Endurance & hybrid
phase.fitness for cyclists
You already have the power meter, the zones and the app that stores every ride. What is missing is the plan that writes the next block from them, and puts the gym where it cannot spoil the threshold ride.
Updated
The short answer
phase.fitness plans cycling from the document its generator reads: a base of 8–12 weeks where volume accumulates in zone 2, a build of 6–8 weeks where threshold volume rises and VO2max work appears, a short peak and a recovery week every 3–4. Strength is squat and hinge work at 3–5 × 4–6 — two sessions in base, one in build — placed after riding or on a separate day. Sessions go to Intervals.icu and Garmin as a share of threshold power with intervals and zones intact, and the rides come back from them to write the next block — from Garmin, only if you allow it.
Should cyclists lift weights during the season?
Less, not never. phase.fitness writes two strength sessions a week in the base block, one in the build, and holds or drops it in the peak — squat and hinge at four to six reps with single-leg and trunk work, after riding or on a separate day — so heavy legs never land inside a hard riding block.
How should a cycling plan change below eight hours a week?
More of the time goes to threshold. phase.fitness follows its cycling document: above roughly eight hours a week the distribution is polarized, mostly zone 2 with a little very hard work; below it, threshold riding takes a larger share. Base, build and peak keep their order either way, with a recovery week every three to four weeks.
Your week, honestly
Every ride is tempo.
The black hole of moderate intensity: too hard to be base, too easy to be a stimulus. The document phase.fitness reads calls it the most common failure in self-coached cycling.
The gym happens on the wrong day.
Heavy legs inside a hard riding block degrade both, and nobody planned which day the squat should sit on.
The zones drifted and the plan did not.
Threshold is a moving target; a plan written in January prescribes the wrong watts by March.
What phase.fitness does about it
Blocks from the cycling document
Base, build and peak with a polarized distribution above 8 hours a week and more threshold below it, plus a recovery week every 3–4.
Strength that transfers
Muscular endurance, not maximal strength: squat and hinge at 4–6 reps, single-leg and trunk, two sessions in base and one in build, never the day before the hardest ride.
Intervals.icu and Garmin, two-way
Sessions are pushed as a share of threshold power with the intervals intact; completed rides come back from both, and HRV and load from Intervals.icu.
Next block from the rides
Time in zones, power on the hard days and the long ride's real duration are read when a phase ends, and the threshold estimate moves with them.
Programs to start from
Each of these is a page of its own, with the phases, a sample week and the evidence behind it.
CSCycling training plan built on power zones and real strength12–20 wk · 5–6 d/wk · all levels
CSCycling and strength training program12–20 wk · 5–6 d/wk · all levels
CSTriathlon training plan: three sports and one strength day12–20 wk · 6 d/wk · intermediate
SCKHyrox training plan: running, stations and strength in one week10–16 wk · 5–6 d/wk · intermediateThe apps you already use
The evidence
The documents this page is built from
These are the knowledge-base documents the phase.fitness generator reads for this case. The phases, bands and weekly numbers above are transcribed from them.
- Power-Based Training for Road and Gravel Cycling — updated 2026-08-23, cycling
Frequently asked questions
Does phase.fitness work with Intervals.icu?
Yes, two-way. Planned cardio sessions go out with intervals and zones intact; completed rides, HRV, resting heart rate and CTL/ATL come back. It is also how Apple Health data reaches phase.fitness.
Will phase.fitness set my FTP?
No. Sessions are written as a share of threshold power and the estimate moves with your logged rides at each phase, but phase.fitness does not test or declare an FTP from one ride.
How much gym work does a cyclist need?
phase.fitness plans two sessions a week in base, one in build, none or one in the peak — squat and hinge patterns at 3–5 sets of 4–6, as the cycling document prescribes.
The only app that plans strength, cardio and calisthenics together
For a cyclist the calisthenics day trains what the bike never does — posterior chain, trunk, scapular control — with holds and hanging work that cost the legs nothing.
Right now, phase.fitness is the only training app that writes strength, cardio and calisthenics into one periodized program — same calendar, same phases, same recovery budget.
You choose the mix. A calisthenics-only plan, a cardio-only block, strength plus cardio, or all three: the phases, the end-of-phase analysis and the sync work the same way with one modality or three.
Why calisthenics is in the plan
Bodyweight skill work is strength training in a different shape. Straight-arm work, levers and handstands build scapular control, tendon capacity and relative strength that barbell and machine work leave untouched, and they transfer because they are closed-chain, whole-body patterns. Treated as a modality rather than a warm-up, they get sets, holds and progressions like a squat does.
No exercise catalogue on the market contains a tuck front lever, so those sessions run in the phase.fitness built-in player; strength goes to Hevy, Liftosaur or a Garmin watch, cardio to Garmin and Intervals.icu. How the skill work is programmed.
Free to start, no card. Connect the apps you already use and build the first phase.