How to keep your strength through race season

The short answer

In trials of trained athletes, 1 heavy leg session a week held the strength they built before the season, for 12 to 13 weeks. The weight stayed heavy while the volume came down. In elite athletes who stopped lifting, strength held for up to about 3 weeks and then fell faster, so a short break around a race costs little while a whole season off costs more.

What the in-season trials found

The clearest trial is in cyclists. Riders lifted twice a week for 12 weeks before their season, then kept 1 heavy, short leg session a week through the first 13 weeks of racing. They kept the thigh size and leg strength they had built, and over the full 25 weeks their 40 minute power improved more than it did in riders who only rode (Rønnestad 2010). The groups were small, 6 riders each, so read it as a good sign rather than a settled answer.

A later trial tested the opposite choice. Elite cyclists lifted for 25 weeks, then stopped for the first 8 weeks of the season. Compared with riders who had only ridden, they lost ground on jump height, peak aerobic power, and 30 second sprint power (Rønnestad 2016). Some of the off-season gains began to fade within 8 weeks of stopping.

A trial in professional soccer players tested how often the session needs to happen. Players who kept 1 strength session a week held their strength and 40 m sprint speed for 12 weeks of the season. Players who lifted every 2nd week lost both (Rønnestad 2011).

How small the dose can be

A review of maintenance studies found that strength and muscle size held for up to 32 weeks on 1 session a week and 1 set per exercise, as long as the load stayed heavy (Spiering 2021). Intensity looked like the variable that matters most, so sets and sessions can come down a long way. The review notes that the data in athletes are too thin for athlete-specific numbers, which is why the in-season trials above matter.

Older lifters may need a larger dose to keep muscle size. In 1 trial, adults lifted for 16 weeks and then dropped to a third or a ninth of that weekly dose for 32 weeks. Both doses kept muscle size in adults 20 to 35. In adults 60 to 75, size was not fully kept, while strength held well in both groups (Bickel 2011). The same review suggests older adults may need up to 2 sessions a week and 2 to 3 sets to hold size (Spiering 2021).

In that trial, strength also held fairly well in the group that stopped lifting altogether, while in elite cyclists and in the meta-analysis of 103 studies it fell, so the trials do not fully agree on how fast strength fades.

How fast strength fades without lifting

Over a break of a few weeks, strength fades more slowly than aerobic fitness. In highly trained athletes, VO2max and blood volume drop quickly during a break of under 4 weeks, while the loss of strength is limited (Mujika and Padilla 2000).

In elite rugby and American football players, strength held for up to 3 weeks with no training, then fell faster over the following weeks (McMaster 2013). Across 103 studies, stopping strength training lowered every measure of strength, more the longer the break, and more in people over 65 (Bosquet 2013).

In practice, a week or 2 without heavy legs around a big race costs very little. A whole season without them costs more, and the trials above show a weekly dose holding strength through a season.

What Maintain mode does

Maintain is the race season mode on 3 Peak Hybrid plans. It holds your leg strength with a small weekly dose and keeps the rest of the plan going.

• Strength for Cyclists: legs once a week to hold your strength.
• Full Body: legs once a week at 2 sets, and upper body keeps building.
• Push / Pull / Legs: Legs day gets short, and Push, Pull, and Upper keep building.

When you switch back to Build, the plan picks up at your last weights. Starting a new plan in Maintain takes a full gym. The details for each plan are on the plans page.

Where the dose goes in your week

The same timing rules apply in race season as in any other week. A heavy leg session can lower endurance performance for hours to days, so the weekly dose fits best on the day of a key session, after it, or on the day after. Keep it off the day before a key run, and leave split squats and other lowering-heavy lifts out the day before a hard or long ride. The article on lifting around your key rides and runs covers the timing in detail.

The final days before a race follow their own rules. With an A race on your calendar, Peak Hybrid's strength plans make the last 4 days before it upper body only, and leg sessions 5 to 7 days out run lighter. The taper article explains why race week looks the way it does.

Recovery after a race

Coaches usually hold off on heavy legs for a few days after a race, and for longer after a long one. The number of days for each race comes from coaching practice rather than a trial.

On Strength for Cyclists, after a race your legs rest, with upper body and trunk only for a few days, from none after a short race to several after a long one. The day after the race is a day off. Upper body work carries on as normal through those days.

How long to stay in Maintain

The trials ran for 12 to 13 weeks in athletes, and up to 32 weeks in the review of younger adults. That range covers most race seasons. Past about 3 months you are beyond what the athlete trials tested, and the off-season after your last race is a good time to switch back to Build.