Fitness Kick-Starter w/ Intermediate Strength?

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Hi all, I’m a complete novice at cycling and brand-new to The Sufferfest. Road rides have been keeping me sane the past few weeks and I want to introduce structured training so I can hold my own on the bike. The Fitness Kick-Starter plan looks perfect for that, as I’m really starting from zero.

Here’s the thing – I have been strength training pretty regularly for the last few years.

I know I can add Beginner strength workouts to the Fitness Kick-Starter but… dang, one 12min session every other week sure looks low. I can’t see a way to add an Intermediate workout track instead.

Should I stick with Beginner, and swallow that damn pride? Or… on a scale of 1 to stupid, how 10 is it to add an Intermediate strength routine separately? I don’t want to burn myself out (my legs have no idea what they’re in store for, I think…). But I want to get my suffering in where suffering is due :slight_smile:

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I came from CrossFit and OLY before SF. Try a few of the beginner workouts but I suspect if you have been weight training regularly you will easily adapt to the intermediate level quickly. Note that there is another thread about adding additional weight training that makes some great points about how to work weights into the program if you prefer to do that instead of or in addition to the strength training videos.

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First of all, welcome!
Your past lifting history does put you into a unique situation, which means this is advice I would not usually give to new users.
First, I would suggest completing the Beginner 1a Strength session before starting the plan. Take note of how challenging you felt the moves were, and how sore you are the day after. If you feel fine/okay the day after that, then adding the Intermediate Strength program Part 1-3, 2-week Blocks from the “Cross-Training” Main Category (underneath the Special Focus Category) would be okay as long as you:

  1. Set the start date for the Intermediate Strength to 1 day earlier than the Fitness Kick-Started plan. This offset puts your strength days on Mondays and Thursdays, which are days off the bike in the Fitness Kick-Started plan. So if you set the start of the Fitness Kickstarter Plan for 8/24, you would want to select 8/23 as the strength program’s start date.
  2. Be smart about how hard you push on the early weeks of the Strength. You might need to dial the intensity back on the first few bike sessions if you are sore.
  3. Pay attention to your energy levels as the plan progresses. Adding in the strength sessions on days intended to be off the bike might overextend you in the first half of the program. If that’s the case, it’ll be better to swap the strength session out for a Recovery Yoga session.
  4. Make sure you have at minimum 1 day off the bike and without strength training each week. The goal is to kick start your fitness, not drive yourself into a massive hole.
  5. Have fun! It never gets easier, you just get faster!
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Magnificent, Coach, thank you! It is good to be here :slight_smile:

Thus far this plan has been stellar. And by “stellar” I mean: the placement of workouts on off days is working well to control fatigue, Intermediate workouts are feeling like the right level of “wow, didn’t know standing on one leg could be this hard”, and with the advancements in core + mobility I was able to knock out my first 40mi road ride this week. (I said I was a novice!) Suffering is neat.

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