Make This Your Best Year Ever. How to Plan Your Training Season 

Still need help setting up your training plan? I've got plans available here: www.trainingpeaks.com/coach/dylanjohnsontraining#trainingplans

0:44 off season - strength 3:04 off season example week 3:32 base - volume (some threshold and gym) 6:38 base example week 7:08 build -2 months pre peak volume with intensity + race specific 11:58 build example 12:42 race season - lower volume high intensity 15:07 tapering example

I've been hitting the gym getting ready for next season. Been focusing mostly on biceps and chest. I may not take any podiums but I really fill out my cycling shirt nice.

I'm still waiting for BHD's "Peak Performance 52x Year" plan (for the Saturday coffee rides)

Love from India Dylan ♥️

This guy and his approach to different situations is just awesome. I have a great deal of respect for his work. I am a Sports Medicine physician who often works with Olympians out here in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I am also a triathlete. This brilliant young man is my “go to first” source of cycling opinions and approaches because he always has some research to support his approach. Dylan! Keep up the great work!

Measuring power on engines: BHP. Measuring power on a bike: BHD

top quality content , keep it coming . thanks a lot

Just the video I needed 😃 thank you Dylan and happy new year!

Grats on 80K subs dude!

Perfect video for this time of year ! Thanks

perfect timing I was just looking at my plan for this year

Great stuff. These are the kind of new years goals and perspective we all need.

just found your channel, I LOVE IT! cheers mate, keep up the awesome content. I'm 120kgs and love hitting the trails. i cant wait to absorb your videos and get on the bike

Great video again. Thank you.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Dylan. I hope you are well. Great video as usual

excellent as always, thank U very much for bringing us this valuable information! keep the hustle

This is super helpful, thank you Dylan!

Thanks so much for this important guidance. Making a difference!

Great video!

I’m so glad I found your channel! You earned yourself a sub. Love from Canada

Lovely... Thanks for putting this into perspective. I've been wondering how to sort out my training plans for this year and this gives me a very good frame for setting out... Thanks 😊😊

thx for this video - all the best from Germany !

Thanks a lot!! Coincidentally yesterday i was trying to plan out my training schedule for the following year, this has helped a lot!!!

A genuine thanks for the videos. You have helped me no end.

Thanks again for sharing these videos. I have incorporated all your recommendations over the past year and I have seen significant gains in my FTP and fitness. Gym work restarts next week!

great video. you really know your stuff. took me years of mistakes to come upon a training plan that worked for me (I needed this video about 20 years ago...LOL).

BHD on very strong form! Happy new year DJ and thanks truly for your awesome vids in 2020.

Thanks Dylan. You didn't let me down in 2020. Looking forward to more improvements next season.

Great video and it's encouraging to hear I'm doing about the right sort of work for this time of hear. Still looking forward to the How light is too light video

Watched this video several times over the last couple years and keep picking up new bits here and there. Lots of great info!

Awesome vlog. Lots of great info there, had to watch it twice. This summary for a year's training should be mandatory watching. And the best supporting award for comedy relief has to go to BHD. Thanks for another great year Dylan. The content and quality is outstanding. As a coach of other sports and a wannabe masters cyclist this provides great insights and support to help get the best out of my training pgms. Best for the new year.

As usual, your videos are very educational. I have competed at a professional level in other sports and your training plans can be used for pretty much any sport. Very serious and credible when you base your videos on research. Thanks for the interesting videos Dylan!

It shouldn't be free to watch this video. So much detail and help. Thanks

Very helpful, thank you.😁

Just ordered my livestock scale from Amazon.

Great stuff Dylan...You've been an inspiration for this 53yo broke ass ex racer that started riding again a year and a half ago after a 8+ year break...

Finally getting the motivation to get back on the bike & start training again after buying a smart trainer. It's been a solid 3 seasons of little riding & 2 years was my last DH race. I've realized DH/Enduro is not worth the risk to me & XC/Ultra Endurance is where I've always excelled growing up, so I'm stoked to push towards some big goals. Even though the race season is unknown, we can all create big rides to achieve & use the time to become even better for 2022! But hopefully, things turn out for the best! Thanks again for the great advice Dylan!

I love your videos Dylan and the wealth of information you present. Any chance that you will make a video comparing different breathing techniques? Especially mouth breathing compared to nose breathing?

Your channel seriously is one of the best, if not the best, on YT on cycling training! Keep it up!

I enjoy your videos.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DJ!

Training for my first Ironman, these videos have really helped clear up confusion around structuring my training. Subscribed.

I've watched loads of training videos but this one wins the "questions answered per video minute" competition by far!

Hey @DylanJohnson. Could you do a video about (re-)starting after injury/sickness? Especially about getting to the state, where you actually can start training again.

I just used your off-season training plan and I loved it. Can’t wait to use the rest of your plans throughout the season

Awesome!!! I'm not even a cyclist, only a hobby runner who is looking into expanding with training with cycling, especially in the winter on a smart bike. Your channel is gold!

most excellent performance coaching advice and strategy. thank you for sharing your expertise and experience with the community.

This video answered most if not all my training questions. This will be my first year of fully structured training. I'm stoked to see how much I'll have improved next year. Thanks Dylan you're the GOAT!

👍good info based on science and experience🙏🏻

A very helpful video. I completely agree with Dylan regarding trying to keep at least one gym session per week for squats / deadlifts and core work. If you do this, then you will have no trouble transitioning back to two sessions / week in the off season and base. You also won't suffer horrendous DOMS from not lifting for months.

Wow great Content :)

I only came here to listen to BHD’s sound advice and I am not disappointed! Pedal to the metal all the way!

Love your channel, especially the way you approach things scientifically. I'd like to look further into some of the studies you reference, do you post links to them anywhere?

Gym is closed here so over winter I am doing a lot of cross country skiing. Believe me, going on a bike will feel like a dream after that, in fact I sometimes don't use my arms, just the legs because it is so much more intensive when you have to use the whole body.

Hi Dylan, I enjoy your videos and I started planning my own training season and created a training plan with the help of your videos. What I would like to know is: How can I fit my regular riding with friends once or twice a week into a training plan? I like getting fit, but I don't ride my bike just to get fit. Riding with friends and enjoying my rides is a big part, if not the bigger part of it. I cannot tell everyone in the group ride to stay slow so I stay in zone 2 because this is a recovery / endurance ride for me and therefore we cannot go faster, also I cannot just do my specific interval training in group rides because it would just split our small group. So for the past months I have just not done any group rides because my training plan did not allow for it, and while I do notice getting fitter I want to go riding with my guys together. And similarily, how would I fit say a training vacation in the mountains with friends into such a training season, where I go ride every day for a week for hours? I feel like I am trying too hard to fit everything in this structured training schedule and while it does certainly work, I need advice on how to make my plan work with different kinds of group rides that I don't want to miss. Cheers, and thanks!

10:59 aww, it's so touching that you mention one of my kind...maybe one day I'll have the balls to race. PS: any other workout that replaces lifting? Maybe with one of those home gym machines.

Love from Philippines

You covered training in the off-season, base season, build season, and the taper before racing. But what should training look like during the racing season, i.e., training between races? Love the videos.

another excellent video with great suggestions and explanations. Thoughts on using Saturday Zwift races as part of the intensity training during base? They won't be as structured, but should be intense and certainly "fun".

Sunday weekend warrior here checking in

Love the videos. Suggestions for future topics: Ice baths Nose breathing

You should do a podcast!! So interesting! Thanks

DOMS is all I live for!

I could put up with all the off the bike talk for so long, but the beard and plugs guy at 13:29 is where I cash out

Hey Dylan, love the vids. I wonder if you'd be interested in doing one on using cycling as cross-training for another sport? It could be any other sport (though obviously training would depend on what you want to get from it). I personally do lots of mountaineering and alpine climbing and I can't run anymore due to a bad injury, but I've never managed to figure out how to best use cycling to gain fitness for walking/hiking/running etc. I'd love to hear your thoughts or if you can dredge up any relevant research.

Hey man! Great stuff u are doing! Can u maybe make a video on Trainer Road's training plans? :)

If you recommend lifting during the build- (and sometimes even the race-) season for older cyclists, offering an alternate version of your plans on TrainingPeaks would be helpful.

Very interesting subjects you discuss Dylan! I have also a question, How can you train most effectively for a more long term, like if you have a goal which is around 5 years later. Keep up the good work!

Hi Dylan, can you please tell me if gym work is equally important for slow/fast twitch muscles? I.e. sprint/endurance riders? Love your videos!

BHD is always funny and relatable

After 30 years of being a mailman, and having to account for every minute of my 8 to 12 hours, I’m still in the mindset of doing whatever the hell I want when I want, how I want, in retirement. I might have to try this planning stuff. This not being exhausted every minute of my life stuff, is interesting.

Video on riding/training solo vs with a group please? 😊

Been following your channel for a while, thank you for the great content. Most people I ride with with in the midwest train prob about 8-10 hours per week during the winter months. Come March I see many people travel to somewhere warmer for a week and do a "camp." When I look at the ride files, they are mostly just putting time (5 hour rides) in the saddle, which is obviously fun, but is that the best way to approach a 1 week camp? What should a 5 or 6 day training camp look like to get the most out of it? Can you do a video on this? Thanks

Hey Dylan, thanks for the video, how do you view the cross season wonders like Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel who do high intensity winters but a ready to crush the classics in the spring

Thanks so much for your info! Really appreciate it as an engineer and long time cyclist. I'm a power noob. So recovery should be ~40-50% FTP, and base miles are ~70% FTP? Never been structured before but amped to start!

Excellent Video! Interestingly no over/unders at any point ..,

Thanks for the videos Dylan. Whats you’re take on assigning TSS to you’re strength training? Although it’s not cycling specific and you don’t want to add arbitrary “glory” numbers to you’re CTL, surely it has a bearing on fatigue which you need to track. Would love to hear you’re thoughts. Apologies if this topic has been covered.

Loving the video Dylan, do you have any advice for someone who likes going to weekly crits for most of the year? (I normally take my son to junior training then hang around for adult racing). Would you suggest doing a typical periodization and avoid racing for a few months a year, or maybe take multiple breaks throughout the year, or something else? Thanks in advance

Race specific training: lifting for the all important KOMs under 15 seconds

Your videos made me more interested in the science of training, and love the way you pick a broad variety of sources and articles instead of spewing your opinion and saying there is only 1 golden formula for every cyclist. Great channel!

Future video idea: I was wondering if there was any scientific literature on the optimal distance of long endurance rides and whether more is more. For example, does a 100mi ride build a bigger base (proportionally or maybe even disproportionately) than an 80mi ride, which in turn builds a bigger base than a 60mi ride? Or does there come a point of diminishing returns? Long, all-day races or rides are not necessarily my targeted event, so I am asking more in terms of general fitness gains and base-building instead of targeted training. Thanks!

Dylan, you have made a similar video a couple of months ago titled "How to Increase Your Power on the Bike. The Science". There you mentioned that after the mid season break we have to repeat the build period then we hit the off season again. I am confused here, would it mean that after the race season we do another build season for 2 months? Or just keep doing race season workouts until the final race of the year then we jump straight into the off season?

Probably the most comprehensive training video on youtube. thanks!

Still waiting for BHD to put plans on Training Peaks :)

Have you come across any research on the value of 'stiffness' in a bicycle and how it relates to power transfer. Seems like you hear about it a lot but I wonder if there is any science behind it. Love the channel!

Hey coach, thanks for the video. I'm on my offseason right now but don't have the opportunity to get into the weight room since things are locked down for covid. Is there anything else you recommend for training to be better on the bike?

Like the haircut Dylan.

This was really good. So given work schedule and such, it's not uncommon for me to do a longer ride 40-55 miles on Saturday, sometimes I got pretty hard on these and rack up a TSS of 180 or so, other times I go easier and its 130-140 TSS. Then on Sunday I usually do a pretty fast group ride that is 40 miles and usually a TSS of 120-150 depending on how much pulling I do that day. After watching this I'm wondering if those two days being back to back are too hard? Maybe my Saturday should be more focused on volume bouncing between z1 and z3 as needed with less focus on going hard?

Hey Dylan, in Europe we tend to have longer holidays than in the US and there is a certain demand for training camps.. how do you incorporate a week where you can properly recover into your training plan? great videos and thanks for the answer (maybe as a video in the future?)

could you do a video for athletes who are returning to the sport after a year or two off due to burnout/major illness/ having kids/the like?

Almost every mountain bike ride I do is high intensity intervals-often my heart rate goes above 100% for my age on the techy climbs.

Could you do a video on recommendations for training for say an Enduro race vs a gravel race, as I will probably participate in more enduro races this summer, with 1-2 CX races on the side. Call me backwards hat guy!

Hey Dylan, great content as always, Myself and 10 other amateur cyclists are doing a 4 day 640km Endurance charity event (cycling the length of Ireland) at the end of May, I've developed a 21 week training plan for it, i would love to get you opinion on it if possible??

Hi Dylan, Hi all, in a 70.3 Ironman base training, when you say "2 to max3" interval session/week, would you recommend to split those 2 HIT sessions into 1bike 1run OR to target either bike or run for let say 4-6 weeks ? (note the "on purpose" forgotten swim HIT training... ;) ...). Also, would it make sense to plan more VO2max and/or threshold training in the base phase and gradually go for more race pace training (let say 80% of FTP) in the build phase in the name of gradually increasing specificity of 70.3 Ironman ? (I'm curious since it essentially is "Reverse periodization"...). Thanks in advance and keep up the great work ! BTW, have a solid 2021 !!

This year was best for me for cycling around 18,000km cycled but lately i have problems with binge eating, cycling is slowing down because of that summer Peak was 335 watts for 1h 30min trip but now i think its only 300

Great

When the off-season traning load is on par with my summer season lol

Hi Dylan, So no polarized training on off season and base phases? The advocates like Alex from FFT and even Seiler say all year round. Could you clarify it? Tks.

I have a question which can't be answered completely, but I would be glad for some tips. I have a hard time creating an annual training plan, because I work as a bike courier, which means that from monday to friday I ride about 250-400 kms (depending on how busy the week is). This kind of riding is pretty diverse: a lot of stopping and starting because of the traffic and pickups/dropoffs, quick sprints with light deliveries on a light bike but with waiting times inbetween, heavy deliveries on cargo bikes - every day it's different, and I go out there every week of the year from January to December. I don't know how to account for that in my yearly training plan - the guidelines about volume and intensity of certain periods go out the window. I also work out on my road bike on my own time, and I try to compete in road racing. I want to find out how my work-related riding affects my fitness, fatigue levels and development (how to evaluate it as training in itself) and how it affects my specific workouts. If I had a better understanding of that, then I could organize my training around my work so that they would supplement each other, and not undermine each other (for example by determining which kind of workouts can I leave out and which ones to focus on) - and I could build up an annual training plan that makes sense to me. Do you have any tips on how to do that?