The direct answer

The off-season is the most valuable block of the cycling year for building strength, because the racing pressure is off and you can train hard without it costing your key rides. Use it to build in order: movement quality first, then a base of general strength, then heavier maximal strength and power. Then carry the work into the season with a lighter maintenance dose, rather than dropping it and losing everything by spring.

Why the off-season matters so much

During the season, your riding comes first, and strength work has to fit around it without leaving your legs flat. That is a real constraint, and it limits how much you can build. The off-season removes it. With no events to peak for, you can use heavier loads, more volume, and the kind of progressive work that genuinely raises your ceiling.

It is also the only time of year you can properly address weak points and imbalances. Cycling is repetitive and one-sided, and over a season it tends to leave the same gaps. The off-season is when you close them, building a more robust, better-balanced rider who is harder to injure when the training ramps back up.

Build in the right order

Strength work goes wrong when riders chase heavy numbers before their body is ready. The off-season has a logical order, and following it gets you more in the long run.

1. Movement quality and a general base. Start by grooving the main movement patterns, squat, hinge, push, pull, and carry, with manageable loads. This is where technique is coached and where you build the foundation that everything heavier sits on. It is not glamorous, and it is the most important part.

2. Maximal strength. Once the patterns are solid, progress to heavier loads and lower repetitions to build maximal strength. This is the block that raises your force ceiling, so every hard pedal stroke later sits further below your limit.

3. Power and rate of force development. Toward the end of the off-season, add more explosive work to turn that strength into usable power, the quality a sprint, an attack, or a steep climb actually demands.

Throughout, mobility and trunk work run alongside to protect your position and your recovery. The blocks overlap rather than switch hard, but the direction of travel is always from foundation to force to power.

Keep the riding in the picture

Off-season does not mean off the bike. It means the balance shifts. You are still riding, often with more easy and base mileage and fewer hard efforts, while the gym work does the heavy building. The two are periodised together so they support each other.

This is the difference between a winter that makes you faster and one that just makes you tired. The off-bike work is sequenced so your riding stays consistent, and your riding is structured so it does not blunt the strength gains. Neither is left to chance.

Carry it into the season

Here is where most riders lose the value of their winter. They build well, then drop strength work the moment the season starts, and by spring the gains are gone.

The fix is simple: switch from building to maintaining. A lighter, lower-volume version, often one or two short sessions a week, holds your strength without leaving your legs heavy for racing or big rides. As key events approach, the volume comes down further and the work sharpens. You arrive strong, fresh, and durable, with the winter’s work still in your legs.

Where to start this off-season

Start with an honest baseline. A Performance Assessment shows where your strength, movement, and position actually sit, read through a cycling lens, so your off-season plan targets the work that will make the biggest difference for you. From there we build a periodised block, in person at UNTIL Soho, online, or in a blend, and time it so the gains are still there when your season comes round.

Used well, the off-season is not downtime. It is where next season’s speed is built.