late

My training is not cycling specific.

I try to improve my training every year, this is some of the changes I am considering.

Isometrics, I've seen some research that says isometric are good for building blood vessels. The fine print is that muscle only responds to input. The input in isometric is pain.. There are 3 exercises I am looking at. There is the Horse Stance, which is feet wider than shoulders, and a partial squat. If you stick a hand out, palms up, you have a classic isometric. It works all of the bicep, which conventional curls do not do. The last one is a push up, but held partway down. I will prob just do the first one.

There is a yoga thing where you touch your heel to the back of your head. I am naturally stiff, and l like to turn everything into a resistance exercise. So once I loosen up, I do a set of 10 moving over the last 12-18 inches of that in a pumping motion. I don't get close to the back of my head, but it's good exercise, and it stretches some muscles.

I get shoulder pain. I just found a good one. Get in the Bent Over Row position. Keep your head up. Hold light weights by your side and slowly lift them over your head, palms face inward. Keep the arm straight. Another fave done with light weight I don't think has a name. First time just stick your hands over your head. Move them up and down slowly increasing the reach until your shoulders are moving as far as they can. Add weight as feels comfy.

I have a ton of tubing and straps. I walk forwards, backwards and sideways against the tubing. You can do a lot of resistance walking forwards and backwards. When I step forward, I am fighting the resistance from my toes to my core. This is one of those exercises that's good at keeping you from walking like an old person. It may sound dumb, but it's one of my faves.

Remember ab rollers? I got mine in a yard sale for a buck. I use it on a kitchen counter, that's as low as I can go at this point. Hang your pinkie off the end, keep your elbows tucked in, and use just your core.

One last one. It's one of mine and I call it Swoopies. Wear socks, and stand on a wood or linoleum floor. You feet will rotate. Start with your feet a little wider than you shoulders. The action is all in the hips and legs. Except for a little twisting, the spine stays neutral. Put your hands together, bend at the hips and swing from side to side. Your torso moves in an arc, dipping a little down, than back up. As you come up, you will face sideways, your feet will rotate in that direction, and your feet should get a little further apart. It's hard to explain, but the movement is not that difficult.

Each swoop your torso will dip deeper, and your feet get further apart. When you hit your limit, your legs will be quite far apart.

That's it for today. If there's interest, I can go over more.

Carbonfiberboy 

The research? Links? Nothing aerobic? My favorite way to keep from walking like an old person is going out and trying to average 4 mph over slightly hill terrain on my 30" inseam legs. I haven't run for years but I just got back from a 30' jog. Wow am I outta shape! It's going to be a long way back. Huh I'm not 24 anymore. I will admit to jumping 6" out of my chair a few months ago when a doctor asked me if I could stand without using my hands. But only ~6"! Scared her anyway.

wolfchild

Winter is not any different for me than any other season. I still ride outdoors and lift weights at home just the same.

late

If you want to google that stuff, that's great. Not going to do it again.

I do aerobic, but everybody knows from trainers. But things like Zuu? Not so much.

Walking is great. But I am in my 70s, and the rule is Use It or Lose It..

staehpj1

I love being outdoors, more so in winter than summer. So even before I moved south winter was never a reason to stay inside. If you don't want to ride a road bike trail running , XC skiing, snow shoeing, are great winter activities, but with no snow or some snow MTB riding is also great. When I lived up north one of those was always a good choice.

Summer may tempt me to stay inside, but I just get out early (before dawn if necessary). I find that while I hate hot weather I can tolerate it as long as I get out early and get acclimated early in the season. If I avoid the heat in the early season and suddenly try to acclimate when really hot weather is in full swing it is tough and I might stay inside and work out on the rowing machine. That has happened when if I was laid up with a surgery or injury in the late spring/early summer.

Here in Tallahassee we only get a few days with lows in the teens or 20s. Lots of mornings in the 30s though. I really don't mind those temperatures at all so winter here is great. An 18 F morning is way nicer than one with a heat index 90-100+ F. So basically summer here sucks and winter is nice IMO.

rsbob 

Jack LaLane. The king of isometrics.

It’s too early for me to think about winter. I will deal with it when it arrives.

staehpj1

That goes back a bit. I remember my mom watching Jack on TV. Then a bit later dad read Ken Cooper's The New Aerobics and they started counting "points". I was into counting points as well (the book came out a year after I graduated high school). That all seems like a very long time ago.

BTW, definitely not to early for me to think of winter. I yearn for it as I suffer in the steamy Tallahassee heat. I have always enjoyed cold weather and never really tolerated hot weather well unless I was in or on the water. We only get a little cold weather here with only a few days where the lows are in the 20s or teens and even then the highs warm up pretty warm. So I enjoy the cold here a lot and miss the snow and real cold weather since moving south.

MinnMan

Mixed feelings. I will miss the extra daylight hours and the long rides on the open road.

But, strange as it seems, I look forward to riding in the snow.

And I won't mind when my basement goes down below 60°F, when I can do a significant effort on the trainer without overheating.

Wildwood

Maine = ski? or snowshoe?

late

I used to do that. The snow has been crap for x-country and snowshoeing. Even if it wasn't, my circulation is bad, I get cold easily.

rsbob 

I do enjoy the cooler temps of Fall and Spring and Winter if the temps are 40+. What annoys me during Winter is sun getting in my eyes and an increased probability of getting whacked by drivers with the same issue.

essiemyra

I am trying to find where it is 70 degrees in the winter so I can continue to ride all year long.

Chuck Naill

TakingMyTime

I can't tell you how many times I've been asked by a doctor to either do this or that to exhibit strength or flexibility and after the first request all I hear from them is "Ok, that's good enough". One time he asked me to do some push-ups and after completing only 5 of them I was told "That's enough". I always got the impression that they just want to see if you can do just 1.

t2p

prefer warmer but we will ride in the 50’s and often finish rides in the 40’s

the loss of daylight is a bummer though

john m flores 

Good stuff. I normally put the bikes away in the winter and switch to activities with less wind chill, i.e. running. I also use the Supernatural boxing app on the Oculus headset for some quick ,fun workouts. Really gets the heart rate going

I've thought about Zwyft too but riding indoors gives me flashbacks to when I used to ride indoor trainers ans get bored and butt sore within 10 minutes.

PaulH

Studded snow tires, and winter clothing.

MinnMan

I'm not saying that it matches riding outdoors, b/c it doesn't, but Zwift and equivalent really is a game changer for indoor riding. It can be quite engaging if you find the the niche of Zwift rides or workouts that works for you.

Bald Paul

Zwift is nothing like the old indoor trainers. I used to ride rollers and after a few minutes was either bored, or bored to the point where I lost concentration and slammed into the wall next to me - more times than I care to admit.
Zwift is more interactive, with hundreds of other riders from around the world riding along with you. Even when I'm not riding in some type of online event (the races on Zwift are brutal!) I often times find myself just trying to catch whoever is in front of me, and he/she is doing what they can to prevent it. A "casual" ride turns into a one v. one competition. I use the Zwift smart hub on a rocker plate, so the butt sore effect caused by non-movement of the bike is negated and I still get the effect of hills.

RCMoeur 

(waves from the Arizona desert)

We're in the depths of our "off season" at the moment. I put in 25 miles yesterday by starting at 5:30 AM and trying to finish before it hit 100°, but the starting temp itself was in the low 90s. In less than a month, it'll start cooling off at night and we can start ramping up the miles again. By October the highs will be in the dry 90s and manageable and then starts our 7 months of "chamber of commerce" weather with highs in the 70s and upper 60s - our reward for surviving our 4-5 months of "chamber of horrors" weather. But even in the worst of it you don't have to shovel or scrape it, and we had a wonderful early summer prior to the relentless 110+ so this year overall hasn't been that bad.

I've lived in the desert all my life so I don't know any better.

essiemyra

Last year we spent a month in Florida, and it got to hot by the time we left. Ninety degree days do not make for good biking in my mind. So we are thinking of Texas area for Jan- March. But after looking at the Phoenix weather for January-March(thank-you) we may spend some time out there. It is all about the biking and like you said no shoveling or scraping.

essiemyra

Studded snow tires don't stop the cars on the road from hitting you. Also typically and this may just be my ignorance I thought that snow or ice is needed for studded snow tires. The roads aren't fully covered with snow. Last point about winter riding if there is snow on the ground and the roads are plowed our roads become narrower. I don't feel comfortable with the scenario. Winter clothing I have, my lowest temp for going out so far is 15 degrees. But I would rather just be in warmer weather during January through March.

john m flores 

I'm sure that I'd enjoy Zwyft Just haven't pulled the trigger yet and I kind of like mixing up my activities and time off the bike. It makes those first spring rides just a little bit sweeter.
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MinnMan

You are making me feel lucky to live in Minnesota, where we have miles and miles of plowed trails in the winter. The main trails get plowed as soon or even sooner than the roads.

Studs don't actually help in the snow.. Wide tires with low tire pressure are best in snow. studs help with ice. Sometimes, "mostly bare" roads have patches of ice, and when these are unexpected, the studs are very welcome. And you can ride with studs on bare roads. They slow you down a bit, just as knobby tires would.

Bald Paul

Zwift does give you a 14 day free trial period to see if you like it. If you don't, it doesn't cost you anything.