Too much too soon? How to increase your cycling training most efficiently

Stagnation and overtraining are two all too common pitfalls - here’s how to avoid them

Male cyclist riding outside
(Image credit: Future)

Progressive overload is an important component of cycling training. Simply put, as you adapt to training, you need a larger and larger stimulus to drive further adaptations.

The obvious next question is, how quickly should the training stimulus be increased so that you make fitness gains and don't get stuck in a training rut?

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James Spragg

James Spragg is a sports scientist and coach, working both in research and applied settings. When not working with athletes James can be found skiing, climbing, cycling or drinking coffee!


Alongside Dan Lorang and Peter Leo, James runs Intercept Performance Consultancy. Over the last 8 years in various roles, as coaches, performance consultants, performance managers, and sports scientists, Dan, James and Peter have played a role in helping athletes achieve more than 10 World Championship titles, several Olympics medals (including a Gold and Silver Medal in Tokyo 2020) and several Top 5 results in some of the biggest sporting events on the planet (Tour de France, Olympics, World and European Championships). Our single focus is on improving performance in all settings.