New Research Says Hard Pedal Strokes Build the Same Cycling Power as Heavy Squats

A team led by Jesús G. Pallarés at the University of Murcia ran a randomized controlled trial in 2025, and the result was almost insulting in its simplicity.

Pedaling hard, in the right way, was enough.

The Study That Should Change How You Train

The paper landed in Biology of Sport, Volume 42, Issue 3, and the title pretty much spoils it: "Cyclists do not need to incorporate off-bike resistance training to increase strength, muscle-tendon structure, and pedaling performance."

The team recruited 37 well-trained male cyclists and ran them through a 10-week protocol.

One group did full-range Smith machine squats at roughly 70% of one-rep max. Seven reps per set, heavy load, full depth, the whole standard prescription.

Another group did on-bike "torque" work: seven all-out pedal revolutions per set, in a hard gear, up a real 6% gradient.

A third group kept riding normally and did nothing extra. They were the control.

What Actually Changed

After ten weeks, both training groups got stronger.

Squat strength went up. Pedaling-specific force went up.

Even quadriceps and patellar tendon structure showed measurable adaptation in both intervention groups.

The control group, predictably, did not move.

The kicker is that the on-bike torque group matched the squat group across the key markers of neuromuscular adaptation and pedaling performance.

No barbell required.

Why On-Bike Strength Work Actually Holds Up

The conventional argument was that bikes cannot generate enough force.

Crank torque during normal cycling sits at a fraction of what your legs can produce in a squat. That part is still true.

But the Pallarés group exploited a loophole: pick the right gear, the right gradient, and the right cadence, and the force per pedal stroke climbs into the same neighborhood as a heavy lift.

Think of it like this: a squat is a slow, heavy compound movement that recruits high-threshold motor units. A maximal pedal stroke at 40 rpm into a 6% hill does something uncannily similar, just packaged in cycling-specific patterning.

The brain doesn't really care whether you are loading a Smith machine or a chainring. It cares about force, time under tension, and intent.

The Protocol You Can Steal Tomorrow

Here is what the on-bike group actually did, distilled.

Sets: Roughly 5 to 8 sets per session, performed twice per week.

The effort: 7 maximal pedal revolutions per set, out of the saddle, in a gear hard enough that cadence drops to around 40 rpm.

The terrain: A consistent 6% gradient is ideal. A short climb you can reach in your warm-up loop will work.

Recovery: Full recovery between sets, around 3 to 5 minutes. This is strength work, not intervals.

Intent: Every revolution is a maximum effort. If you can spin it up easily, the gear is too small.

The whole block takes about 30 minutes including warm-up and cooldown.

That is the entire intervention. A handful of pedal strokes, no equipment beyond your bike.

Why This Beats a Half-Hearted Gym Session

Most cyclists who claim to "do strength" in the gym are doing low-load, high-rep junk volume.

Three sets of fifteen at body-weight squats, a few lunges, some half-effort step-ups. It looks like training, but it doesn't produce the high-force neural recruitment that actually makes you faster.

The on-bike protocol, by contrast, forces a true maximal effort. There is nowhere to hide on a 6% gradient at 40 rpm.

Where the Bike Method Falls Short

Here is the honest part.

The study used trained male cyclists with two to four years of riding experience. It did not test older athletes, masters racers, or post-menopausal women, all of whom have different needs around bone density and total-body strength.

If you are riding to slow age-related muscle loss, the bike alone is not enough. Heavy compound lifts still win for whole-body sarcopenia and skeletal loading.

There is also a knee question. The on-bike group trended toward higher pain and stiffness scores than the squat group, although the difference was not statistically significant in the trial.

For anyone with a history of patellar tendon issues, that is worth taking seriously. If you want a primer on the joint work that protects the kneecap and posterior chain, The Cycling Week already breaks it down in How to Strengthen Your Legs for Cycling.

And finally: torque work is terrible for upper-body strength, posture, or anything outside the pedal stroke.

If your goal is to look like a cyclist, the bike covers it. If your goal is to also be functional in the rest of your life, the gym is not optional.

How to Apply This to Your Week

You don't need to overhaul anything.

Replace one easy ride per week, and tack the torque block onto one existing endurance ride per week. That gives you the two sessions per week the study used.

A simple rotation looks like this:

Tuesday: Warm up for 20 minutes, then find a 6% climb.

Hit 6 sets of 7 maximal revolutions at 40 rpm, with 4 minutes of recovery between. Spin home easy.

Friday: Same protocol. If you cannot find a 6% climb, use a smart trainer at maximum resistance and approximate the cadence.

Weekend: Long ride as normal.

Build for 8 weeks, then take a recovery week.

If you want a slightly less brutal entry point, the bodyweight and dumbbell sequence in Unlock Explosive Cycling Power With These 7 Strength Exercises covers most of the same movement patterns, and you can run it alongside the torque sessions to lower the joint load.

That combination is probably the best of both worlds.

Final Thoughts

The gym is not dead.

But the idea that you must do squats to ride faster just took a serious hit.

A clean randomized controlled trial showed that seven maximal pedal strokes at 40 rpm up a hill, repeated, can do what a heavy squat session does for cycling power and tendon structure.

For time-starved riders, that is huge.

For older riders and anyone with a history of knee pain, the gym still has a real role, and pretending otherwise is irresponsible.

But if your only excuse for skipping strength work was that you don't have time to drive to a gym, that excuse just expired.

Park your bike at the bottom of a 6% climb. You're already at the squat rack.