four sets of ten of each, dead lift and squats, somewhere around 70% of body weight. any idea of XSS?
In reality, there isn’t a lot of benefit to PP, HIE or TP with this workout so XSS would be nominal. You’ll feel tired and will need rest and you can simply factor that into your next planned workout. (Adding some number to increase your Training Load is going to skew the relationship you have between the individual training loads and each signature parameter. Hence, it’s not useful to do assign some XSS filler number as is done in other software to account for the increase in acute fatigue.)
Great, thanks. Is there a general idea for a weight lifting routine that will help for road racing and crits that you would recommend?
You should work with a sports physiologist to see how your cycling could benefit from a weight training program. Note however that it’s an area of controversy in the cycling community with some believing there is no benefit whereas others seeing it as beneficial.
okay, thanks. weird. I just assumed it would really help PP and 15 second sprints. Thanks for your attention to the forum. It helps a lot.
I have done weights as part of a training plan with my physiologist coach for years. It’s game changing. Just look to see what Sky did to the pro Peleton. I don’t do traditional cycling training at all.
what are you doing? Squats, deadlifts? The last thing I need is more weight, being a ‘classics’ build, already.
full year round phased plan. totally personalised for me - it’s not about gaining weight. 
that’s cool.
Im in my second year of riding and put in appox 11/15 hours per week. I recently added weight training to the mix. Squat (machine), leg extension, calf raise, leg curl and few core exercises (Abs). I also put in bench press as its a good all round strength builder, I don’t waste time with individual smaller muscle groups like arms, triceps etc. I don’t repeat until complete exhaustion, just enough to stimulate, so as not to write myself off for my riding days.
Over the months I have no doubt got stronger as I am ow lifting heavier weights. On the bike I am now pushing the 25-28 cog more on the long hills than I used to. I used to be mostly in the 32 (i ride an 11-32) I now only use the 32 on the really steep pinches as get out jail card. Im talking lots of hills here, not the odd pinch/5min climb on a group ride. I get though 3000-5000m+ each week.
My progress has been rapid and im now pushing more watts on climbs. Able to push 306w now for 10 mins. Before I struggled to get near this.
Is it the weight training, or is it just general progress of all the hills/hours I put in? Im not sure, but whilst Im making gains, Im not changing anything for now. Not to mention my legs are starting to look like a cyclists legs, lots of shape and definition. Lets be honest we can’t resist I little vanity.
I would be interested in how its working out for others. Im new to Xcert and have migrated from TP, im finding the data format on Xcert I little easier to digest and more motivating than TP. Not to mention the help/forum.
Thanks
Michael
My thought is that whether or not weight training helps is probably totally specific to any given athlete. I’m more a Rouleur with a bit of a sprint than anything. The races here are either flat sprints or crazy hills, and all fairly short. Almost nothing for my power profile. I end up trying to get into breaks and burning mad matches at the start of a race, or launching at about 1km to go. Picked up some primes and one race win that way this year. So it kind of works.
For me, anyway, if I add a few pounds of muscle but also more watts, it might help. I dunno. I’m going to try weight training, but pretty much just squats and dead lifts, near max weight. I’d like to consult someone, but I blew the toy money long ago. ha ha. If I can lose 30 pounds, I could reinvent myself as a climber, ha ha!
Nah, I’m not going to lift. Just ride at LTP and intervals, core, and stretching. We’ll see how it pays out next year.
Trying to figure out TSS for strength training. Joe Friel from Training Peaks has a discuss about it.
He assigns a RPE of 50 for an Average strength session. RPE 100 for lift to failure. RPE 25 for a Deload session. My guess.
Then he divides RPE by the tonnage lifted (weight x reps x sets/2000)
(It helps to workout with a spreadsheet close by)
50 (RPE) / 19.75 tonnes ( a recent session of mine) = 2.53 TSS
I am missing something because that session was a whole lot more than 2.53 TSS
Can a physiologist weigh in on this please?
RPE could be % of max to get a more accurate figure
%Max x Volume (weight x reps x sets) = this has to be more meaningful then RPE
Somehow convert this to a figure that means something
On page 225 of the Cyclist’s Training Bible by Joe Friel there is a discussion of how to figure TSS for weight training. He admits the equipment to measure this accurately does not exist so this is just an estimate.
First you need to measure VOLUME of a workout. I use a google spreadsheet to do this as I workout.
Volume = weight(lbs) x reps x sets
Tonnage = Volume / 2000
Tonnage x 10 = TSS
Core work and body weight work is going to be an estimate of work but you can do it.
I recently did a strength session where my volume was 20 tones x 10 = 200 TSS. That is probably a stretch compared to a ride worth 200 TSS but it is a start.
Looking forward to others feedback.
Still trying to figure out how to enter Strain from weight lifting into Xert.
Found this on the Wahoo website.
Wahoo defines TSS as:
For a more in-depth explanation of cycling, metrics visit The Metrics that Matter. For a quick review, check out the following factors that are involved in TSS calculation below:
TSS is calculated by the following equation:
TSS = (sec x NP x IF) / (FTP x 3600) x 100
sec: the total number of seconds in the session
NP: Normalized Power (more on this in a bit)
IF: Intensity Factor (more on this in a bit)
FTP: Functional Threshold Power (power you can hold for the 60-minute duration)
3600: total number of seconds in an hour
For example, a 60-minute ride at FTP (functional threshold power) would yield a TSS score of 100.
Keeping this in mind, it is also important to distinguish that not all TSS scores are the same. What do we mean by this? Since duration and intensity are both used in calculating TSS, you can go for a 3-hour easy ride and have your TSS equal to a 90 minute VO2 max interval session, but one of these sessions leaves you more physically exhausted than the other. Why is that? It is not that the metric is wrong, but the way we approach TSS is skewed. Not all TSS numbers are created the same, and we cannot always view the same number as meaning the same type of intensity effort. In your easy long ride, you were taxing a different energy system than you were when you did your VO2 max repeats. One session allowed you to remain in Zones 1 and 2 for your heart rate, while the other had you drifting into Zone 5 throughout multiple intervals. So while each workout was taxing in its own right, the same score did not represent the same amount of recovery needed post-sessions.
Joe Friels The Cyclist’s Training Bible page 225 method to compute TSS from lifting weights is:
Volume = Mass x reps x sets
Tonnage = Volume / 2,000
TSS = Tonnage x 10
Xert has a way to enter Weight Training in the planner with XSS
I use Trainer Road for my structured workouts but still like the feedback Xert gives me.