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Strength Training. Do you do any? What is your favourite strength training exercise?

Favourite Strength Training Exercise


  • Total voters
    16

KayGKing

Warming-Up
Aug 26, 2011
19
0
Hi all,

New to this forum (have a thread in introductions), moving back to Tokyo in under 2 weeks. I've been out of the saddle for a few months now, but am looking forward to getting back on a bike once I get to Tokyo. (If you want to sell/get rid of, or know a good place to get a singlespeed or a roadie for under Y30,000, please do tell).

Anyway, the real purpose of this post is to ask about your strength training. Do you do any? Are the hills all the strength training you need? Do you bother with upper-body at all, or just leg or core work?

Personally, I've been doing a full body routine (not really for cycling, but to bulk up a bit, as I'm a skinny wee thing) - but I was doing some strength training back when I was cycling more. I think my favourite exercise with cycling in mind is hack squats - they seem to really hit the quads (above the knees) which paid dividends in climbing/sprinting for me. I also like deadlifts and standard squats.

Interested to hear opinions on this.
 
I do strength training in the winter. 3 times a week. Focus is on legs. But always incorporate upper body and core too. Used to do it at the gym but have just done it at home with dumbbells for the last couple of years.

Favorite exercises (with dumbbells) are 1 legged squats and lunges.

Every year I say I'll do 1 session a week during the season, but never seem to make it part of my routine. I'm sure there are great benefits if you do though.

Obviously on the bike, hill climbing is the best strength work. Hills don't necessarily have to be steep if you use your gears wisely. I had a race up a not so steep hill here today with my two training mates. The only rule was you had to stay in the big ring....

Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time
 
Never do any. My legs are never my limiting factor :D and they rarely feel tired, not even after (a real) 4,000m of climbing and 250km of riding. It's all cardio for me.:bike:
 
Me neither - since Chuck Norris is my father, I simply yell at the road and it suddenly slopes downward for me.
 
I voted other, carrying two cases of Ohbin up to a fourth floor aparto with no elevator.....:rolleyes:
 
The only rule was you had to stay in the big ring....

I like that rule actually...there's a steepish hill near my old house that I used to have a mental rule about the gear combo I would use. Might try the lunges thing actually - prevent any leg imbalances i suppose, and lunges hurt pretty quickly without adding weight.

I guess if I had more time to dedicate to cycling, I probably wouldn't bother so much with weights, and just go hilly like some of you lot seem to suggest. I did two solid weeks of touring last year (obviously no weight training after setting off) and the number of miles I covered seemed to be enough to make me legs a lot stronger in a short time. I supoose I've always had good endurance (a runner at school) but I've always been physically weak, and a poor sprinter.

A friend of mine swears by olympic style clean and press and...err...bicep curls... as a full body workout, but he is pretty fast over short distances. Shame his out of proportion biceps slow him down, flapping in the wind!
 
Leg press eh...all the muscleheads in the gym say 'no no do squats, leg press is crap etc'....but I've never actually tried them for myself. It may well be less good for muscle size but better for developing sprinting power. Maybe I'll give them a go some day, I don't want to be narrow-minded.

StuInTokyo, can I ask you (don't mean to pry) but there's a dude called Stu who is on some of the woodworking forums, has an online Japanese tool shop across the pond I think - seems to be the go-to guy for Japanese tools, similar screen name to you (TokyoStu or StuInJapan or something).You wouldn't happen to be the same guy would you? If there's one thing I like more than cycling its...ok lots of things, whisky, OL's, Ramen etc...it's tools. Hoping to spend a small fortune on some Japanese chisels and such when I get there.
 
I voted other, carrying two cases of Ohbin up to a fourth floor aparto with no elevator.....:rolleyes:

That and carrying carcasses out.


I remember Stu got flamed on another forum cause he mentioned killing a deer . Self sufficiency is a good thing.
 
I used to be really into weight training and body building.

From advice by sports lecturers at my university, what I researched on the internet and my own extensive experience, if you want power, you only really need to do deadlifts.

Do them once every 5 days, eat a load of protein inbetween to recover and go HEAVY when you do them.

You will notice loads of difference, and it takes no time at all.
 
Leg press eh...all the muscleheads in the gym say 'no no do squats, leg press is crap etc'....but I've never actually tried them for myself. It may well be less good for muscle size but better for developing sprinting power. Maybe I'll give them a go some day, I don't want to be narrow-minded.

StuInTokyo, can I ask you (don't mean to pry) but there's a dude called Stu who is on some of the woodworking forums, has an online Japanese tool shop across the pond I think - seems to be the go-to guy for Japanese tools, similar screen name to you (TokyoStu or StuInJapan or something).You wouldn't happen to be the same guy would you? If there's one thing I like more than cycling its...ok lots of things, whisky, OL's, Ramen etc...it's tools. Hoping to spend a small fortune on some Japanese chisels and such when I get there.

I'm Stu in Tokyo, I'm a Canadian who runs a liquor shop (wife's family) and I have the woodworking Dungeon. The Stu you are talking about is down in Shikoku, he is a buddy of mine, he is Australian, and he runs www.toolsfromjapan.com I can highly recommend his tools and his service!

Why spend a small fortune, when you can easily spend a large one :D
 
That and carrying carcasses out.


I remember Stu got flamed on another forum cause he mentioned killing a deer . Self sufficiency is a good thing.

You remember that Simon :D funny as heck the whole deal!

I remember once my uncle got a moose tag, and then he got a moose, but the dummy shot the darn thin in the bottom of a ravine, and even after butchering the moose, it took a lot of work to haul the darn thing out of that ravine! We had moose burgers and steaks for a LONG time after that :D
 
I used to be really into weight training and body building.

From advice by sports lecturers at my university, what I researched on the internet and my own extensive experience, if you want power, you only really need to do deadlifts.

Do them once every 5 days, eat a load of protein inbetween to recover and go HEAVY when you do them.

You will notice loads of difference, and it takes no time at all.


True that.
What amazed me with deadlifts is the speed with which you can increase the weight you lift. I went from struggling to deadlift weights well below my bodyweight to several kg's more than my body weight in a few weeks. I know that there's noob gains etc, but I thought it would be harder. My gym buddies who were better about nutrition and rest etc improved deadlifts even more than me.
 
I'm Stu in Tokyo, I'm a Canadian who runs a liquor shop (wife's family) and I have the woodworking Dungeon. The Stu you are talking about is down in Shikoku, he is a buddy of mine, he is Australian, and he runs www.toolsfromjapan.com I can highly recommend his tools and his service!

Why spend a small fortune, when you can easily spend a large one :D

Ah excellent thanks. A liquor shop? That's pretty interesting. Does that mean sake, beer, or foreign spirits and the like? Last time I came to Japan I wasn't old enough to drink by Japanese standards, so I had a hard time finding shops that would sell to me. I found that supermarkets wouldn't, konbini usually wouldn't, alcohol shops usually would....and those alcohol vending machines....those sweet vending machines always sold to me :cool: oddly though, I never once had trouble getting into bars or izakaya. The only exception was nightclubs and even then that was only if there was a policeman right outside, scaring the doormen. I once waited nearby for 10 minutes, the policemen left, and then the doorman let me right in.

I'll be sure to get in touch with the other Stu then...my mum has given me one of her credit cards in case of emergency. I'm not looking forward to her questioning me about exactly what 'emergency' it was in Shikoku that required me to ruin her credit rating and double the weight of my bags on the flight home.

Now I'm wondering...could I cycle to Shikoku...
 
Ok guys,

although weight lifting is good for bulking up cycling related muscle the actual gain doesn't actually translate in to riding faster or being a better climber and you actually need to put the mileage in on the bike to get any benifits from the bulk that you put on and actually really only benifitial if you are taking a break from the bike.

Owen will be able to back this up.... its basically like a body builder get bulked up and then getting ripped.

Cyclist bulk up in the off season by eating and doing weights, then strip it down by riding. Doing both together can actually have a reverse effect as more often enough you'll not give yourself enough time to recover.

riders that have suffered knee injuries should use weights as a way to balance power outputs. Last off season I used the time to balance out my power output on my right leg as I had become left leg dominant after breaking my knee.

Also CORE, CORE, CORE. You use it just as much as your legs if youare using proper pedaling dynamics and will make you a faster climber!

Oneother thing is that the heavier weights you are lifting the easier it becomes to injure yourself which is why most pros will use machines as its safer.
 
Yes, that is correct.

Probably the most important thing you mention here is recovery. When I was lifting heavy, I could really feel which muscles I had worked. I was going my heaviest when I was around 26 years old, and my recovery would have been at the fastest in my life, but things still took about 10 days to fully fix up again, even with loads and loads of sleep and nutrition.

If you choose to supplement your riding with weight training, you really have to rest for a lot longer than you think before the next session. Very easy to get hooked on it, and hammer out 3 sessions a week. Combine this with riding, and you will feel like you have M.E. in a month or so. Space it out, and rest up for extended periods.

Only thing I would perhaps question, is the thing about machines being better. It is easier to injure yourself with free weights, but the benefits are really worth it in my opinion. Machines are good, but they don't really work the supporting muscle groups so well. With this in mind, like FarEast says, be very careful and watch your form. If you don't think you can lift it correctly, drop the weight, lift it correctly, perfectly, and then gradually increase the weight over time. Deadlifts are one of the most dangerous you can attempt, so if you are going to do them, start with just the bar and make sure you get that form absolutely spot on. I have injured my back doing deadlifts before, and it is miserable.
 
You must feel so free when you are on your road bike with no load Stu. Hope we can meet up on a TCC ride before the year is over, but with me working Sundays, it might not work out. Fingers crossed.
 
You must feel so free when you are on your road bike with no load Stu. Hope we can meet up on a TCC ride before the year is over, but with me working Sundays, it might not work out. Fingers crossed.

yes, it is amazing, but then a smallish hill comes along and I'm sucking wind, even on my Lrrb :eek::rolleyes:

I'd love to meet up for a ride, but Sunday is the only day I have off, and even that is not every week, for example this month, I only have the 25th off, the other Sundays I'm working, lots of festivals this month :warau:
 
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