The checklist for a rider's gym
Cyclists use a gym differently from most members. You need a handful of heavy lower-body stations, some space for single-leg work and somewhere to ride indoors in summer. Machines for every muscle matter far less. One club's floor is described on RPM's strength training page.
- A leg press or a squat rack you can load heavily, with no queue at your hour.
- Dumbbells or kettlebells and a step box for split squats and step-ups.
- A cable tower or open floor for trunk work that resists twisting and bending.
- Spin bikes with a resistance you can actually feel, for interval days in the heat.
- A coach who knows that your bike sessions come first and plans the lifting around them.
Heavy lifting and cycling: what a 2026 meta-analysis found
Llanos-Lagos and colleagues pooled 17 studies with 262 endurance cyclists, 60 of them women, who added heavy strength training, meaning loads of at least 80 per cent of their one-repetition maximum. Programmes lasted 5 to 25 weeks, with one to three sessions a week, and each group was compared with riders who kept cycling without the heavy lifting.
| Outcome | Effect of heavy strength training |
|---|---|
| Cycling performance, time trials and time to exhaustion | Improved |
| Cycling efficiency | Improved |
| Anaerobic power | Improved |
| Maximal oxygen uptake and the power reached at it | No significant change |
| Maximal metabolic steady state and anaerobic capacity | No significant change |
The authors rate the certainty of evidence as low and stop short of firm advice on how to programme the lifting. The riders started with high aerobic fitness on average, so the findings may carry over less directly to occasional riders.
Sex, body mass, training level and lifting experience did not change the results, and neither did programme length or sessions per week. That leaves a sensible starting point: one or two heavy sessions a week, learned carefully first.
Swap a ride for a lift instead of stacking one on top
A 2010 systematic review by Yamamoto and colleagues looked at five randomised trials in highly trained road cyclists who lifted away from the bike. Two found no improvement in performance, and in both the lifting was added on top of the riders' usual endurance training. The three that found better time trials or maximal power had replaced part of the riding with lifting, and two of those three included explosive exercises.
A worked example for a rider who trains six days a week:
| Day | Before | After the swap |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday | Long group ride | Long group ride |
| Sunday | Easy recovery spin | Gym: heavy legs and trunk |
| Monday | Intervals | Intervals |
| Tuesday | Easy ride | Easy ride |
| Wednesday | Steady ride | Gym: single-leg work and jump squats, then a short spin |
| Thursday | Hard climbs or a tempo ride | Hard climbs or a tempo ride |
| Friday | Rest | Rest |
Total hours stay about the same. The two easiest rides make way for the gym, while the long ride and the hardest sessions stay untouched.
One gym session, block by block
| Block | Exercises | Sets and reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warm-up | Easy spinning, then bodyweight squats and hip hinges | Eight to ten minutes | None |
| Main lift | Leg press or squat | Three or four sets of four to six once technique is solid | About three minutes |
| Single leg | Split squat or step-up with dumbbells | Three sets of six to eight on each side | About two minutes |
| Hinge | Romanian deadlift | Three sets of six to eight | About two minutes |
| Trunk and back | Side plank, cable chop, seated cable row | Two or three sets each | As needed |
New to lifting? ACSM's position stand starts novices on loads they can lift 8 to 12 times, two or three days a week, and reserves the heaviest work for people with months of training behind them.
Split squats and step-ups are explained in single-leg strength training. Trunk exercises that resist twisting and side bending, rather than crunching, are in core training at the gym, which also suits riders who spend hours bent over the bars.
The cycling year in Abu Dhabi
Here the riding season runs the opposite way to Europe's. The cooler months are for long rides outdoors, and the summer heat pushes most training inside. That makes summer the natural block for building strength.
| Period | Riding | Gym |
|---|---|---|
| May to September | Mostly indoors on spin bikes, shorter and more structured | Two or three sessions a week, building towards heavier loads |
| October to December | More outdoor rides, building volume | Two sessions a week, holding the loads you reached |
| Main event months | Key rides and events | One or two shorter sessions, fewer sets, the same exercises |
| Week of a key event | Sharpening | A light session early in the week, or none |
This is one common way to lay out a year, not a tested plan. Outdoors, heat and humidity raise the strain of exercise, so follow official heat guidance.
Spin bikes and mobility
Indoor riding removes wind, traffic and steering, so effort comes from the resistance knob and your cadence. Use the summer for sessions that are hard to hold outdoors: exact intervals, seated climbs at heavy resistance and steady blocks at a fixed effort. How a bike compares with a treadmill for impact and heart rate is covered in treadmill or bike.
- Hips: a half-kneeling stretch for the front of the hip after long rides.
- Upper back: thoracic rotations on all fours, to offset hours in a bent position.
- Hamstrings and calves: gentle stretches after the gym session, never forced.
- If a joint hurts on or off the bike, see a doctor or physiotherapist before adding gym work.
Cyclists at RPM
There is one RPM club, on Level 4 of AD HUB Sports Complex in Al Manhal, with free on-site parking at AD HUB and a lift that takes you and your kit up. The photos show spin bikes, an upright bike, a plate-loaded leg press, a squat rack with colour bumper plates, dumbbells, benches and multi-station cable towers. The functional area adds kettlebells, step boxes and a turf lane with a sled.
- Group classes run in both sections and the timetable changes, so ask which spin classes run at your hour.
- Female riders can also use the Ladies section, a women-only space with strength and cardio equipment of its own.
- If you want sessions written for you, Engine includes coached programming and Atelier is the tier for one-to-one coaching. Ask the team what each includes.
- On a free guided tour, look at the leg press and the spin bikes at the time you would train.
Sources
- Llanos-Lagos C, Ramirez-Campillo R, Sáez de Villarreal E. Heavy strength training effects on physiological determinants of endurance cyclist performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2026
- Yamamoto LM, et al. The effects of resistance training on road cycling performance among highly trained cyclists: a systematic review. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2010
- American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2009
Questions, answered.
Will heavy lifting make my legs too bulky for climbing?
The 2026 meta-analysis did not report on leg size, but it found better performance and efficiency without any change in maximal oxygen uptake. Muscle gain depends mostly on total volume and diet, so a few heavy sets a week are a different stimulus from a bodybuilding plan.
Should I ride or lift first on the same day?
Do your most important session first. If the ride is the key workout, ride in the morning and lift later, or lift after an easy spin.
Do I need a coach to start heavy lifting?
It helps for the first few sessions. Squats and Romanian deadlifts take some learning, and a coach can set your starting loads conservatively.
Can I keep lifting during my main event season?
Many riders keep one or two shorter sessions with fewer sets, so the strength holds without leaving the legs heavy for key rides.