Well the thing is that I'm trying to rebuild my overall strength after 3 years of atrophy. I think of it as much as physical therapy as I do training. I'm trying to get back what I've lost do to inactivity. So I'm hitting the gym to rebuild my body.
My upper body is extremly weak. I can only bench 140 for one rep, just to give an example. My lower back is weak so my spine mis-aligns sometimes causing a pinched nerve. Also I'm so front heavy with the gut that my lower back goes numb from the strain of walking around.
Now since i've started riding back in May I've slowly but gradually rebuilt some of that strength, increased my fitness level, and I've been able to start going back to daily activities that were once impossible...Like shopping, walking around with friends, going out and doing things, stuff like that.
Thanks for the advice about ditching the press. I think lunges might be a good idea along with some of the other advice.
I was tempted to try the one where you put the weight on your shoulders and squat but didn't think my back could handle it at this time.
So I'm building back my upper body so I have the strength to hold onto the bike, building my back so I have the strength to sit upright on the bike so my hands don't cramp, and building my legs so that the muscles respond to stress more efficiently.
By building the tone of my leg muscles I hope to fix the "legs give out first" problem by letting the muscles work more efficiently and with better tone.
Now you might think that my legs are strong since I am knocking out groups of 10 at 540lbs on the leg press, but for a fat guy they are barely adequate.
I am riding my bike for cardio and I just want to taylor my gym workouts to help me stay on the bike longer and get my muscle tone up to the level my cardio is.
The weather is starting to turn cold so I can finally begin my long planned, winter fitness plan. I have a real life friend who is a serious body builder and he is helping me at the gym, although he doesn't know anything about cycling. But I feel competative with him so it's a strong motivator, and it plays to my strengths and reinforces the work out routine.
I can barely walk after Wed workout and you should see the burst blood vessels on my shoulders from the squat press...... I think I over did it. Hehe. I'll be back on my bike in a few days though, hopefully before this Texas cold front goes away.