I was checking out the All Purpose Road Plan, Advanced vs. Advanced + Strength. The total time on the bike is about 1 hour difference over the 12 weeks. However, the + Strength plan has nearly 3 times the number cadence and style drills. Just curious about that - my strength is 5 min and weakness is 20 minute.
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I’ll start by saying that all of the strength integrated plans are still modified based on your rider type. That being said, all of our strength integrated plans have a higher number of cadence drills/work (Neuromuscular) sessions than their non-strength-integrated counterparts.
Neuromuscular workouts are the best workout type to pair with off the bike strength work. In part, when other workout types (FTP / MAP focused) get paired on the same day as strength, either the quality of those sessions suffer, or the improvements from the strength work are inhibited.
The secondary reason to pair these types of sessions with strength days is to lay down better neural connections, which will help the strength gains made off of the bike better transfer to power on the bike. The strength work will cause a bit of muscle damage, which needs to be repaired. When you follow that damage up with that neuromuscular coordination work (cadence builds), you prime all of those neural connections required for pedaling. When your muscles began to heal while those connections are primed, those neural pathways become more robust.
Hope that answers your question!
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That is such an awesome explanation !! Thanks !!
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Thanks Coach! I’ve been wanting to improve NM as well as sustained so +strength sounds like the plan.
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Quick question… when the coach’s notes say “after strength” does that mean immediately after, or just sometime later the same day?
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If you’re only doing an easy spin on the same day as your STR, then you should do it immediately after your STR session. Otherwise, it’s fine to do it right after or later in the day.
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