been trouble free, bar the strap failing once. But that’s an easy fix as aftermarket straps are easy to get hold of.

My 935 is still for sale here. Recently dropped the price to £200 I think so slightly above your budget. Also no warranty.

(No HR straps but it does have wrist based HR. It'll do power meter recording though.)

cheers all so many choices out there. my fitbit has totaly gone the heartrate had me at 200 bpm eating toast this morning. @andyp looks just what i was after. Really like the fenix 5 but way out of my budget . @Greenbank ta but would like to buy one with warranty. glws