Training to cycle faster up hills

As a master cyclist in their 40's + you may be led to believe that it's not possible to get any faster up hills but here's the deal if you train specifically, progressively and consistently you can become and stay a stronger and faster master cyclist

Strength is the key to your ability to put out consistent torque as you climb. The stronger you are the more power you can create and hold over longer distances for less effort.

Clearly, strength training is important here plus, hitting the gym helps us retain lean muscle as we get older and keeps us looking lean.

Hill reps are a great way to train and see progression (The main problem here is cyclists dont stay consistent enough or progress the training with their sessions because they get BORED! Boring works, embrace it and get faster!

Lower cadence work. This isn't really strength training but it DOES improve power distribution when climbing and helps cyclists understand cadence and pacing. These are great sessions to add to the training quiver.

Power to weight. Take two cyclists with the same FTP one at 100 kg the other at 80 kg which is going to be faster up hills? Yes, power to weight matters and so does power. The higher the power-to-weight ratio the faster up hills you will become. So I aim to get as strong and as powerful as I can slowly drop the weight over time so I have the energy to train hard stay healthy and improve my power to weight numbers.

Keep an eye out on the reels and posts because I'll talk about how to eat for weight loss, have great energy, hold on to lean muscle as you age, improve body composition and be as healthy as you can. Yes, all that is possible, NO your metabolism doesn't change as you get older...well it does past 60+ AND NO, you dont have to keep carbs or insulin low all the time to achieve fat loss contrary to the idiotic mainstream nonsense right now.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/surprising-findings-about-metabolism-and-age-202110082613

Thanks for reading.

All my best, Simon.

Written By Simon de Burgh

Founder, Performance and Nutrition Director 

www.veloperformance.club

Thanks for reading, Simon
2 X Winner of Gym Based PT, and founder of VPCC