Weightlifters?

Sophomore year my basketball coach said I'd never play varsity because I would get beat up. I hit the weight room hard just to prove him wrong. Got stronger, faster and made varsity next season :getsome:

After high school I didn't have a coach making me work out so I got pretty lazy. Then I found mountain biking... I've been riding lots and now I'm 15 pounds lighter. Now that I have something fun to do and the motivation to stay in shape, I feel great :D No matter what you're doing motivation is key!
 
I've also loved working out whether it be running, biking, boarding, surfing, lifting weights, plus lots of exercises that i learned in many years of physical therapy...but never like doing this at the gym. Have a bunch of gym features at home which works out great. :)
 
I was a hard core powerlifter myself before i purchased my "bad habit". I was eating whatever, whenever. 0 cardio. The goal was to lift as much weight as possible. I think i was like 195 or so. Didnt look bad but didnt look good. Im much happier now. Riding has been good. Still was gettin in the gym a few times a week as well.

Now I have been sticking to the police academy workout routine. There are some guys who have lost 25 pounds in 7 weeks.
 
Crossfit Question

TLNJ - I have not been to the gym in about 2 years, but this program looks real interesting but confusing. I have been reading about this program and do not know where to start. any advice?
 
Shaggz said:
TLNJ - I have not been to the gym in about 2 years, but this program looks real interesting but confusing. I have been reading about this program and do not know where to start. any advice?
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The way a lot of people do it is that they follow the workout of the day (WOD) everyday (which is posted on crossfit.com, well, every day).

Personally, I don't always follow their schedule. I've basically adapted the crossfit philosophy to my own likings. Sometimes I'll follow the WOD, but a lot of times a make up my own workout, or do a particular WOD that I wanna do

Anyway, I think I can suggest a couple ways you can go about starting.

1. Get the technique down on a few of the core lifts crossfit utilizes on a number of their workouts: cleans, deadlifts, squats (front and back), push press (and standing shoulder press). This doesn't mean you're not going to workout at this point; it means you're going with light weight and really focusing on technique. Crossfit.com has a bunch of videos showing how to perform the lifts.

2. Try some of the "easier" workouts. I gave an example in an earlier post, but here it is again:

5 pullups
10 pushups
15 bodyweight squats

Do as many rounds of the above as you can over a 20-minute period.
Count the number of rounds so you have a benchmark for next time
Modify to suite your fitness level (i.e., lat pulldowns instead of pullups)

A tip on this [and other] crossfit workouts is to break the sets up.
e.g., if you can't do 5 pullups in a row, start on the pushups and come back to the pullups to complete the set of 5.

Hope some of this makes sense and is of some help. Feel free to ask questions anytime. If you can tell me what is confusing to you about crossfit, that may help too!

Good luck!
 
there is a LOT of information there. i spent some time going through the FAQs and articles, and perused through the forums, as well. i am going to follow the WODs and modify them as you suggested. it seems like a great program, and hopefully it sticks.
 
my weight-lifting experience

I've been meaning to comment on this topic for a while, but things have been crazy, so anyway...

I began lifting in 1996, at the end of the racing season. I laid out a periodized schedule, based on 4 week blocks, and went to it. I generally did 3 weight sessions a week through March, then tapered back to 2 per week until April, and then one day a week during the season. Apart from injury and life's other interruptions, I've continued this pattern to this day, with gym climbing entering the mix in 1999.

I've done nothing but upper body work all along, no legs, and have never dipped below 8 rep sets very often, focusing on strength rather than muscle mass. I do a fair amount of pushups, crunches, and pullups in addition to weight work. A key is focusing on exercises that will supplement the kind of demands I meet with on the bike.

I don't think I can overstate the benefit this activity has had on my cycling, not to mention my general fitness. Any weight gain has been extremely minimal, as any of you who have met me may attest, but I am much stronger now at age 41 than I was in my 20's, and feel that it has significantly aided my technical riding, my climbing (particularly out of the saddle) and my sprinting.

I would contend that anyone who aims to be a more complete cyclist would benefit from some thoughtful time in the weight room. It need not be a lot, and riding is still clearly the primary way to become a better rider, but a winter spent working on strength will certainly bear fruit in the spring.
 
Not to mention that strength training burns a ton of calories too. I also think that a strong upper body helps prevent injury when you fall... which helps for those of us who fall a lot. :hmmm:
 
ChrisG, excellent post. But why no lower body lifting? Squats and deadlifts, as well as explosive movements like cleans, all translate to more peddling power.

The sick irony is that sometimes my legs are so toasted from lower body workouts that it hurts my mountain biking. Maybe this is why you forego your lower half?

As far as upper body goes, my latest favorite exercises are dips and pull-ups using rings. Hard as shit and they work the stabilizers like a mo fo. There are a ton of other ring exercises I want to learn as well, but that'll take some time. Go to ringstraining.com if you want to pick up a pair of rings.

I'm also going to go ahead and plug crossfit.com again for all you sickos who want workouts that will nearly kill you and will definitely make you stronger.

ChrisG said:
I've been meaning to comment on this topic for a while, but things have been crazy, so anyway...

I began lifting in 1996, at the end of the racing season. I laid out a periodized schedule, based on 4 week blocks, and went to it. I generally did 3 weight sessions a week through March, then tapered back to 2 per week until April, and then one day a week during the season. Apart from injury and life's other interruptions, I've continued this pattern to this day, with gym climbing entering the mix in 1999.

I've done nothing but upper body work all along, no legs, and have never dipped below 8 rep sets very often, focusing on strength rather than muscle mass. I do a fair amount of pushups, crunches, and pullups in addition to weight work. A key is focusing on exercises that will supplement the kind of demands I meet with on the bike.

I don't think I can overstate the benefit this activity has had on my cycling, not to mention my general fitness. Any weight gain has been extremely minimal, as any of you who have met me may attest, but I am much stronger now at age 41 than I was in my 20's, and feel that it has significantly aided my technical riding, my climbing (particularly out of the saddle) and my sprinting.

I would contend that anyone who aims to be a more complete cyclist would benefit from some thoughtful time in the weight room. It need not be a lot, and riding is still clearly the primary way to become a better rider, but a winter spent working on strength will certainly bear fruit in the spring.
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One more thing ChrisG:

Generally, >8 rep schemes (or generally 8-12 reps) are used for hypertrophy (ie, increasing muscle mass), whereas, <8 rep schemes (or generally 2-6 reps) are recommended for strength gains. So if it's strength you're after, you may want to increase the weight and decrease the reps.

tlnj said:
ChrisG, excellent post. But why no lower body lifting? Squats and deadlifts, as well as explosive movements like cleans, all translate to more peddling power.

The sick irony is that sometimes my legs are so toasted from lower body workouts that it hurts my mountain biking. Maybe this is why you forego your lower half?

As far as upper body goes, my latest favorite exercises are dips and pull-ups using rings. Hard as shit and they work the stabilizers like a mo fo. There are a ton of other ring exercises I want to learn as well, but that'll take some time. Go to ringstraining.com if you want to pick up a pair of rings.

I'm also going to go ahead and plug crossfit.com again for all you sickos who want workouts that will nearly kill you and will definitely make you stronger.
Click to expand...
 
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mtbdawgJeff said:
Not to mention that strength training burns a ton of calories too. I also think that a strong upper body helps prevent injury when you fall... which helps for those of us who fall a lot. :hmmm:
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I will attest to this as well! And i fall...alot :(

I have also found it very difficult to produce productive proficient pleasurable workouts on the bike ( i was just going with the flow there) after leg days. I got away from legs as well when i started to get serious about what i wanted to do on the bike.
 
tlnj said:
One more thing ChrisG:

Generally, >8 rep schemes (or generally 8-12 reps) are used for hypertrophy (ie, increasing muscle mass), whereas, <8 rep schemes (or generally 2-6 reps) are recommended for strength gains. So if it's strength you're after, you may want to increase the weight and decrease the reps.
Click to expand...

that really doesn't make sense, to my untrained eye. it seems like more reps of a lighter weight(sort of like spinning) would build enduro-strength, while less reps of a higher weight(like mashing) would build muscle mass/sstrength... you obviously know alot more about this stuff than i do, but could you expand on this so i understand it?
 
Norm said:
What lifts are you doing, specifically?
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*bench press- depending on the period, I mix dumbells and barbells, flat and incline. I stick with the same combination for one month at a time and then change
*one-arm rows with dumbells *curls-use both dumbells and barbells, as with the bench *tricep extensions with dumbells

I always warm up on the rollers for a while prior to weight work. Typically, I'll ride 30-60 minutes, then hit the weights.

The first 4 week period is 20 rep sets, working in a circuit. Then I move to 15 rep straight sets and begin adding weight and cutting reps. Some winters, when I've been particularly devoted to this, I'll add in breakdown workouts once I've built some base strength, usually after 8-10 weeks of work.

These four are my core exercises all year. Even in the middle of riding season I'll try to do a 30 minute workout with these, once a week. When time permits, I'll also add in front raises and dumbell flies.

I begin and end the workout with ab work. I also do sets of pullups at the end, before I cool down.

Now, this is a workout that I've developed over the years which has worked well for me as a supplement to cycling, without turning into another avocation of its own. Even in the middle of winter, we're talking about no more than 2 hours per week. A key here is that I've found something simple that works for me and stuck with it long-term. I enjoy it and it certainly has helped me with riding, with crashing, and with lugging furniture around.:D
 
anrothar said:
that really doesn't make sense, to my untrained eye. it seems like more reps of a lighter weight(sort of like spinning) would build enduro-strength, while less reps of a higher weight(like mashing) would build muscle mass/sstrength... you obviously know alot more about this stuff than i do, but could you expand on this so i understand it?
Click to expand...

Okay, I ws going to try to explain this myself, but bodybuilding.com did it better:

The number of repetitions per set is also an area that must be addressed. Generally speaking, the lower the repetitions performed per set, the greater the strength increases. The higher the repetitions, the greater the endurance. In the middle somewhere is an optimal combination of both endurance and strength, and this also happens to be the best area for muscular hypertrophy.
 
This is interesting too

The primary difference between the effects of rep ranges on the adaptive response depends on whether the load affects neural factors (low reps) or metabolic factors (higher reps). When you train with low reps (1 - 5), the adaptations that make you stronger are mostly neurological: You develop an increased ability to recruit more muscle fibers, you stimulate the higher threshold fibers that are not activated with high rep, low weight sets, you decrease neuromuscular inhibition, and there is increased coordination between the muscle groups. However, with low reps, the hypertrophy (size increase) of the muscle fibers is minimal.

In other words, reps under 6 make you stronger, but they don’t necessarily make you bigger because the strength gains come from adaptations in the nervous system - the muscle fibers and other muscle cell structures do not hypertrophy (enlarge). This explains why certain athletes, powerlifters and Olympic lifters can be wicked strong but they don’t look as strong as they are.

When you train with medium reps (6-12) the adaptations are more metabolic and cellular and only moderately neurological. This is why 6-12 reps is the range most often recommended for bodybuilding and hypertrophy. You get bigger and stronger in this rep range, but your strength gains are not maximal. This explains why some bodybuilders look stronger than they are (and why they are often the brunt of jokes made by powerlifters and weight lifters; i.e. “big, weak, slow, useless muscles”, ha ha).

http://www.gain-weight-muscle-fast.com/rep-ranges.html
 
i'm awash with useless knowledge on this subject but since everyone seems to be covering it well enough, i'll stay out of it with the exception of what i'm currently doing.

30 - 45 min cardio: either spin bike or stepper.

25 - 30 min weights. one of the three following options:
1. three loops around the circut @ 12 reps per motion
2. two loops around the circut @ 12 reps and upper body (bench/shoulders) @ 6 - 8 reps
3. core work. usually squats followed by power cleans. squats are at sets of 10, power cleans sets of five.

it's a good mix of everything and since it's all "tempo" work, my HR never drops to resting for the hour or so i'm there.
 
tlnj said:
The primary difference between the effects of rep ranges on the adaptive response depends on whether the load affects neural factors (low reps) or metabolic factors (higher reps). When you train with low reps (1 - 5), the adaptations that make you stronger are mostly neurological: You develop an increased ability to recruit more muscle fibers, you stimulate the higher threshold fibers that are not activated with high rep, low weight sets, you decrease neuromuscular inhibition, and there is increased coordination between the muscle groups. However, with low reps, the hypertrophy (size increase) of the muscle fibers is minimal.

In other words, reps under 6 make you stronger, but they don’t necessarily make you bigger because the strength gains come from adaptations in the nervous system - the muscle fibers and other muscle cell structures do not hypertrophy (enlarge). This explains why certain athletes, powerlifters and Olympic lifters can be wicked strong but they don’t look as strong as they are.

When you train with medium reps (6-12) the adaptations are more metabolic and cellular and only moderately neurological. This is why 6-12 reps is the range most often recommended for bodybuilding and hypertrophy. You get bigger and stronger in this rep range, but your strength gains are not maximal. This explains why some bodybuilders look stronger than they are (and why they are often the brunt of jokes made by powerlifters and weight lifters; i.e. “big, weak, slow, useless muscles”, ha ha).

http://www.gain-weight-muscle-fast.com/rep-ranges.html
Click to expand...
Thanks for the insight. Good stuff.
 
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