This is an 8-week progressive strength and conditioning plan for road or gravel riders who would consider themselves beginners or beginner-intermediates in the gym, or for those who haven’t strength-trained in over 6 months.

The focus is on the three most important aspects of S&C for road & gravel riders: leg strength, torso stability and flexibility.

There are two sessions per week of roughly 75 minutes (including warm-up and stretching).

The plan requires access to a typical basic gym with a barbell, squat rack, weight plates, dumbbells and/or kettlebells, resistance bands and an exercise mat. There are no resistance machines required for this plan.

You will squat and split squat each session. There is no deadlifting in this plan - emphasis has been placed on building leg and torso strength through focussed, regular and progressive squat training.

In addition to squats and split squats, each session includes a variety of exercises to help you develop foundational upper body stability.

The plan is low-medium intensity and medium volume. Week 1 eases you in with a low-volume, low intensity week, with load increases each week and a deload in Week 5. We introduce exercise progressions/variations at week 6 to keep things interesting and to keep challenging you.

This plan is intended to be run at the same time as on-bike training that is predominantly low- or medium-low intensity.

At the end of this programe you have the option of bolting on the Strata Performance Road & Gravel S&C 4-week Introductory Extension plan, or switching to a maintenance plan such as the Strata Performance Road & Gravel S&C Maintenance plan.