General Cycling Discussion - Upper body training regimen

I just realized the only upper body exercise I get comes from putting air in my tires. Am I the only one?

(Kinda' sorta' proud about this.)

I just realized the only upper body exercise I get comes from putting air in my tires. Am I the only one?
(Kinda' sorta' proud about this.)

You can be proud of it until you get to be about 50. Then one day you go to lift the bike up on top of the car and realize you can't press 30 pounds...
Seriously, I didn't do any deliberate upper body work until my early 50s (i was active in other activities, so i didn't atrophy or anything. I just didn't work at it). Then i realized i'd lost a lot of muscle mass and was fairly weak. I'm a big guy, 6'4"/230 at the time, and all my adult life I'd been able to throw sacks of concrete or dog food or whatever around like bed pillows. One day I went to Home Depot and really had to struggle to lift the 60-pound sacks of concrete into the back of my pickup. My then-17-year-old son, who goes about 150, was tossing them around like Frisbees and finally urged me to "Just rest in the truck, dad--I'll get the rest of them." I've been pretty consistent about working my upper body in the 10 years since, and it's paid off. You'll be surprised how fast you descend into hell once you get on the slide.

I wouldn't be proud of it. It's not only arm & shoulder strength that you're missing out on, it's also chest, back, and overall core strength, too. Listen to what Velo Dog says.

Yeah, my arms are weak too and I'm 43. I keep telling myself that I should work out but I can never find the time, there is always something else to do. And, I'm not proud of this, it worries me.

(Kinda' sorta' proud about this.)

To deny masculine traits is to deny our birthright.

I thought all men had testosterone pumping around there systems?.

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

Time to start developing them broad shoulders.

do some pushups & situps or something. It will help your cycling endurance too. you dont need to get carried away but a little bit of exercise will go along way.

[shill]
P90X
[/shill ;)]

This is my upper body regiment. recently Purchased. Can't find a pic of the blue one, but hey. Climbing helps too, but really that is better for overall leg strength, balance and flexibility not as much as arms as you would think. The kayaks are great for shoulders, chest, neck, and arms of course.http://alphabluetech.com/kj2/fotos/albums/userpics/10001/normal_FlexVertexRed.jpg

Hand cycles....



http://ultralightwheelchairs.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/handcycle.jpg


http://www.medichair.com/images/products/hand_cycle.jpg

pushups are great. do them with your hands on dumbbells, with a neutral grip. when you're good at that, add a row.

To deny masculine traits is to deny our birthright.

Time to start developing them broad shoulders.

My shoulders are broad. Some say my shoulders are the size of three and a half men, but then again that's just what some say.


do some pushups & situps or something. It will help your cycling endurance too. you dont need to get carried away but a little bit of exercise will go along way.

Probably not a bad idea. I will maybe someday think about considering this.


Hand cycles....

I am sorry but that is ridiculous. Sorry hand-cycle enthusiasts. I searched Youtube just to see what hand-cycling is all about, and found some intense race footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZBtffLYJhE&NR=1 (first hand-cyclist appearance is around one minute in. They lost to a bunch of inline-skaters.)

But then again, with my upper body I probably shouldn't be talking trash about hand-cylists -- I can barely make a fist and that dude in the blue skin suit is huge.

Probably not a bad idea. I will maybe someday think about considering this.



not probably not a bad idea, definitely not a bad idea. I'll go one better - it's definitely a good idea. When is someday? Sounds like a lazy cop-out response. Think about it now, while it's looking you in the face. Push your lazy ass away from your desk and do 10 or 20 pushups. Someday, you will have just let it become a passing thought.

pushups are great. do them with your hands on dumbbells, with a neutral grip. when you're good at that, add a row.

Renegade Rows. Yeah, a great exercise.



My shoulders are broad. Some say my shoulders are the size of three and a half men, but then again that's just what some say.

If all your doing for an upperbody workout routine is putting air in your tires, I think somebody could be telling you fibbs.



I am sorry but that is ridiculous. Sorry hand-cycle enthusiasts.

You shouldn't knock it (Trust me) :). Hits literally every muscle in the upperbody & I do it & if I do it, then its god-damn great.

I actually pulled out some dumbbells from the closet and worked out for 30 minutes this morning. I wonder how long I can keep this up. I really feel that my arms and upper body generally are too weak.



To deny masculine traits is to deny our birthright.

I thought all men had testosterone pumping around there systems?.

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

Time to start developing them broad shoulders.

Thanks for this link! Pretty cool! I had hard time coming up with exercise ideas this morning. I only remembered few basic ones.

Thanks for this link! Pretty cool! I had hard time coming up with exercise ideas this morning. I only remembered few basic ones.

http://www.youtube.com/ is another great place for exercise idea's. Everything & anything on there is being performed.

Just search; dumbell exercises, bodyweight exercises etc. So much on there.

Renegade Rows. Yeah, a great exercise.


Heres something similar to the renegade rows, with dumbbells also. Never seen these before. They look a real good core, upperbody, rotational exercise, good for cycling, good for posture.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBGbz5dQs7M&playnext_from=TL&videos=VxbILegB2Ek&feature=grec


I would do these with dumbbells in both hands.

My problem is that when I was lifting weights 30 years ago that I would need a 50 inch suit, its too hard finding comfortable clothes in that size. So I started riding a lot, lost upper body mass and got bigger legs.

I swim a mile or more three to four times a week and do masters swimming. Swimming balances well with cycling.

http://www.youtube.com/ is another great place for exercise idea's. Everything & anything on there is being performed.

Just search; dumbell exercises, bodyweight exercises etc. So much on there.

There is way too much garbage on You Tube to filter through.

I really like the Perfect Pushup devices I bought...$20. Heck of a workout for chest, triceps, shoulders, abs...

Make no mistake, they make pushups HARDER, not easier. In fact, I gotta do some now!

Shoulder problems have been holding me back on upper-body training ;( shame --- I can bust out lower-body/core stuff no problem. I go to do a few push-ups and my shoulder starts to pinch/hurt before I even feel any muscle fatigue. Been going to Physio to try and get it sorted out, but the progress is slower than I'd like.

Shoulder problems have been holding me back on upper-body training ;( shame --- I can bust out lower-body/core stuff no problem. I go to do a few push-ups and my shoulder starts to pinch/hurt before I even feel any muscle fatigue. Been going to Physio to try and get it sorted out, but the progress is slower than I'd like.

Arm & hand cycles are supposed to be great for shoulder rehabilitation.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSOL05XmkTs

I've actually gone thorough shoulder rehabilitation after a fall while hiking. I slipped on wet rocks, felt backwards on an extended arm while twisting it damaging the rotator cuff. It's been over two years and it still bothers me a bit but I can workout now. I actually did workout three times this week. I also have a problem with tight shoulder joints so even minimal swelling due to minor strain or injury causes rubbing and pain. The only solution is to strengthen the shoulders and arms to avoid injuries. So I actually have more reasons to workout that just getting stronger.

As for the shoulder therapy, indeed a large part of it was working on a stationary hand cycle. But also the therapists taught me some exercises to strengthen the shoulders. The trick is to use smaller weights to avoid too much strain, I used 2lbs dumbbells, and do all kinds of lifting with straight arms, so the shoulders do all the work. It indeed helped me.

Another one was with a long rubber band attached to a door handle. Again, little resistance, not too much.

Here is a video showing the exercises with the band:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm7xqu-pOEc

And with the dumbbells:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAcO4OXEYdk

I was doing series of 10 of each for 45 minutes three times a week. I still do the ones with the dumbbells as a warmup before lifting something heavier.

But yeah, it's a long process. It took me probably over 6 months before I saw any improvement to the point that the arm wasn't hindering my daily activities, but it was actually damaged. So I'd figure if you do these regularly you should start seeing improvements in 2-3 months.

I've been going to a physio therapist about 2x a week for the past 2 months (just started going down to 1x a week).

So far the strength / range of motion / flexibility is starting to improve, but the pain is still there - the most annoying time when I feel the pain, is when I'm brushing my teeth! Thankfully it hasn't been bothering me much on my bike. At least I'm starting to be able to incorporate some upper-body work into my workouts again. I like going to the gym, but now that I'm on my bike it feels like a catch-22 of working out : My legs are getting worked from cycling, so I don't need/want to push too hard on them at the gym so they are in good shape for when I'm on my bike, and my upper-body is stalled a bit because of shoulder issues.

Crossfit - best shape of my life....