Hierarchy of Movement: Strength
April 2025
Possibly the most exciting hockey game since the Miracle on Ice in 1980 was played last Sunday, with the Wisconsin Badger Women’s Hockey Team securing their place in history by earning their 8th National Championship. It was an amazing demonstration of strength, both physical and mental. Congratulations to our very own Drafter, Coach Crum, and all the players and staff on their strong win against Ohio State.
Our next chapter in movement literacy focuses on strength. We recognize that the movement hierarchy of mobility, flexibility, stability and strength are not linear steps, but rather interdependent. Prerequisite strength is the foundation upon which mobility and stability develop. From there, strength can be further developed to reach the pinnacle of the movement pyramid, performance.
The Strengths and Weaknesses of Cycling
In general, cycling is one of the “best” exercises for building cardiovascular or aerobic fitness. It is a forgiving sport for many orthopedic maladies and bionic parts (total knees and hips) due to the non-impact nature of pedaling. It is one of only a few sports that can be enjoyed by adolescents to centenarians together on the same road or trail. During the summer months, my mom and I enjoy weekly rides on the Badger State Trail. It is usually the highlight of my training.
I recently competed in a the Iola Snow Bully Fat Bike Race and was taken aback to be in the 55-99 age category. The announcer, in jest, announced the winner of the “55 to death” age group. He wasn’t wrong, but I had not stopped to think of it like that. The questions becomes: is cycling enough to promote a healthy lifespan?
Cycling has some serious limitations for overall health. Namely, the lack of impact loading which is necessary for bone health, and minimal eccentric loading, which is crucial for strength of muscle and tendon. Cycling takes place exclusively in the sagittal plane, leaving muscles and tissues in the frontal and transverse planes largely ignored, to become shortened or weakened. Strength training is therefore paramount not only for cycling performance, but for the health span of cyclists.
Surely cycling a good exercise to build quadriceps strength, right? Look at the legs of Tour de France riders Geraint Thomas, Julian Alaphilippe and Peter Sagan celebrate in this podium photo from 2018. There is no doubt cycling has built strong legs. Form follows function: the cross-sectional area of that muscle will vary dramatically based on how it is best utilized- for sprinting (Sagan in green), climbing (Alaphilippe in polka dot) or endurance (Thomas in yellow). You may or may not be surprised to learn that strength training is a big part of these quads. Peter Attia,MD, interviewed 3-time Tour de France GC champion, Tadej Pogacar, to learn how he strength trains during and in the off-season (listen here).
Unless we continually find a bigger gear to pedal up a steeper hill, there is a limit to the strength that can be gained on the bike. Strength is the amount of force (mass x acceleration) that can be produced and transferred to push or pull an object. Strength can be achieved through hardware and software upgrades.
Increased Strength: Hardware and Software Upgrades
Hopefully you are now convinced, or at least open to the idea of strength training to improve your cycling performance and extend your health span. Strength gains can happen through hardware and software upgrades.
Let’s start by talking about hardware. The architecture of muscle was reviewed in an earlier newsletter. Recall that a single muscle cell is called a myofiber (myo; Greek origin for muscle). There are ~20-80 myofibers surrounded by connective tissue to form a fascicle, and many fascicles together surrounded by connective tissue to form a muscle.
Myofibers are made up of proteins called myofilaments. The two major myofilaments responsible for contraction are actin and myosin. Myosin looks and acts a bit like an oar of a row boat, the myosin head catching actin and pulling the lever to create motion. The physical connection between actin-myosin complex is called a cross-bridge.
Strength training can upgrade the hardware by increasing the cross-sectional area through mass and volume of the muscle (hypertrophy). The number of myofilament proteins within the muscle fibers increases due to protein synthesis. Back to the oar analogy, the more oars in the water, the stronger the stroke. This is an oversimplification, but works for our purposes. Should you want to dabble further in the science of force production, this is an excellent paper that comes from Kerry McDonald (post-doctoral fellowship with my mentor, Dr. Richard Moss).
Hypertrophy occurs in all fibers (slow and fast twitch), however, fast twitch fibers have a greater potential for growth. This is a bonus for cycling AND healthy aging. Fast twitch fibers are capable of generating higher forces compared to their slow twitch counterparts. Age related loss of muscle (sarcopenia) takes a greater toll on fast twitch fibers. This is arguably the most important reason for all athletes, particularly menopausal women, to lift heavy. Fast twitch fibers aren’t only critical to win a sprint. As we age, their strength allows independent transfers from floor to chair, or picking up a grandchild.
Strength gains are also made through upgrades in software, represented by our central nervous system. These are the gains seen initially in the first several weeks of weight training, preceding and in the absence of hypertrophy. Some theorize that hypertrophy is for show and software is for go.
In order to understand the software upgrades, let’s quickly touch upon the two ways in which force can be graded. You can select a power output of 100W or 500W. That is what is meant by “graded”. This is accomplished through recruitment and summation of twitches. Huh?
1. Recruit more fibers. Muscle fibers work on the all-or-none principle. When a signal from a nerve reaches a group of muscle fibers, called a motor unit, all of the fibers in that motor unit contract fully. A motor unit may innervate as few as 10 fibers in eye muscles for fine movements or thousands of fibers in the quadriceps for pedaling. Based on your need for 100 to 1000W (okay, I’ve never hit 1000W), recruitment is based on Henneman’s size principle, which states that motor units are recruited from smallest to largest. It just so happens that the smallest motor units tend to innervate slow twitch fibers, and larger motor units innervate fast twitch fibers.
Strength training increases force production through more synchronous recruitment of fibers. Henneman’s size principle is still intact. However, rather than recruiting all the slow twitch (Type I) fibers and then tapping into the fast twitch fibers (Type II), there is less division and more synchronization of fiber type recruitment. As fast twitch fibers generate more force, this is a software upgrade that taps into hardware.
2. Summation of twitches. A nerve impulse will signal all the fibers in that motor unit to contract. But, the tension of those fibers depends on the number of cross-bridges formed. That, in part, depends on how much calcium is hanging around. The higher the frequency, the more calcium available to activate additional muscle units (sarcomeres).
Training Increases the frequency of twitches, which increases the amount calcium, which increases force. Lost? Think of the effect of a certain beverage on your system (coffee or whiskey, perhaps). If you have an impulse to take a sip every hour, that effect is VERY different than if you have an impulse to take a sip every minute for an hour. The frequency of impulses that introduce calcium into muscle is similar. Chronic training also increases calcium sensitivity, which impacts summation. Meaning, for the same amount of calcium, there is a stronger contraction. This speaks to the cooperative nature of calcium and cross bridge interaction, which is uber complicated but fascinating. Summation is one reason people tend to “prime” a heavy compound lift like a back squat or dead lift with an explosive box jump or ball slam.
How do I upgrade my hardware and software?
Acquiring more hardware is achieved by lifting lighter weights with greater repetitions to create a stimulus for hypertrophy (muscle cross-sectional area). Increasing strength through software upgrades (central nervous system) can be achieved through lifting heavier weights and fewer repetitions, creating greater muscle fiber recruitment. The balance between these basic types of lifting prescriptions changes based on in versus off-season, as well as athlete’s goals and rehabilitation from injury. For example, an athlete may adhere to a regiment of 2 x 15 at 60% 1RM in-season to maintain muscle mass, and switch to 4 x 4 at 90% 1RM in the off-season to build strength. Conversely, some strength and conditioning coaches support the reverse, recommending high reps in the off season, as this tends to cause more muscle damage (the stimulus for hypertrophy) and soreness. During the season when a cyclist does not want soreness interfering with riding, weight training moves towards less reps and software upgrades. In my practice as a physical therapist and coach, I often rely on certified strength and conditioning specialists to prescribe effective training programs, as they are beyond the scope of my practice.
Strength and Conditioning Coach: Worth the Investment
Here is my plug for Corey Digman of Digman Fitness. Please see my Community Collaboration page for further details on how to train with Corey. I’m there two days per week. Corey has agreed to post more on this topic in his upcoming blog, so check it out!
Foundational Lifts
In general, it is recommended that a strength training program include the 7 compound foundational movements: 1) squat, 2) lunge, 3) hinge, 4) push, 5) pull, 6) plank and 7) rotation. As cycling is predominantly a push activity, the tendency is to train push (squat, lunge) activities to build strength for performance. However, pull activities (rowing, dead lift) should be emphasized for muscular balance.
Functional Strength
In addition to traditional strength training, I highly recommend integration of functional training. I had the fortune of being mentored by Steve Myrland, a certified strength and conditioning specialist with experience at the collegiate and professional team levels. Steve is a student of Vern Gambetta, widely regarded as the founding father of functional training and founder of GAIN. Functional training refers to training of movement patterns, not isolated lifts, to increase efficiency and fluidity of muscle firing through three planes of movement (sagittal, frontal and transverse). Training usually involves body weight or minimal equipment, like bands and straps. Having attended functional training sessions with Steve for years, no two functional training sessions were the same. Steve agreed to share a short series of videos called “Happy Hips and Hamstrings.” There are many more in his library, and I’m sure he would be thrilled to share.
In summary, movement literacy is a hierarchy, built from mobility, flexibility, stability, strength and skill. In-season performance occurs at the peak of this hierarchy, but a lifelong commitment to movement requires the foundational building blocks, especially in the off-season. Think long term and train for life being an athlete with plasticity, resiliency, durability. Put as many tools in your toolbox as you know how to use. Establish a routine using these tools, rather than picking your favorite tool for each workout. If you find yourself with movement dysfunction, resist the whack-a-mole approach. Find a technician who can help solve the biomechanical puzzle. It may take more than one clinician to sort all the missing pieces. Lastly, exercise is medicine and our prescription will definitely change with age and is sex specific. What works today may not work tomorrow. Change is the only constant.
