- By Selene Yeager

Admit it: you want legs that can power you to the street-light sprint podium. But it wouldn’t hurt if they were also the envy of your entire Sunday-morning club ride.

The key to achieving distinct muscle definition, says Sam Iannetta, a certified trainer and the owner of Functional Fitness Wellness Centers in the US, is to trade heavy weights for lighter ones and do more repetitions.

These moves from Iannetta work your legs from every angle for optimal shaping, not to mention balanced strength and stability. Do them three non-consecutive days a week, aiming for two or three sets of 18 to 20 reps.

Choose a weight that’s challenging but light enough that you can maintain form until the last few reps, at which point your muscles should feel fatigued.

Medicine-ball exercises to improve your ride. — Chris Carmichael

I may not be the cyclist I was 25 years ago, but I’m stronger than I have been in a long time. One reason: a medicine ball. I incorporate this weighted training tool into a simple strength routine that keeps me ­injury-free and helps me maintain lean body mass, but also leaves me plenty of time to ride. For the workout, you’ll need two 2.5- to 3.5-kg medicine balls and one that weighs 4.5 to 5.5 kg. Use heavier­ weights as you progress.

Do three sets of each exercise three times a week. You’ll develop core strength for improved stability and efficiency on the bike, and the upper-body work will help stave off pain and fatigue on long rides.

Chris Carmichael is the CEO of Carmichael Training Systems (trainright.com) and the author of The Time Crunched Triathlete.

You can’t control the wind, but you can train for it.

- By Chris Carmichael

Riding in the wind is a tricky business. Sheltering behind riders in a paceline helps, but when the wind gusts, which it is prone to do especially in the Cape, riding in a paceline can also prove to be a real challenge.

Assuming you do your fair share of the work, there’s the initial pull into the wind, when you need to work hard to maintain the group’s pace. Thirty to 40 seconds later, when you pull off, you’ll decelerate as you drift towards the rear. Getting back into the paceline can be the most difficult part. On a calm day, you can often slide onto the back of the line without accelerating, but in high winds you’ll have to work hard to get into the draft – or risk being dropped. The bottom line is, you need to be able to handle extreme fluctuations in power output: You might put out 95 watts when you’re five spots back, but 350 watts while you’re leading the pack.

To make the workout more like a real group ride, gradually progress from easy spinning to an endurance­ pace (RPE 5 or 6) during recovery: This simulates the increase in effort required as you move towards the front of a paceline. Think of this exercise in terms of total time rather than the number of surges – in a paceline, you need to ride for an extended period of time, not a set number of
pulls. Start by aiming for 20 minutes (10 intervals); advanced riders should be able to go for at least 40 minutes.

Chris Carmichael is the CEO of Carmichael Training Systems (trainright.com) and the author of The Time-Crunched Triathlete.

8 workouts to strengthen the most important muscles for cycling.

- By Dimity McDowell

Your bulging quads and razor-cut calves are the envy of your pack, and you start every ride strong. As the ride progresses, though, your hips see-saw in the saddle, your lower back aches, and you slow in corners. The problem? Your core cries uncle long before your legs wear out.

Although a cyclist’s legs provide the most tangible source of power, the abs and lower back are the vital foundation from which all movement, including the pedal stroke, stems. What’s more, a solid core will help eliminate unnecessary upper-body movement, so that all the energy you produce is delivered into a smooth pedal stroke. Sadly, cycling’s tripod position, in which the saddle, pedals and handlebar support your weight, relies on core strength but doesn’t build it. To develop your core, try this intense routine. It takes only about 10 minutes to complete and focuses on the transverse abdominus, the innermost abdominal muscle, which acts as a stabilising girdle around your torso, and also on your lower back, obliques, glutes, hamstrings and hip flexors, so your entire core – and then some – becomes strong and works as a unit. You’ll notice that it skips the rectus abdominus, or six-pack muscle, because, it’s the least functional muscle for cycling. Do this intense routine, in this order, three times a week to create a core that lets you ride faster, longer, more powerfully – and finish stronger than ever.

These arm, back, and core moves will help you fight fatigue on long rides. - By Chris Carmichael

Cyclists rarely give their upper bodies much thought, but the stretched-out position of road riding places a unique stress on the muscles of the neck, shoulders, and upper back. By strengthening these areas, you’ll become more resistant to fatigue. Here are some exercises I recommend. Do two or three sets of 10 reps twice a week in the off-season, or once a week if you’re putting in big miles on the bike.

- By Chris Carmichael

Sprinting is one of the essences of cycling, for racers and recreational riders alike, but it’s often neglected in training programmes. Even Lance had to work on sprinting.

There are two primary components to a powerful sprint – acceleration and top-end speed. But don’t think of sprint training as useful only at the finish line. It’s also critical for bridging gaps, initiating breakaways and even attacking short climbs or accelerating out of turns.

It can also save your hide: in my 30 plus years on a bike, a reasonably quick sprint has saved me from being caught by dogs and hit by drivers ignoring red lights at least as many times as it helped me win races. Here are two simple workouts you can use to power up your sprint.

These workouts are easy to incorporate into regular endurance rides, and are fun to add to rides with a friend or two. Sneak them in just twice a week, and soon you’ll notice that when the hammer drops, you’re half a wheel faster – or more. And that can make all the difference.

A recent study by researchers in Belgium reported that cyclists with persistent back pain had significantly more forward bend in their lower backs than those who were pain-free. Here, biomechanist Todd Carver of bike-­fitting company Retül explains how to ease a sore posterior. - By Selene Yeager

1. Tip Your Saddle

Cyclists with achy backs often rode with their saddles level, which can cause too much forward bend. Tip the nose of your saddle down a hair. If there’s a lot of weight on your hands, you’ve tipped too far.

2. Adjust Your Reach

A too-short reach means there’s no room to extend the hips forward, causing the lower back to round. Try a longer stem, and adjust the height and fore/aft position of your saddle.

3. Strengthen Your Back and Core

Lie face-down, palms on the floor by your shoulders. Pull your elbows back against your rib cage and lift your arms off the floor. Press your legs together and bend your knees to about 45 degrees. Then lift your chest as high as you can, and hold 10 to 20 seconds. Return to start and rest for 30 seconds in child’s pose (kneel and rest your torso on your thighs, arms extended on the floor in front of you). Repeat two more times.

Boost power in the saddle – with this quick and easy abs routine. - By Selene Yeager

If you’re not doing core work, you should be. Research on cyclists shows that when core muscles fatigue, pedalling mechanics break down, paving the way for poor performance and injury. No time, you say? That’s no excuse. You need only four minutes to hone your core, says Allison Westfahl, an exercise physiologist. Here she details the moves she prescribes for pro clients like Garmin-Sharp’s Tom Danielson.

Coach Chris Carmichael has a holiday programme to keep you fit through the new year.

By Chris Carmichael

Don’t let the holidays disrupt your training. At this time of year, you can keep your fitness from sliding backward without spending much time training. Now, if your travel schedule is really hectic over Christmas and New Year, it may be difficult to make significant forward progress, but there’s no reason you need to give up the fitness you already have. If you can squeeze in at least two one-hour rides, indoors or outdoors, that include intervals, and one longer workout (two hours would be great, longer if you can) each week, you can get through the holiday season with little to no drop in fitness.

What should you do during those two one-hour interval workouts?

Indoors: A training DVD that focuses on lactate threshold or VO2 max intervals would be a better choice than spinning to a Tour de France video.

Outdoors or indoors, you can also use a workout like the one below. It targets both power at lactate threshold (the OverUnder intervals) and power at VO2 max (the PowerIntervals). For your longer ride (typically one of the weekend days), jump into a challenging local group ride or tackle a hilly route in your area. Again, idly cruising isn’t going to do you much good for the next month if your schedule is severely limiting your training time. You don’t need to crush yourself on every ride, but you should definitely focus on spending some significant time near lactate threshold and some above threshold.

It’s hot and sticky outside, and your inner voice is telling you not to stray too far from the air-conditioning. But you know you’ll feel better about yourself after you ride.

There’s no reason to spend more time than absolutely necessary out there, so use this quick and effective workout, with short bouts of intensity and longer recovery periods to cool off.

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