The cycling internet spent twenty years arguing about whether strength training helped cyclists. The 2024-2025 research has settled it for masters athletes — and the answer is unambiguous. Heavy resistance training twice a week protects power output, slows the age-related decline in muscle mass, maintains bone density, and outperforms 'more miles' for nearly every masters performance marker.
The mechanism is simple. After 40, cyclists lose roughly 8% of muscle mass per decade without resistance work. That muscle loss directly translates into power loss — there's no way around it. Pure cycling, even high-volume cycling, is not a strong enough stimulus to defend muscle mass against age. Heavy resistance work is. The Roadman article on this research breaks down the protocols.
What 'heavy' means matters. Body-pump classes, band work, and bodyweight squats are not heavy enough. The protocol most masters coaching now prescribes — including the Roadman programme — is twice a week, focused on the big movements: squat, deadlift, hip hinge, lunge, push, pull. Sets of 4-6 reps at a load you couldn't do 8 with. That's the stimulus muscle responds to.
Two practical points. First, strength work doesn't make you slow on the bike — that's a myth from the 2000s. Multiple studies and the John Wakefield / Dan Lorang training prescriptions confirm cyclists adding 2 heavy sessions a week typically see FTP gains, not losses. Second, this isn't optional after 50. The masters cyclists who maintain their racing power into their 60s and 70s are almost universally lifting heavy. The ones who stopped lifting are the ones who declined fastest.