krazygl00
Forum Replies Created
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@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.
@KLizotte 27571 wrote:
Hydrocolloid wound dressings work fantastic for these kind of injuries. They form a second gel like skin without any ointment and help keep moisture in (which is what you want when you’ve taken off a layer or two of skin – researchers have learned this in burn units). Really speeded up my healing when I shaved off a few layers off my hand in an accident last year when I wasn’t wearing gloves (won’t make that mistake again).
You can get them at well stocked CVS type stores. They are more expensive than typical bandaids/bandages but so much more comfortable and they really speed up the healing process. Make sure you have a size that covers the entire wound, and preferably not more than that. They do not have to be changed everyday.
I was using something similar to these, Bandaid “Compeed” style blister gel bandages. They wouldn’t stay on. The center of the palm is a weird area for bandages
@Dirt 27524 wrote:
Danger Panda Century.
Hadn’t heard of that before…googled it. Saw some pictures of some mountain biking…and some guy trying to ford a river on a Mukluk but his tires kept floating!!
Seriously though…. That sucks! It should just take a day or two for that to heal up enough that you can ride. Rock on!!!!
Well…that’s what I’ve been forced to do. It is nice and calloused up now.
@mstone 27302 wrote:
There are actually a lot of interesting new points in that thread.
Made you look?
I am particularly susceptible to following links.
It wasn’t a total loss…it is Mail Online so there were plenty of links to other articles with racy photos
@GuyContinental 26906 wrote:
“Bike Arlington ELITE rider” (duh)
keeeddding…
I would buy that sticker/tag
