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and injury caused by being poorly adapted for the demands of daily living (
moving furniture, carrying luggage (Bradley Wiggins admits that Cath used
to hoik his luggage around when he went to races, training camps, because
of the risk he’d pull a muscle etc).

Will strength training make you faster on the bike? According to Carmichael,
probably not directly. Even though squats use the same muscles you use to
push on the pedals, the rate of force production is far slower during a squat
than it is during a pedal stroke. You don’t squat at the leg speed of a 90rpm
cadence. However, indirectly, it reduces the risk of interruptions to training,
so….

If you don’t want to hit the gym, or invest in a set of weights, one option is
to buy a weight training “sandbag” – typically a tube-shaped bag with multiple
straps that you can fil with sand (or shingle, pebbles, generally heavy stuff)
and use for various weight training moves, courtesy of the straps. Because
it’s unstable it activates supporting muscles more than free or fixed weights.
(By the way, if you use sand, best to put it in plastic bags and gaffer tape
them for strength – also allows you to adjust the weight more easily.) The
extra advantage is that you could take the (emptied!) bag on holiday with
you and fill it at the local beach for vacation exercise!) A less-effective
alternative is military surplus or other source of kitbags, holdalls etc – they
lack the straps for replicating some exercises and you need to be sure they
can take the weight (not usually a problem for military grade kit).

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