Strength exercises and weights machines

mattsccm

I have "acquired" a gym membership attached to my wife's. Rather dull but its there. Mostly weights machines plus a few free weights which I avoid, mostly because my elbows are screwed and picking them up hurts :roll:
What sort of weights and reps are worth trying with a leg extension and a leg press machine.
I can happily do 20 reps at a weight where the last 5 are murder yet sticking the next weight on is barely moveable.
Don't want to leave my legs quacking all day as it messes up the riding latter.
Missing cartilage in both knees makes carrying heavy weights bad news but the machines don't seem to do that.

fat daddy

if you are going for strength and power stick to low rep ie 5-8, if you are going for hypertrophy hit the 8-12 rep range, above that you are entering the realms of muscle endurance.

as for the number of sets ?? .... its debatable anywhere from 3 - 5 ?

as for weight you want to be finishing the set so you cant do another without breaking good form, and you don't want to break form

most importantly, don't forget to increase the weight as you can do the sets, without that progression, your body wont adapt, it needs to be stressed and challenged to improve other wise you will just plateau

guy.spartacus

I'm not sure what you're asking - do you want a gym programme? Do you want someone to tell you to lift more weight even though you cant?

mattsccm

Ta. Job done

ajmitchell

There's lots you can do but its important to have an objective eg prevent winter deterioration, core training, upper body strength, supplement sprint ability. These are some of the more helpful gym workouts for cyclists:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/how-to- ... cling.html
http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/arti ... r-cyclists
http://breakingmuscle.com/cycling/off-s ... tion-phase
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/fitness/ ... o-2-145458
http://www.bicycling.com/training/fitne ... rkout-ever
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/t ... ike-28320/
http://www.cptips.com/weights.htm
http://www.brevet.cc/leg-exercises-for-cycling/

I am assuming from your elbow problems, you are going to concentrate on legs. in the gym community leg extensions alone are generally out of favour (ie too much isolation exercise) not functional see https://www.hfe.co.uk/blog/assassinate- ... extension/ and http://www.rdlfitness.com/avoid-leg-extensions/

Leg press, Smith Machine Squat (start easy!) may be preferred....and dont forget spinning class for days you cannot ride outside.

smudgerii

Don't squat in a 'smiths' machine. It restricts your natural movement to a single plane and stresses your joints.

Start with Goblet squats and progress to using a weighted bar, having a bench behind you as a guage to how deep to go can offer some guidance.

LiamW

http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/forum165/

Generally everything you need to know about strength training is contained in that link.