The Hitting the Weights Thread

[Matthew Strongin]

There seems to be some interest from folks here on weight lifting, myself included as a former and sometime still gym rat, so this thread could be a good place to start.

Any favorite routines?

Strength or size?

Machines or free weights?

Leave'em loaded or put back those plates? (This one's a trick question.)

Personally, I love the big movements, deadlifts in particular. I'm more arm than leg, so it's like cheating. Bench, on the other hand, leaves me at a distinct disadvantage.

[Brandon White]

On/off gym rat here.

I work out in a very small gym at the yacht club that has one multi-use machine, a smith machine, a leg press, dumbells, and a barbell (with various weights). I can easily piece together a good 30 minute workout that leaves me wasted. Any workout that typically requires a bench (which they have), I do on a stability ball.

I always go for strength and not size - I don't want to outgrow my clothes.

I've always been a leg guy - even in HS, I was squatting more than my offensive line.

Hitting the gym a couple days a week makes me feel much better overall than riding everyday and puts me in better overall health to fend off old man injuries. I'm not a racer, I'm not going to be a racer, no need to try and look like The Chicken.

[defspace]

weights are fun.

Routines: Squat and deadlift. I want to incorporate cleans into the mix, but I'd like to get some instruction on that before I start throwing things around.
Strength.
Free weights.


I enjoy the feeling of a good squat/deadlift day. The next day soreness is a pleasant reminder of hard work accomplished.

It's also really nice to see rapid gains. I added 100lbs to my squat in 3 months. Though to be honest, that's probably more a factor of adaptation to eccentric contraction than true gains in strength, but whatever.

Sometimes I wish I could do nothing but lift weights and still ride my bike the way I want to ride my bike.

[Brandon White]

snip...
Sometimes I wish I could do nothing but lift weights and still ride my bike the way I want to ride my bike.

Since I got back into the gym, playing soccer 2 days a week, and some casual running - I haven't had a strong day on the bike. My legs are constantly sore from 4 different activities, 3 are leg intensive. I keep thinking I'll get past it - but it's been 7 months.

[MarkC]

Basement gym (see old thread on this topic).

Have gotten back to lifting this fall/winter as a way to regain some strength and to balance all the bike-only training and racing. As an almost 50 year old guy with a demanding work schedule found I'm not doing yard work or other things that helped with upper body strength. Due to time we've outsourced all that stuff.

My routine is 3-4 times a week to do a couple quick circuits. Set up several bars with the right weights and just leave them ready to go. Couple 1" bars and an Oly bar on the half-rack. Bench press, military press, overhead press, rowing, triceps, curls all done with barbells or dumbbells. Will mix it up and and do different exercises but mid weight higher rep stuff. Also have a pull up bar and I like using that as its a fun excercise. No heavy weight work for both joint preservation and also safety as it's just me in the basement.

Have also thrown in a ton of core. Planks, mountain climbers kettle bell type stuff.

I don't squat, deadlift, box jump or do a lot of lunges any longer. I like them but worry too much about knees.

Although it's not lifting, like to hit the Concept 2 a few times a week. Often do 3-5K before or after an indoor roller ride. Sometimes 10K or a hard 5K effort.

On Edit -- if I had the time and need, my favorite "lifting" is not lifting at all but chopping wood. Turning a pile of rounds into split wood for the fireplace is great workout and useful too. Used to heat with wood in NC and split a lot of wood. Here in NJ when I do have a tree come down I split it and give it to a friend who burns it up.

[Matthew Strongin]

<snip>I want to incorporate cleans into the mix, but I'd like to get some instruction on that before I start throwing things around.<snip>

You should try to find someone qualified to teach you. Cleans and snatches are such awesome exercises that translate well into explosive power. I don't do them heavy anymore since a couple of bad shoulder and collarbone injuries (bike crashes, not lifting injuries) led me to taking more caution with how I lift. I regularly do 1-arm dumbbell/kettlebell snatches, though, since I can work on the "pop" while using lighter weights. They lead to that really good soreness along the entire posterior chain.

When I was lifting heavier weights, I also found the power gained from cleans helped with my deadlift quite a bit.

[Chad]

I've recently started using the medicine ball in my routine. Slams and wall throws mainly, researching other uses. Looks like a great item to take on the road when traveling.

Anyone using a med ball regularly, love to know how you use it.

[Brandon White]

I've recently started using the medicine ball in my routine. Slams and wall throws mainly, researching other uses. Looks like a great item to take on the road when traveling.

Anyone using a med ball regularly, love to know how you use it.

I've tried that at my gym and almost broke their shitty walls. I need a good wall to go against, preferably something in private.

[roseyscot]

just started going twice a week with friends. early morning for 45-50 minutes. legs one day, arms and chest the other day. trying to add some core into the mix each time and once more at home. haven't lifted since college, but would like to tone the upper body muscles and strengthen core to prevent injury.

it helps when your buddy picks you up at the end of the driveway. kind of hard to skip out on him.

[11.4]

Lots of free weights here, but then I focus more on power events in track. It's all over if my front wheel is ever higher than the rear.

For power on the bike (sprints, climbing, whatever), the single best effort is the deadlift. You don't need a rack for deadlifts, and you can get a hex bar and some cheap black bumpers for very little and be set up, even if you don't have a workout room. Use it for shrugs, farmer walks, and so on to get a little more versatility out of the bar. You can add squats but tend to need a rack and I'd definitely recommend coaching to start with. Almost as good for cycling can be some plyometrics -- vertical jumps and also some leaps. We've all seen keirin trainees in Japan doing vertical plyos higher than they are, but that's mostly ego workouts. A 12 to 24 inch is really all you need if you make it explosive and you don't cheat (like by pulling your knees up so you only lift your body weight six inches or so).

I've been going back to some workouts that I used years ago and been enjoying them. One is sandbags. Get a good sandbag (I like the Goruck ones best and they are on crazy sales right now) and take a hike with it. Drop it, pick it up, drop it, pick it up. As with everything, make your actions fast and precise with full range of motion. And do the same including a backpack with a load (25-45 lbs of bricks, steel plate, bags of bird shot, whatever you want to use). With all of this, don't walk around stiff-legged. The stuff really works you over if you keep going down to one knee to pick up your sandbag.

Learn to do pistol squats properly and you won't hurt your knees, and you'll not only gain strength but also a ton of proprioception and balance that pay big dividends on the bike.

But if you do have a bar and plates, and ideally a rack, you can achieve big gains that transfer to your cycling performance. Don't feel you just need to win a local powerlifting competition. It isn't about big lifts as much as lifting with speed and drive. I've watched people who squat 450 lbs but can't turn the pedals fast. Whatever equipment you have, or have access to, you aren't trying to lift more; you're trying to enhance a sporting performance. So until you really know where all your strengths and weaknesses are, be as diversified in your lifts as possible. Front squats, both high and low back squats, Zerchers, etc. You need all of it to be fast on the bike, and most people can lift a lot in a front squat but not much in a low back squat -- that's a weakness to work on. Same for deadlifts. Same for secondary lifts. Personally, I don't like machines all that much and definitely not anything on a Smith. I go hot and cold on GHD's -- for cycling I think they can be very useful, but some GHD's are much better than others (the Rogue Abrams can kill me in two or three reps, while I can go on the Westside forever). I like to do lots of high-bounces and free tosses and recoveries with a heavy medicine ball just to strengthen my rotator cuffs and shoulder muscles -- I've saved a couple broken collarbones and separated shoulders that way. Same for building your lateral hip muscles -- they make a huge difference in a crash where you might otherwise break a trochanter.

And I'd add that if you're nearing 50 and certainly if you're over, weightlifting and carrying meaningful weight (like sandbags or a weighted pack) are far and away the best way to preserve bone strength and bone density.

So bottom line, definitely lift anything you can find, whether it's Ivanko, sand bags, or pretty girls. It can only do you good and if you're smart about it, it'll make you a lot faster on the bike.

[Matthew Strongin]

Good stuff, Lane. You mention the low cost of entry with a bar and some bumper plates. Good call for someone wanting to get weights into their routine without access to a gym. I quit my gym membership years ago and have been workout at in the "fitness room" at work. They have a bar and some plates, a few machines and some dumbbells. I used to do a routine when pressed for time that included cleans, front squats and deadlifts as the primary movements. I would do some cleans at 135lbs. Then I'd clean the same 135 into front squat position and do that for a few sets. Then I'd add weight and go to town on deadlifts. Drop some weight and do some rows or farmers walks or something else with the bar and then do a bunch of core work and stretching. I never needed anything other than the bar, some plates, and enough space to not knock someone over with the bar during a movement. I was so much friggin' stronger then.

[Burnette]

*I’ve worked out all my life and more learned by watching, reading and listening, so I hope to gain some knowledge from all of you. Although my discipline is body building, it has impacted my riding positively. I can’t make myself just focus on only one body part. Symmetry and complete body balance is a hard rule for me. I have to work my body out as a whole. Only time I break that is spring, when I ride the bike more often and go to the gym way less. By doing so, I’ll probably never be in ideal shape to race. I’ll accept that I’ll definitely be fast enough to ride with group rides around here though and still have meat on my upper/lower back, shoulders, traps, chest, lats and arms.

I’ll share the general outline of a three/four week routine. After completing it, I do one week of super sets or overloading exercising. Then it’s one week of only cardio. Then it’s onto a new routine.

You core is so important in cycling, so I keep that in mind in my workout by trying to do exercises standing when possible.
Such as on shoulder/trap/bicep day. For shoulders I do over head presses free standing dumbbell or straight bar, trap raises standing dumbbell, cable or curl bar. Last I do bicep barbell or curl bar or dumbbell or cable curls standing.

Next workout day, for quads/hamstrings/calves I do start with squats or the leg sled, then leg extension machine, leg curl machine and end with calf raises free standing with a weighted straight bar on my shoulders, balls of my feet up on a 25lb weight and heels on the ground, I raise up as high as I can.

Next workout day for chest/lats/triceps I start with flat bench barbell or dumbbell. Then cable, machine or dumbbell fly. Next I split the lats high and low. For lats high I lay flat on the bench and do dumbbell or curl bar pull overs. Then for lats low I do seated cable pulls or standing dumbbell or curl bar bent over rows. For triceps I do standing cable tricep pull downs or standing overhead dumbbell or curl bar tricep raises.

I go from heavy weight to light weight, dropping weight after each set, low reps to high reps for three sets (for upper body I do lower reps/higher weight, i.e. over head press, first set, six reps, drop weight, second set, eight reps, drop weight, third set, go to failure while trying to get at least ten reps. Go to the next body part on the routine and do the same. For legs I do more reps than upper body. Squats/sled all three sets for thirty reps. For leg extension, first set for ten reps, second set, drop weight and get twelve reps, third set drop weight and go to failure while trying to get at least fifteen reps. Leg curl, same as leg extension. Calf raises, three sets for twenty reps, dropping weight for each set. Go to failure last set).

*At around eight years old the Doc said my sternum was pronounced and if I didn’t gain weight and muscle they would have to operate when I was around fourteen. Dad got me some cheap weights and with the constant badgering of one brother (they’re gonna cut you open and use use a saw on your chest!), I worked out with gusto. Sternum grew in fine and working out, along with riding a bike has stayed with me. Work, the birth of my daughter, damn good ice cream, things happen to pull me away from it. Luckily I eventually get back to it.

[11.4]

Burnette,

Your workout is classic for bodybuilding. It's a good way to develop hypertrophy which I'm not against for track purposes, but for most of those on this forum who haven't seen the divine light of track cycling and like to ride on chipseal and gravel, this program won't be as effective as a more power-oriented workout would be. That's one where you lift, say, one short set at 60%, one short set at 85%, then one or two sets at 100%, with 100% being your maximum for 5 or fewer repetitions (and I'd really say 3 or fewer). Then stop. The first two short sets are just to warm up and activate the muscles, then the idea is to work out your muscles at their limit -- otherwise one isn't as effective at enhancing maximal power, and increased power is a primary purpose of weightlifting within a cycling regimen. Your program will help aerobic capacity and overall core strength, but for cycling it's a lot of upper body (and I believe much more than many that cyclists don't do enough upper body weight work) and there are other approaches that can work better. Just my $0.02. Great input to an interesting discussion!

[Burnette]

You're right 11.4, it's not cycling specific. My workouts have always been about balance and it's hard for me to go against that.
But, I do alternate weight direction with the next program. The movements change somewhat and the weight loading goes in the opposite direction.
To creat muscle confusion, the next routine goes light to heavy (i.e. over head press, first set for ten reps, add weight, second set for eight reps, add weight,
third set for to failure but try and get at least six reps).
At the end pf spring and during summer my gym time ends for the most part as I try to ride more weekly. My upper body naturally thins and legs stay close to the same.
Fall comes and I'm back at the gym. For a non race such as myself, it keeps my bones strong and savea my upper body from atrophy.
I like your plan and would definitely like to hear more. Variety keeps the body and mind fresh! thanks for sharing.

[Lionel]

I thought this thread was going to be about hitting a specific weight for your bike. I could have contributed to that.

[Burnette]

Lionel, you can still contribute. Start a new thread here and title it "Thinking About New Glutes".
It would be epic. But, no pictures please, Ha!

[Tamu8104]

Used to lift a lot in high school and college but even back then was much stronger in the legs than upper body. Now lift about once a week, mostly to keep functional upper body strength. I mostly do "push/pull" sets through upper body muscle groups.
I typically finish with legs but I have to be careful how heavy I go because if I stay heavy for 3-4 weeks, it really starts to fatigue my legs and take away my "kick" on the bike. It's hard to resist because it's one place where I can make some of the meatheads stop and take notice versus my puny upper body workouts.

[jscottyk]

I'm in the weight room 2 to 4 times per week depending on the time of the year. Kettlebells (a variety of movements), classic barbell movements (deads, cleans, squats, presses), and pull-ups and dips. Also lots of mobility and durability work. My strength training is all about keeping weight down and power up. I'm on for a 400lb deadlift this year at a weight of about 168 lbs. Not crazy strong but solid and not bad for almost 50.

If I could only pick one lift to do the rest of my life is would the deadlift.

Can't stop. Won't stop.

[Matthew Strongin]

If I could only pick one lift to do the rest of my life is would the deadlift.

+1000.

[DCT]

I thought this thread was going to be about hitting a specific weight for your bike. I could have contributed to that.

Funny. I have a gym membership but haven't been there in a few months. I think the last time I was there was to use the shower. I'm a wuss.