Any riders/commuters lift weights regularly?

[Tim Kelley]

@Jason 27319 wrote:

The problem with P90x is that you are only using bodyweight. In order to create muscle building you need to steadily increase weight, or reps or both. With p90x, your bodyweight is relatively fixed, so you cant increase that. You can only therefore increase reps. You will never be able to handle greater weight than say your bodyweight. But there is a limit where you will hit your endurance threshold far before you hit muscle building when you use body weight alone. P90x is great for burning calories, but not for muscle building and strength, you will only get a little bigger at first, and not much stronger. You will be limited by the weight you are moving, namely your bodyweight. You may feel stronger, but instead you will be only increasing your max endurance, after you gain a certain threshold of basic strength by moving your own bodyweight around. You will build endurance for sure, but there are probably even more effective ways (given that time finite) than p90x. After you have gone through a true muscle and strenght building routine, you will know the difference for sure.

It’s didn’t sound like Riley was looking to increase his 1RM–more like just wanting add in some upper body work, at home, on the cheap. For that, you can’t beat bodyweight.

[Jason]

I am not suggesting he did want to increase his 1RM. I am not either. I havent 1RM in 25 years. I am suggesting that if the goal is muscle building then there are more efficient means to do so. Bodyweight is fine up to a point. When you reach that point, surpassing it is impossible unless you add resistance in a progressive fashion. IE, if you dont stimulate your body to increase strength, it wont. The most efficient way to do so is to add weight. I use three “bodyweight” exercises as my favorite core exercises. Squat, Dips, and pullups.

Case in point: if I didnt add weight tose bodyweight exercises, I wouldnt be as strong as I am now. I would only be strong enought to do the weight I was doing with my bodyweight. As of now, I am able to do the same motions with my bodyweight + x weight that I add. So as a result, I am x weight stronger over the same number of reps (say 8-10) than I would be had I never added x weight to my body as I did the same motions.

As far as cost, I think weight plates are pretty cheap, as is a weight belt. If doing just upper body, you probably already have a dips station and pullup bar. Actually, if you added to that a barbell for deadlifts or (my preference) a trap/shrug bar for parallel bar deadlifts (really a squat without a rack) then you would be far better off than a p90x’er in the strength department. Add in some biking for cardio endurance, and you have a pretty good picture. No need for both P90x AND biking, since both are cardio/endurance after you get over the inital strenght building from using only your own bodyweight.

[Tim Kelley]

How about a backpack full of books?

[Tim Kelley]

@Tim Kelley 27322 wrote:

How about a backpack full of books?

Or panniers….since that debate is going on elsewhere on the forum…

[PotomacCyclist]

A good way to increase intensity for bodyweight exercises is to transition toward one-leg/one-arm exercises. Of course you have to be careful about increasing the intensity too quickly. Plus one-leg/one-arm exercises can be very difficult, too difficult for most beginners and even intermediates.

For push-ups, you can go from standard push-ups to staggered push-ups. One hand placed about 12 inches ahead of the other. This shifts more of the stress to one side. Do sets for each side. If you really want to go farther, you can work on core strength and staggered push-ups until you are able to do one-handed push-ups. This is a very advanced move, one that I haven’t mastered yet.

One-arm/one-leg planks are another bodyweight move that can help prepare you for one-handed push-ups.

For the back, I’d recommend one of those temporary pull-up bars that can be installed in most traditional doorways in just a couple seconds. No tools or screws necessary. The doorway should be sturdy. If you are heavier, test out the set-up carefully before trying a set. Pull-ups can be very difficult for beginners, but you could try bar hangs to start off.

One-leg squats (pistol squats) are an excellent exercise. Again, no equipment required. Pistol squats are better for developing the stabilizer muscles such as the gluteus medius. They are also great for balance skills as well as basic leg strength. However, they don’t work the core quite as much as barbell squats. You won’t be able to build massive quads with just pistol squats but this is a cycling forum, not a bodybuilding one. Pistol squats will work for most cyclists and endurance athletes.

The hamstrings are a little more difficult to hit with bodyweight exercises. One-leg “deadlifts” are one option, but admittedly the intensity isn’t that great. I like to use dumbbells with this exercise. I also like to do back raises where the legs are stationary (in a back raise or hyperextension station) and the torso is moved upward, from a vertical downward position to a horizontal or past-horizontal position. You can hold your arms out straight past your head to increase the intensity. You can also hold a dumbbell or a weight plate, but that may not be necessary for a cyclist.

You can easily work the abs, obliques and lower back with bodyweight exercises like the bicycle exercise, side planks, front planks, V-ups and back bridges (or neck bridges). There’s also the Superman exercise and the bird dog, though I see those as more for beginners. I don’t really seem to feel much intensity with those exercises, but they could be a good option for someone just starting out.

Some of the traditional exercises are good too, like burpees, dive bombers and mountain climbers. Plyometrics are another option but beginners and people with weaker knees and stabilizer muscles need to be extra careful with plyometrics. The additional stress of impact and forceful movement can easily lead to injury. If you try plyometrics, start off with the very easy ones first.

If you want to avoid a gym, I think it would help to get a pull-up bar and some dumbbells. You don’t need a huge complete set if you’re just going for basic strength, not bodybuilding. I only use a few different dumbbell weights during my strength workouts since my focus is not on strength sports or bodybuilding. For most endurance athletes, you just need to work on balanced development, core strength, stabilizer muscles and “good enough” large muscle strength. I think it’s useful to do at least some workouts at a gym or fitness center but you can improvise at home, especially with the pull-up bar and a few dumbbells.

I would also recommend occasional running, to help build stronger leg and hip bones. You don’t have to run long or too often. But I think 2-3 short runs a week can help with bone density. Start off with walk/run sessions for a couple months, at least, if you are new to running. If you don’t want to get serious about running, I wouldn’t recommend running longer than 30 minutes or so. Start off with shorter workouts, with walk and run segments at easy pace. Gradually decrease the walk segments until you are running moderately for the entire time, with the first 10-20 minutes at easy effort as a warm-up.

[Jason]

If its progressive, why not! Maybe some lead books?

[Jason]

Potomaccyclist: Check my last posts, if you go with a trap/shrug bar, pull up bar/dip station, and a weight belt (to add weights kind, not the bs kind for your “lower back”) and you trained hard and progressively, you would be better than 90% of all gym goers. I essentially do this workout for one of my workouts (one of two per week) at the free gym I get at work. If I had space at home, I would do it there instead.

The problem with increasing resistance by going with one limb instead of another is that it is a BIG leap in resistance AND the one limb moves arent as stable and therefore more risky. As a risk adverse trainee who wants to do this for another 30-40 years, I go with what I know is safe. Also, when you get up near your personal bests (for reps of course, 1RM is silly) you will need to add weight in very small incraments. I am down to using .5lb plates on many exercises toward the end of my cycles.

I also like back extension. No replacement for a deadlift, but they actually work slightly different muscles than the DL, so for some purposes, they are actually better. I do them with a 25lb plate, trying to keep the reps high in the 8-10 range over 2 sets. I could do more, but not at that point yet.

For abs, I also work that progressively. I see no need for sets of 50 or 60 like some people seem to want to work them. Abs are mucles like everywhere else, why train them differently. I like sets of 8-10. Currently doing them with excellent form nice and slow with a 55lb dumbell on my chest. If at home and starting out, you can even use jugs of water or soup cans. Nothing fancy needed.
For beginners on the dip or pull up, they sell very strong bands now that can be used to reduce resistance from bodyweight, very effective. I think Rogue fitness sells them.

[PotomacCyclist]

One other general point: Always, always, always warm up before a strength workout! Do a general total-body workout first. Perhaps 10 minutes of easy jogging or spinning on a stationary bike, or on an elliptical. Get the heart rate up and your muscles warm. If you are going to do more intense exercises, whether it’s bodyweight or with weights, do some easier versions first. If I’m doing pistol squats, I always start out with a set of higher rep two-leg bodyweight squats. For staggered push-ups, I start off with a set of standard push-ups. (If I haven’t done push-ups in a while, then the push-ups might serve as the main set.)

With weighted exercises, I do a set at a much lighter weight first, maybe 50-65% of the weight of the main set. Even then, I might do a bodyweight set first, then the reduced weight set and then the main set. As with any type of exercise, it’s best to start out easier and progress gradually, within a workout and over the course of a training period. It’s the same thing as with cycling. You would never tell a beginner to go out and do a century on his/her first ride. You would tell that person to start off easy and progress gradually.

I also like to do a cool down or warm down, but that doesn’t have to be very involved. I might simply do leg swings, back and forth, and side to side. Then I might do a standing twist. Then arm circles/swings. It doesn’t take very long. I follow that up with my usual post-workout stretching routine, which doesn’t take long either. I’ve come up with versions that I can do standing up so I can do them anywhere, without having to lie down on the ground or floor. I have the routine down pat. I don’t do any quick movements while stretching but I don’t have to spend time thinking about what stretch to do next. I don’t hold stretches as long as some people do because, again, I’m not going for extreme flexibility (the way that I’m not going for extreme strength). I just do enough to calm down the muscles, prevent adhesions and stretch the fascia and IT band.

[PotomacCyclist]

If you do your strength workout immediately after a bike ride or other aerobic workout, you don’t need to do a separate warm-up. The bike ride will serve as the warm-up for the strength session. That’s a good way to save time.

[5555624]

@PotomacCyclist 27326 wrote:

A good way to increase intensity for bodyweight exercises is to transition toward one-leg/one-arm exercises. Of course you have to be careful about increasing the intensity too quickly. Plus one-leg/one-arm exercises can be very difficult, too difficult for most beginners and even intermediates.

For push-ups, you can go from standard push-ups to staggered push-ups. One hand placed about 12 inches ahead of the other. This shifts more of the stress to one side. Do sets for each side. If you really want to go farther, you can work on core strength and staggered push-ups until you are able to do one-handed push-ups. This is a very advanced move, one that I haven’t mastered yet.

This is not a plug for it, but the book “Convict Conditioning,” which is a body weight exercise book, has a good, detailed, progression to increase intensity of the exercises. For pushups, to go from zero to one-arm:

Wall pushups (standing, leaning against a wall)
Incline pushups (feet on the floor, hands on something half your height)
Kneeling pushups
Half pushups
Full pushups
Close pushups
Uneven pushups
1/2 One-Arm pushups
Lever pushups
One-Arm pushups

The approach to squats is rather interesting, since it starts with shoulderstand squats.

[PotomacCyclist]

For those who don’t want to go to a gym, there is an outdoor exercise park in Crystal City, on the east side of Crystal Drive and just north of the Airport Access Rd. and 26th St.

http://goo.gl/maps/zmMIk

There are various gymnastics/calisthenics stations. I haven’t used them myself but I’ve run/ridden through that area many times. They have pull-up bars, parallel bars and other equipment. The paved path is a nice alternative to riding on Crystal Drive for that block. (By next year, Crystal Drive will be two-way on that section, with a bike lane on one side (or maybe both sides?).

I think the formal name is Crystal City Children’s Park. The area also has a couple basketball hoops, beach volleyball areas and a small playground.

[JorgeGortex]

@PotomacCyclist 27331 wrote:

If you do your strength workout immediately after a bike ride or other aerobic workout, you don’t need to do a separate warm-up. The bike ride will serve as the warm-up for the strength session. That’s a good way to save time.

The only problem with doing a longer ride first is that you can’t get maximum benefit from your lifts because you are already fatigued. You’ve burned a fair amount of muscle glycogen. I’ve always read and practiced doing your weight workout first and then an aerobic one. Now, if you ride from work to the gym (be it at home or otherwise) you have less of a choice.

I to am a former “small” guy who started lifting weights after high school to try to move away from 98lbs size (at 5’8″, yes, I was that thin). Now many years later, with many starts and stops I found I was missing lifting and in need of it once again. My routine has been fairly simple and to keep things fresh I have mainly rotated through exercises as I see fit each session… although I seem to stick to a specific few. The first thing I decided as a way to get back into it and avoid injury was to initially stick to mostly body weight exercises. I focused on push-ups because they are a great all around body exercise hit chest, shoulders, arms, and core. I started with the “100 Push-up” system (google it), and found it worked really well for getting me back into shape. I hit a plateau recently and switched to a “Navy Seal” system that I can share if someone was interested. Anyway, I feel the overall conditioning and strength I’ve built from push-ups has really helped me build an overall body strength allowing me to segue into my other lifts.

I am also a fan of pull-ups. I’ve always been pretty good at them, but not so much recently. My current system has me doing a max set, followed by lat pull-downs using half my body weight to make a total of 10 reps. Three sets interspersed with my only special clean and presses done circuit style. Mind you this series is done after my push-up series so I am already worked. All in all I think there is a reason that almost every military organization uses push-ups and pull-ups for a reason: they work.

Otherwise my general rules have been:
– I warm up by doing some light jogging, jumping jacks, body squats, and dynamic stretching and shadow boxing. Sometimes I’ll spin on my erg for 500m, then do the dynamic stretching. The nice thing about doing push-ups is I’ve found they warm me up without being too intense… so I don’t need as long a warm-up. Were I to drop them for some other bar/dumbbell exercise to start, I’d do more of a regular warm-up first.

– build into it easy and slowly increase weight, and number of exercises. On top of that, any time spent in the gym beyond 90min and you aren’t doing anything. I’d say 45min is about my norm.
– I stick to higher reps, say 10-12 to start, and then I work my way down into the 5-8 range once I’ve established my workouts again.

– compound/Olympic exercises only. So pull-ups, push-ups, deadlifts, cleans, squats, bench press, upright rows, bent over rows, and my “George Press-cleans.” The break in this is to do some tricep specific work to allow me to better do some of the pressing exercises.

– I listen to my body. If I am feeling tired, losing form, or any part of my body is feeling “iffy” I stop and call it a day. I’ve injured myself enough to know that it sucks to be sidelined. Better to regroup and come back another day. Muscle fatigue is fine, “ouch” pain is not.

– I try to keep moving through exercises, circuit style, while still allowing enough overall rest to get through my workouts. That said, when you are doing things heavy you are going to be puffing. I’ve finished a circuit set and felt like throwing up. It goes away.

Ultimately its about getting in there and doing it, no matter how long you spend in the gym. Maybe its three sets of push-ups and gone. Its cool. The one thing I am sure of though is that the weight lifting and muscle mass I put on in the past has helped me keep my weight in check naturally over the years. Muscle burns more calories. So more muscle mass, the more calories you burn just sitting still. I also find that after time away my body tunes right back into lifting and it takes about a month to see results again. Very gratifying for the ego!

JG

[krazygl00]

@JorgeGortex 27700 wrote:

The only problem with doing a longer ride first is that you can’t get maximum benefit from your lifts because you are already fatigued. You’ve burned a fair amount of muscle glycogen. I’ve always read and practiced doing your weight workout first and then an aerobic one. Now, if you ride from work to the gym (be it at home or otherwise) you have less of a choice.

I to am a former “small” guy who started lifting weights after high school to try to move away from 98lbs size (at 5’8″, yes, I was that thin). Now many years later, with many starts and stops I found I was missing lifting and in need of it once again. My routine has been fairly simple and to keep things fresh I have mainly rotated through exercises as I see fit each session… although I seem to stick to a specific few. The first thing I decided as a way to get back into it and avoid injury was to initially stick to mostly body weight exercises. I focused on push-ups because they are a great all around body exercise hit chest, shoulders, arms, and core. I started with the “100 Push-up” system (google it), and found it worked really well for getting me back into shape. I hit a plateau recently and switched to a “Navy Seal” system that I can share if someone was interested. Anyway, I feel the overall conditioning and strength I’ve built from push-ups has really helped me build an overall body strength allowing me to segue into my other lifts.

I am also a fan of pull-ups. I’ve always been pretty good at them, but not so much recently. My current system has me doing a max set, followed by lat pull-downs using half my body weight to make a total of 10 reps. Three sets interspersed with my only special clean and presses done circuit style. Mind you this series is done after my push-up series so I am already worked. All in all I think there is a reason that almost every military organization uses push-ups and pull-ups for a reason: they work.

Otherwise my general rules have been:
– I warm up by doing some light jogging, jumping jacks, body squats, and dynamic stretching and shadow boxing. Sometimes I’ll spin on my erg for 500m, then do the dynamic stretching. The nice thing about doing push-ups is I’ve found they warm me up without being too intense… so I don’t need as long a warm-up. Were I to drop them for some other bar/dumbbell exercise to start, I’d do more of a regular warm-up first.

– build into it easy and slowly increase weight, and number of exercises. On top of that, any time spent in the gym beyond 90min and you aren’t doing anything. I’d say 45min is about my norm.
– I stick to higher reps, say 10-12 to start, and then I work my way down into the 5-8 range once I’ve established my workouts again.

– compound/Olympic exercises only. So pull-ups, push-ups, deadlifts, cleans, squats, bench press, upright rows, bent over rows, and my “George Press-cleans.” The break in this is to do some tricep specific work to allow me to better do some of the pressing exercises.

– I listen to my body. If I am feeling tired, losing form, or any part of my body is feeling “iffy” I stop and call it a day. I’ve injured myself enough to know that it sucks to be sidelined. Better to regroup and come back another day. Muscle fatigue is fine, “ouch” pain is not.

– I try to keep moving through exercises, circuit style, while still allowing enough overall rest to get through my workouts. That said, when you are doing things heavy you are going to be puffing. I’ve finished a circuit set and felt like throwing up. It goes away.

Ultimately its about getting in there and doing it, no matter how long you spend in the gym. Maybe its three sets of push-ups and gone. Its cool. The one thing I am sure of though is that the weight lifting and muscle mass I put on in the past has helped me keep my weight in check naturally over the years. Muscle burns more calories. So more muscle mass, the more calories you burn just sitting still. I also find that after time away my body tunes right back into lifting and it takes about a month to see results again. Very gratifying for the ego!

JG

Great post. I come from the opposite end of the spectrum — it is a constant battle to keep the weight *off* of me. Realize that in a cycling forum there are a whole lot of fatguys reading your post, grumbling with envy about you needing to bulk up

I’ve never been good at calisthenics, but then I’ve never followed a regimen, so I may have to check out that hundred-pushup plan. Also, that Navy Seal workout…I remember seeing a book on that and it was all gravity-based, body-weight type exercises. No equipment required…is that the same plan you’re talking about? Please do share!

As I’ve hit mumble-mumble-*cough* years old I’ve definitely seen a decline in upper body strength (fortunately the legs are as strong as ever). I even have some elbow and shoulder pain when doing strenuous tasks, so I think I definitely need to improve the strength and flexibility there.

[PotomacCyclist]

I usually don’t do any strength work immediately after my longest rides in base building phases. But on most rides throughout the year, it’s not a problem. As I noted earlier, I’m not that focused on building muscle mass or maxing out on the weights. For me, and probably for most cyclists and readers of the forum, strength training is a supplement to cycling and other endurance sports, not an end in itself. If someone wants to focus on bulking up, that’s fine. But just realize that many (most?) cyclists won’t have this goal when doing strength training.

In recent weeks my strength training has focused mostly on a few core exercises after a bike or run workout. I know I’m not going to be bulking up doing that but that’s not what I’m going for. I also get a modest amount of upper body work from swim workouts as well as press-out exercises that I do at the side of the pool after many swim workouts. Sort of like a dip, using the pool deck.

After I finish up my fall races, I’ll take some time off. (Not complete rest but no formal structured workouts for a while. No super-long or hard workouts in that phase.) Then I’ll ease back into some general training, which might include a little more time on strength training. I’ll still do most of my strength workouts immediately after a bike or run. If I were a bodybuilder, I wouldn’t do this, but I’m not a bodybuilder. I think it makes sense to do the more important workout first, which for me is the bike or run, not the strength session. I’m also wary of doing any strength exercises immediately before a run. That would throw off my technique because many of the key running and stabilizer muscles would be pre-fatigued. Bad run technique tends to lead to injuries (ITBS, runner’s knee, etc.).

For cycling, I might personally consider doing strength exercises before some easy rides (short, easy efforts of moderate duration). But I’ll probably never do any strength training immediately before tougher or longer bike workouts. That would sap my strength and make the bike workout less effective. I know that pre-fatigued workouts are sometimes used by advanced athletes who are training for long races. But the risk of injury is higher with that approach. Since I’m not a pro athlete and I’m not doing any super-long races this year, I’ll avoid that training technique for the time being.

[Jason]

For me its about transforming my body. Cycling for me is more a way to get to get some cardio work while on my commute and not having to deal with metro (even though I am across the street from a metro stop, as is work). I started off as the small geeky kid. I am still a geek, but instead of a 36″ chest, I have a 43 inch chest and legs to match at a 31″ waist (and shrinking). This transformation needs regular progression in weights while training safely and drug-free. I dont see weight training as a supplement to cycling, I see weight training as a supplement to life. As I start to enter my 40’s, I want to ensure that my bone density and muscle mass continue to improve as I work to get as strong and muscular as my medium-frame will permit. I have fun seeing how far I can push myself in the gym and how I can improve my looks and overall health. I think I am on a different path than many of you, so the way I train is also different. Still, I maintain that an abbreviated twice a week program using progressive poundages in major muscle movements is the best way to train for everybody but the genetically gifted (only about 10% of the population).

[Author]

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