Weedy legs

Gone are the days when pro's just rode a bike to be better. There is no reason why us mere mortals should just ride miles and miles to try and improve either. That style of training really lost its way in the late 90's early 2000's.

A carefully thought out program of exercises to target specific muscle groups will improve your cycling over time. Also remember that there are muscles not worked during cycling, so working these in a gym/ home gym environment can actually tune the muscle balance of your body, ease aches & strains and help prevent injury.

I am just planning my 5 month winter program which will include 1 x leg specific gym session, 2 x turbo sessions and 1 or 2 on the road rides per week. From October to end December the focus will be on gaining top end strength and power. Then January and February will be tuned to retaining that strength and gaining endurance/stamina. This sets me up will for a pre-season bootcamp in mid March.

I'm lucky and can get to a gym every lunch break but there is no reason why you can't do stuff at home. Simply putting a few water bottles in a backpack to add resistance to a squat can be done at home easily as an example.

Tbf I did call it gym work but actually I just do it in my house (not in a gym room, just my bedroom usually) and it takes just 10 mins a few times a week to see genuine gains on the bike. Obviously you do still need to ride and train but those 10 mins off the bike do more for me than extending a ride by 10 mins.

I think your idea of 'lots' is at odds with the facts.
How many hours do the pros spend riding compared to hours in the gym?
Given that the limiting factor in amateur riders lives is always time; time for recovery, time for training and so on, the time people spend in the gym and travelling to the gym and travelling home is much better spent riding a bike.

The only thing that makes you better at riding a bike is riding a bike, in my experience.

Does anyone think that all the riders who didn't win a mountain top finish in the Tour were told to go and do some squats by their DS?

Cycle training is specific; the key to getting better at riding a bike is riding a bike.

Just keep riding your bike.

Squat, just plain old squats. Not sissy not sumo or any other concoction, just plain old simple squats. 5x5 once per week, prior to a rest or recovery day.

Hard hill reps every 3 days will kill your legs in no time - no point in doing muscle-group specific training if it's simply down to fitness.
Just get out and ride more - sit, stand, one-legged as long as it's riding a bike and enjoying yourself.

Can confirm, sissy squats make your quads scream. Although if your knees are as noisy as mines, maybe do them with headphones in

Oh and the repeat to failure part. Hell yes.

Hill reps every 3 days - tackle the same hill until failure - and stay SEATED. Resist the temptation to stand up or alter your position. Depending on how long the hill is do it 5 times or 10 times until you absolutely cannot do it it any more. Not just don't feel like you can't go on any more but physically can't go on any more because you are just about to puke or your quads are shaking so much they are going to explode.

Working the exact muscles you use for climbing to complete failure will send the signal to the brain that they need to grow, and fast.

Make sure you eat enough protein before and after the sessions and thank me in about a month when you have got super quads that will carry you up anything.

btw, you can get to this puking/falling off level in about 30 minutes easily so no need for monster hill climbing sessions.

Go in as high a gear as you feel comfortable with without comprimising your knees or any other structural parts.

DONT STAND UP ON THE PEDALS no matter how bad you feel. Save that position for another training block. i.e. next month.

And don't overtrain, 2 days rest in between will get you surprisingly good strength, as long as you have gone to complete and utter failure.

Come off it mate, there are no hills in York so pull yourself together !

Come off it mate, there are no hills in York so pull yourself together !

Don't feel put off by a bit of a struggle once in a while. The hard parts of rides are the most helpful in the end
Enjoy the ride
James

Yeah, i think I won't try too many at first, i could feel my leg muscles working hard instantly, so it must be a good sign!

I have been looking at ways to be able to maintain the same cadence with a smaller cog, found out about the magnificently named sissy squat. Will be trying to do them regularly and see if it makes difference.

I'm jealous that you get to commute in a seemingly nice part of the world, my daily hill on my commute is crystal palace.

Strava your attempts up the hill and seeing the improvements will spur you on

You need to lift, bro.

Adapt and survive. You can do it.

Yes they will! On my daily commute I have to go up a rather challenging hill, will it is for me, and when I first started out I too only made it half way before running out of gears, but I set the lamp post challenge to myself and that helped, I now get to the top and haven't run out of gears. I don't nail it every time and only get a good time every now and then, but I do make it to the top and not out of breath, breathing deeply perhaps. So just stick at it and join the lamp post challenge, or any other object up the hill. Best of luck.