RCA’s weight training package: https://roadcyclingacademy.com/weight-training-package/
Aaron Turner: https://www.usc.edu.au/staff/aaron-turner
Regardless of age, research shows that bone mineral density in cyclists is significantly lower than the general population—and even lower than sedentary individuals. That’s right, road cyclists can actually have weaker bones than people who don’t exercise at all.
In this video, Cam sits down with Aaron, PhD in Sports Performance and long-time Continental Team coach, to unpack the science behind this concerning issue. You’ll hear about real case studies with young athletes showing early signs of osteopenia, and why road cycling alone doesn’t provide the bone-loading stimulus our bodies need.
Key topics covered:
🚨 Why bone mineral density is low in cyclists (even in young riders)
📉 The role of low-impact, non-loadbearing activity in cycling
🏋️ How strength training can dramatically improve both bone health & cycling performance
📊 Evidence from a July 2025 systematic review & meta-analysis (17 studies, 260 participants) confirming significant performance gains from strength training:
Improved cycling efficiency
Increased anaerobic power
Higher FTP & time trial performance
Aaron explains how just 16–30 reps per workout at the right intensity (≈80% of 1RM, or 8/10 effort) can boost bone health and deliver up to 5% improvements in performance metrics for masters cyclists.
👉 What to do next:
Start by simply moving weight around (even a kettlebell at home can help).
Progress to structured gym training at the right intensity.
Check out our Weight Training Package, designed by Aaron for cyclists, with beginner-to-advanced programs, 5 tutorials, and 60+ exercise demos.
🎁 Available now for just $75 (before Nov 1, when it becomes to $147).
🔗 Get the RCA Weight Training Package here: https://roadcyclingacademy.com/weight-training-package/
Bone Density and Cycling: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3230645/
Systematic review with meta-analysis:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-025-05883-2
#CyclingTraining #StrengthTraining #BoneHealth #RoadCyclingAcademyIt’s the Biggest Elephant in the Room (for ALL Cyclists)
Regardless of age, it appears that a uh cycling athletes, so people who beyond recreation, you know, we it’s our main sport. It’s what we do. Bone mineral density in the cycling population is far lower than the average of the uh the normal population and and lower than set entry individuals, meaning people who don’t do any exercise at all. What? Yeah, it’s concerning. And it’s and I’ll give you guys a I’m going to be careful here how I say this. So, before we get back to Aaron’s story, who by the way is a PhD in sports performance and has worked exclusively with the Continental Cycling team for over half a decade, meaning he knows what he’s talking about and he’s constantly referencing the science. We’ll link to all those papers below, but let’s just sit back and absorb what Aaron is saying. You are better off being a sedentary individual. In other words, sitting on the couch watching Netflix than you are being a road cyclist, assuming you’re not incorporating crossraining activities such as gym and loadbearing activities with your cycling. That is a fair elephant in the room for a bunch of people that are riding on the road. Let’s get back to Aaron. I had three athletes visit rep country representatives. They stayed on the Sunshine Coast uh several years ago, did some training with them. They’re working with a sports dietician and the sports dietician emailed me and said, “Hey, we need to have a chat. Something’s going on here. Got a phone consult.” And she said, “I’ve just done some bone scans with these lads.” Wow. And they were late teens, early 20s. She said they are more than one standard deviation away below the population average for bone mineral density. And this is this means bad. Your bones are weak. And one of them is clinically classed as having osteopenia. Wow. Which is what happens. Your bones are getting to the point where you’re almost at osteoporosis. Now, I don’t want to scare anyone, but I wasn’t surprised because the research in bone mineral density in cycling athletes highlights that they’re all below population average. all on their way to having issues with what’s the reasoning like without going down too much of a rabbit hole. Yes. Look, I’ve got my own theory and and it’s all theories. Okay. Right. So, my theory is probably twofold. Um there’s no eccentric loading in cycling athletes, particularly road cycling athletes, meaning like the muscle does not contract under stretch like it would in like um what’s an example? Like a jumping landing sport or running sport or gym training. Um, so that could possibly be a factor because it’s changing the type of loading that’s going through the bones. The other one, and probably the more probable one, is cycling is very low impact cuz your body weight is being held up by the saddle. Yeah. As you’re pedaling. So, this is not just about us older boys. Teenagers and 20-year-olds are also not immune to poor bone mineral density if they are not supporting their cycling with something like strength training. So, what can we do about it? as a road cycling community, lift some weight and move it around. Yeah. Yeah. Now, if you’re going, “No, Aaron, but I I’ll do that, but I’m also masters athlete and I take my bike seriously. I want a performance benefit out of it.” Yeah. Then you can do the same performance recommendations that I recommend for anyone approaching that, which would mean you need to be lifting at an intensity equal to 80% of one repetition maximum or an 8 out of 10 difficulty. You do not need to take your sets to failure. At least two lower body exercises I would recommend. And you want to accumulate across those lower body exercises that you’re going to do in the gym a minimum of 16 to 30 repetitions. Meaning if you do three sets of five on the squat, you’ve accumulated 15 repetitions there. Cool. The minimum effective dose we need is 16 to 30 repetitions in your workout for the lower body. So treat it like money and you’re spending it and like that’s the minimum and dose we want. You can go above that, but that’s the range that the research suggests is beneficial for increasing strength. And if we get that strength increase even in our masters athletes, we can expect still in the ballpark of that 5% improvement on aerobic and sprint performance metrics on the bike. So those performance gains Aaron was discussing were recently reconfirmed in this systematic review with meta analysis on strength training for cyclists. This paper was released in July 2025. And after reviewing 17 controlled studies across 260 participants, both men and women in the road cycling space, this paper confirmed significant improvements in cycling efficiency, anorobic power, and cycling performance, notably around that time trial, FTP pace. So, if you’re not willing to lean into strength training when it comes to this elephant in the room being bone density, do it at least for performance gain. So, really adding strength training to your weekly regime is a nobrainer. How do you do it? Well, Aaron said just start by moving stuff around. I remember purchasing this 16 kg kettle bell during co when I couldn’t get to the gym and that’s exactly what I was doing. I was moving it around. If you want to go a level beyond that, I’ll link a video up there. And if you want to go even further beyond that, Aaron has put together something called the weight training package for us here and our members at the RCA, which is designed to boost FTP, anorobic power, and cycling efficiency on top of bone density. what you’ll get. Lifetime access to all three programs put together by Aaron from beginner to intermediate to an advanced level with five supporting video tutorials and 60 exercise demonstrations. We’re about to put the price up on this package to where it belongs, 147 USD. So, for a limited time, you can still get it for the 75, which is available on our website until November 1st. Link below. And if you got value from this video, please don’t forget to give it a like. Helps the channel out. We’ll catch you in the next video. [Music]
23 Comments
Lower back problems are also common due to the riding position.
Yep, real deal people! Had a DEXA scan. It showed I'm I'm the bottom 1% of males my age. I'm 59. I don't recall hearing him say calcium supplementation is recommended. I'm getting calcium levels checked as well. I'd be surprised if they weren't also low, but maybe not.
Maybe this explains why so many “high-frequency/high-energy cyclists with their bow legs look like they have Ricketts.
Apart from cycling I spend a lot of time on the sofa, so I'm balancing my bone density out.
Some one should tell him how goofy he looks with cap on backwards. Makes his creditably seem dubious.
If it is not hard you are missing out on something.
In retrospective, it should have been clear, at least for the upper body.
Light stimulus is worse than no stimulus im guessing. It seem to be mirrored in muscle strength e.g. when off with a bad flu virus that lays you low for a week. If you are in bed for a week it takes longer to adapt to weaker state than if you did a taper for a week. Anecdotal evidence seems to confirm this. One athlete thought he would have no chance of winning his race, but won his race from being ill in bed; he felt strong. My takeaway from this, is that the body adapts quicker to any kind off stimulus if you want to become weaker, keep up the training frequency, but put less effort in. if you want to maintain strength after a cycle of heavy training, do nothing for a week.
Easy fix. Start mountain biking.
Been living off a bicycle, i carry between 25% to 50% of my body weight (bike & gear). Why not throw a rack and some panniers, on an old frame, & ride with more weight (if you are training to race & worried about your bones)?
I started rucking a while back to mitigate the low bone density risk of cycling.
Those with genetic low bone density are light and narrow for their height.
Those are two advantages over a person like myself with high bone density, there is also a disadvantage, but that only occurs in a collision.
Whenever a sport has a genetic abnormality as an advantage the disadvantages will be more common among those who are successful in the sport.
Not disputing the statement beyond personal experience but, until my mid 50's I was playing soccer as well as riding so maybe there is that. But here are my questions:
1. Why was there no mention of diet? For example, while I am still losing weight, I get decent calcium intake from milk, cheese and yoghurt. What are your study groups doing?
2. Why is hill climbing not considered weight bearing considering you are pushing both the bike and your body weight against gravity with no momentum assist?
3. Why am I not surprised you are selling something?
Personal experience. 6 moths ago I was back on my bike following a long lay off due to gout. There is no exercise with gout. I dropped the bike because a car cut me up mid gear change, I derailed the chain and could not get out of the clips. I hit the tarmac in the middle of traffic and my hip took the impact full on. My GP reviewed it and noted heavy bruising but no crack or break of the bone, I am 65 yo. So no density problem there. As for weight bearing, I marched from Circular Quay to Goulburn street in 25 kg of armour for Halloween and the promise of German beer at the end of the walk. Given the trip to the start point, from the Keller and off the bus to home we reckon we walked10klm on foot. So no density issues there. Been cycling since my trike at 3yo.
Something about the adage if you don’t use it, you lose it comes to mind. Many cyclist will do nothing but nutrition and cycling. That disproportionate noodle like upper extremities and core and legs that may or may not be strong depending on how they train it if they’ve added weightlifting.
I’m not sure if it’s because they worry their weight will be slightly up, which has been disproving by many studies. Cyclist need to take the time to hit the weights and they need to do it early in their cycling careers and maintain it.
you have to run and do stuff that pushes your bodies bones
Before I watch, I hope this video talks about whether or not that translates to more breaks. Or maybe they just don't understand all the data in context yet. Just run some. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ Just lift some. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ You can do what you want, but don't neglect everything else. Fuck a gym membership. Learn about the magic of kettlebells. Throw in a bench at some point. And when you have enough of those… dumb bells. And then if you must… bar bells. This doesn't have to be rocket science. You only need to buy the weights you need to lift.
Hey I know that guy!
It has to be related to calorie deficits as well. No weight bearing and holding your fat levels low means muscles maintain and bone is given up.
You are explaining a growth path. You should set target weights to maintain bone density. For example:
I do bicep curls with 16kg 3×3
No need to go heavier.
Squats 120kg on my shoulders 3×3.
I can go heavier but my pants wont fit anymore.
AND there is a direct correlation between prostate cancer and extreme cycling.
What about those of us that also ride off road on hardtails?
Low bone density is a symptom? Don’t you mean a feature? More efficient for a higher FTP.
What about if you also walk a lot does that help ?
One thing I don't understand is that unless you literally spend all your time on a bike and do nothing else then why would a person who walks around, goes to work etc (normal life) be any different to a person who does the same but also rides a bike. Surly if its the non-impact thing then the life of a non-cycling person is basically the same as the cycling person (when off the bike). I assume from the info that the actual act of cycling does not degrade the bone density its the lack of impact on the bones so can it be that bad for the cyclist