fietser_ivana

Guys & gals!

I've been introduced to the wonderworld of spinning lessons early November after having heard enthusiastic tales over 3 years ago from friends in the USA.
It took me a trek to a gym at 13K distance to find a non-smoking gym which gives decent lessons every day (except Sunday).

One of the other things I could do, is to start weight lifting.

I'm confused about several things:
1 which exercises are best for cyclists?
2 how to do these exercises ?
3 when to do them?

1 I understand 'core' exercises are good: back, abdomen, but should emphasis be on the underdeveloped upper body muscles and less on leg muscles? Should it be equal or vice versa?
My own complication is suffering from RSI in neck and shoulders so that squats seem to be a no-no. Lateral pull-downs are done towards the chest.. it's surprising that apart from the chronic pain I seem to be rather strong and muscular!


2 There's a controversy on whether to do exercises, especially leg exercises with low weights & high reps (12-20x) or with high weights & low reps (5-10x). And, should they be done till failure? I've been doing static reps in the past, like 3 sets of 15 reps and am now trying to go till failure with approx. 12 reps as an attainable aim.. if I can go over 12 easily the weight has to go up.. is this a good idea? What's your preference


3. Weight lifting is not (yet?) the joy of my life.. spinning has rapidly won my heart over (?) .. which means that while I'm prepared to cycle nearly 30K in total to get my butt from the seat in front of the pc to the gym and vice versa for a spinning lesson, I won't do that for simple weight lifting.. when I calculate the time involved outside the 60 min session (getting dressed, get out of the house, cycling, changing clothes, filling up bottle/ filling up bottle, taking a shower (seems a better idea since I developed boils after riding home sweaty) , changing clothes again, ride home, get bike in apartment, undress , (shower if sweaty) , get dressed again... is approx. 3 hours.. of which the cycling to/from the gym (2x45 mins) is the most pleasant part.

I'm hoping to shuffle the sessions from Mon-Wed-Sat (or Fri) to Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday as it will then give me time to go weight lifting after the lesson on Tuesday and Saturday. When I lift before the spinning, and dare to do anything leg exercise, the spinning will be compromised.. I don't really care the other way round.. only disadvantage is that i work up such a sweat after the session that it's yucky to not change for the weight lifting..
What do you do or would you suggest?

I have thought of taking up a membership in a local gym.. actually I've heard they start spinning sessions this month but the instructors have just finished a course and will be beginners... I really like the other one.. plus it gives me about 30K extra mileage each time I visit the gym. I'm trying to build up a decent base mileage/ Kilometrage towards a randonnee of 630K in June (Bordeaux-Paris non-stop) and guess that I should be comfortable at racking up the weekly total towards 600K by then... Of course I will start skipping the Saturday or Friday session once the season is in full swing.. early-mid March the cycling clubs come out of their hibernation as far as road-cycling is concerned!


May be I sound a bit fanatical, but I can reassure you that I'm lazy as hell when it comes to actual training.. so all the Ks I ride should be done in the stealth mode and have another purpose as well (shopping, utility cycling, sightseeing, touring) . In the past I've been a weekend-warrior only and wouldn't cycle much in the week.. the result always was that I'd be dropped by each and every other person.. it's just that most of the others wouldn't dare to ride the same long distances.. that's more a question of stamina and dogged determination rather than talent! (eg I have cycled in Australia for 3 months)

manderax

Hi,

There are lots of great resources out there for training regimens. The most important thing is that you stick with it, don't do things that promote injury, and do things that prevent injury.

I love spin classes, too. As a biker, it is one of the few things at the gym that will get my heart rate up to do any good (stairmasters suck).

I also started doing yoga,. and it has done wonders for my joint and muscle strength, flexibility, and most of all, balance.

I see no need to lift heavy free-weights with low reps unless you are trying to gain visible bulk like the meatheads at Gold's gym. I think the best thing to do is get your heart rate up and do lots of reps. Work hard, work up a sweat, and between sets, jump rope, stretch, or do jumping jacks rather than just standing around. The three things I say to myself over and over are "Heart, Legs, and Lungs... Heart, Legs, and Lungs".

Whatever you do, stay motivated. Reward yourself. Set goals!! Training for something like a race or century is a great way to stay motivated.

And most important, HAVE FUN!! Thats what it is all about.

Gavin

I ride. I fall down. I get up.
Meanwhile, I keep dancing.

fietser_ivana

One thing I forgot is that i need to shed some 15 kg of excess weight.. 20 kg would be optimal, but that might compromise my strength (lean body mass is 53kg, currently I have 30 kg of fat) so since I heard that weight lifting does wonders for increasing muscle mass and burning fat, I became interested..
Yoga is on the list as well, did it in the past and liked it.. I've heard about special sessions for people with RSI!

For the record, I use special aero-like bars that enable endurance cycling without RSI problems..

Ivana

ljbike

I do upper body training one day, and lower body the next. keep the weight low with 5 reps of 10 at each stage. With your other programs, and proper nutrition, the fat will disappear but not necessarily all the weight.

Lifting weights to the failure level only produces muscle mass. From what you have said, I don't think that is what you are after.

Be patient! A slimmer more fit body takes time. Good luck!

aerobat

A non-smoking gym? You've got to be kidding!:confused:

velo

To be more specific, the real rule of thumb for this is:

Lower reps and heavier weight = More power (sprint, out-of-saddle climbing)

Higher reps and lighter weight = More endurance

Low reps and low weight? Toning is the only thing I can think that will help you with. Definitely start that way to avoid injury, but then you've got to bump it up.

velo

1. Deadlifts, leg presses, leg curls, calf raises.
Bench press, rows, arm curls.
Sit-ups & other ab exercises
Back extensions

2. Search the internet with these names. You should be able to find pictures &/or diagrams. I can't think of any sites off of the top of my head.

3. I've been taught to warm-up, then do legs, upperbody, abs, and then back.

1. (we're back to one??) Work your legs hard. Don't try and even your body out, because it won't happen. Your lower body is naturally stronger than your upper body, especially for cyclists.

2. See above post.

velo

DnvrFox

Some of the reasons that a person might want to lift heavier full-body weights, especially as we grow more mature are:

1. Prevention of osteoporosis. Bicycling does NOT significantly prevent osteoporis, as it is primarily not a weight bearing activity. In order to prevent osteoporosis, one must lift heavy weights.

2. As we grow older, our nerve fiber connections degenerate naturally. Lifting heavy weights stimulates the growth of these nerve fibers. In fact, with proper weight lifting, one can maintain a near-young nerve fiber connection.

3. As we grow older, we naturally lose strength, which is entirely preventable (or almost so) by weight lifting. This also has to do with the nerve fiber connections mentioned in (2) above.

As to frequency vs weight, as mentioned before, endurance is enhanced by lesser weights and more frequency, while strength (and osteoporosis prevention) is more enhanced by heavier weights.

Personally, I weight lift 2-3 times per week, using heavy weights. I do not know your age (I am 62 yo), but that is certainly something to be factored in here.

The previous negative comparison with "Gold's Gym" is quite unfair. There are many research studies showing the remarkable benefits of weight lifting with folks even in their 90's.

I do the following:

Various Bench Presses (up to 225 pounds or 102 kg)
A variety of Rows
Squats
Deadlifts
Flies
Curls
and a few sundry other things.

I also ride my trainer indoors when I can't get out for a ride at least 30 minutes per day under some resistance.

The two (weight lifting and bicycling) CAN be combined. Age and goals make significant differences. Lance Armstrong has QUITE different goals, age, build and genetics than I do. My goals can't be his, and neither can his goals be mine.

.

fietser_ivana

Originally posted by DnvrFox
Some of the reasons that a person might want to lift heavier full-body weights, especially as we grow more mature are:

1. Prevention of osteoporosis. Bicycling does NOT significantly prevent osteoporis, as it is primarily not a weight bearing activity.
Exactly.. I have searched the web a bit or was it here and read that cyclists have 10% less bone density than sedentary people! And sometimes even less than that while weight lifters and boxers have 20% more bone density.

2. As we grow older, our nerve fiber connections degenerate naturally. Lifting heavy weights stimulates the growth of these nerve fibers. In fact, with proper weight lifting, one can maintain a near-young nerve fiber connection.
Hopefully..


As to frequency vs weight, as mentioned before, endurance is enhanced by lesser weights and more frequency, while strength (and osteoporosis prevention) is more enhanced by heavier weights.
As you may have noticed.. I have plenty endurance, but when I did a test in which the power output had to be increased 50W at each stage, we were shocked at my poor performance.. something like 100W normal output! I'd dearly love to get stronger.. so it is true: heavy weights would help me more..
I have been motivated by the web site of a Canadian girl who calls herself Krista Smash! https://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html
She insists that lifting heavy weights will not make you bulky if you're a woman.. we simply lack the hormones! Well, in any case cycling all the time makes the upper body muscles shrivel so it makes sense to build them up a bit in winter and spring and try to maintain them a bit in summer & autumn.
Do understand that I have a major weight problem.. I'm not very concerned about having a surplus of muscle.. muscle will help me to burn fat faster, eat more and have more power output.. the fat will help me to be better in endurance rides, but I don't need more than 17 kg of it.. (i've noticed that I feel weak at 65kg a weight I attained while cycling in Australia, which was still 5 kg more than what I was officially 'supposed' to weigh), so I want to shed 13kg.. rather than diet I'd prefer to try and become strong

Personally, I weight lift 2-3 times per week, using heavy weights. I do not know your age (I am 62 yo), but that is certainly something to be factored in here.
I'm 38 y.o.

The previous negative comparison with "Gold's Gym" is quite unfair. There are many research studies showing the remarkable benefits of weight lifting with folks even in their 90's..

DnvrFox

There are a number of lady weight lifters on this excellent board:

https://www.deepsquatter.com/cgi-bin/deepsquatter.cgi?

A lady named Gabrielle is an excellent resource, and a neat person also.

fietser_ivana

DnvrFox thanks for the lead.. I emailed to 2 persons on that list and got an answer back immediately. It confirmed what Krista Smash! had been telling: go with regular reps & high weight till failure, bar some exercises such as suats which should be done with perfect form (and stopped when the perfect form is no longer attainable).

In brief I was given the adice to concentrate on lowish reps and high weight because all of the endurance training I need can be done on the bicycle and doesn't need to be reproduced in the gym. With all the cycling I do, it is not necessary to be afraid of becoming bulky as I won't. Focussing on strength training is important though.

MichaelW

I think that cycling is one of the few sports where thin light-boned people have an advantage, esp in riding hills. In more contact/team sports we seem to get injured and be at a weight dissadvantage to more heavily built people. Similarly, boxing is a sport where thick bones, esp skull bone put you at an advantage.

There is some self-selection going on here, so the stats regarding sport and bone mass do not neccesarily show causal links. People who take up cycling tend to have a lower than average weight and bone mass to start with.
I agree that cycling is not a good way to generate bone mass, and other weigth bearing excercise is needed, but I have never heard that it is worse than no excercise.

fietser_ivana

Cycling, like swimming is not a weight-bearing exercise..
Since I and many other Dutch people substitute walking by cycling, it's even worse than with most people on this forum, who just cycle for exercise .. I cycle because I'm too lazy to walk

But yes.. people descend to sports they are good at.. I cycle a lot because the NLs is so flat that weight is not an important factor. Cycle-touring came next and afterwards came endurance cycling and lastly climbing mountains.. since I fell in love with mountains, shedding weight seems to be a good idea. Now I know that it doesn't really matter whether the weight loss comes from the person or the bike, I can try to lose weight more cheaply from myself than from the bike which went from 15 kg to 12kg.. (new bike)

Ivana

fietser_ivana

My first squat!!!

It's late, but I wanted to share a moment of triumph! After a lot of wimping I decided it was time to just try out how hard a squat would really be on my poor abused neck and shoulders (RSI).

Well, tada... with a light bar, it wasn't even all that scary and difficult. I had asked for a few alternatives and got suggestions for e.g. hawk squat (bar beneath your bum, same movement) , step squat , where you step up a platform instead of squatting your legs..

I tried the assisted squat first, but didn't like the limited range of movement of the bar and then asked for help how to do a squat properly. I tried a teeny weeny small bar (10 kg bar, 2 kg plates) and it was easier than I thought, thanks to my developed quad muscles because of all the spinning lessons I had done recently.
Tried again with a slightly higher weight of 2,5kg on each side (15kg total / 33lbs) and it was even a bit strenuous but not super difficult.

I don't see myself doing the real heavy weights, but at least I feel how it works on the quads and the back..

Elated in the Netherlands!

Isn't it funny to be so excited???

Oh, and by the way I was suggested the following exercises :
- squat or leg press : 2x8 (current weight: 15kg, seated leg press was 130kg in easy, 90kg in difficult position)
- bench press: 2x8 (15 kg tonight, before 10kg then 2x12)
- hyper extension : 2x8 (new)
- cable row : 2x8 (new, but done before)
- leg curl : 2x8 (new, but done before)
I'm adding a back extension and abdominal crunches (normal, left & right).

This is a result of the contacts I had with dedicated weight lifters.. I was lucky in sofar that one of them used to race..

Ivana

LittleBigMan

Just keep up the good work!

Enjoy it, whatever you do. It doesn't matter what anyone else does. Just do what energizes you and enjoy it.

Others will follow your lead.