Give me a gym routine to suppliment riding

paul.skibum · June 2009

OK - just joined a gym, I ride 30+ miles at weekend, about 10 (2 in morning, 8 in evening) miles per day and will be stopping at gym on way home.

I want core stuff, upper body stuff and some additional aerobics.

I am thinking - 30 mins of intervals on runner or cross trainer, 30 mins low intensity on same or the other machine for aerobic

arm curls, tricep extnds, lat pulls, over head press, chest press and maybe stuff for rotator cuffs in shoulders at 12 reps for 3 sets, maybe RPE of 8 (10 being nothing left to give)

core - situps, dorsal raises and bridge (maybe lateral raises on sit ball as well) doing 3 sets of as many as possible (45+ sec holds for bridge)

3 times a week

Sound OK or should I vary the weight training more?

I am seeing a trainer on Saturday but since I started paying last night I want to make the most of my money!!!

robmanic1 · June 2009

Circuit training works well if your gym offers the class. Good all over workout if done right.

TimesLikeThese · June 2009

You've not given much info.
height, age, weight, sex, current fitness level, any injuries, gym experience and goals (i.e lose weight, gain weight, build up muscle mass, or just get a 'toned' model look)

Since you are about to go through your induction in a few days anyway your best bet is just to make sure you dont injure yourself in the mean time on any unfamiliar machines.

Before you try anything ask a trainer to go through it with you so you can get the form right to prevent injury and maximise muscle growth.

Depending on your goals, if you are already incorporating cycling to the gym and have a significant amout of aerobic activity throughout the week then additional aerobics at the gym can be rather pointless for anything other than ensuring you are fully warmed up. Hit the weights and do full circuits - including the legs. Just focus for now on the basic exercises for each muscle group.

Going to failure is probably a bad thing as if you really are going to failure then you wont be able to cycle home.

And dont forget to stretch.

As for varying training. Stick to the basics until you really know what you are doing. Split sets are probably too advanced by the sound of things and varying individual routines is only for 2 reasons 1 - boredom and 2 - when your muscles have become accustomed to a specific routine and need to be shocked to start growing again.

If you get really into the bodybuilding side and want to learn more then Muscle and Fitness is a good mag.

paul.skibum · June 2009

Fair point - OK - I'm 38, moderately fit (I am a ski instructor in the winter and have some ski specific stuff to work on nearer the season), ride a fair amount, carrying excess weight (due to drink I fear!) but not too much. I have been to gyms on and off for years and specifically in the summers for the last few years.

I dont enjoy it exactly but do like to add to the exercise of cycling - I'd like to lose weight (I am dropping my alcohol intake and eat reasonably sensibly but not with too much of an eye on cal intake) and tone up - not too bothered about being "ripped" as I frankly cant be bothered doing that amount of work!

I'm pretty au fait with fomr and posture for free weights and machines for the most part so.

Take the point about aerobic exercise but do like the formalised intervals you can build in on machines as, again, I cant be bothered with that kind of thing out riding.

paul.skibum · June 2009

FWIW - my ski specific training works legs one visit, upper the next then legs again and focussed on 4 weeks light weights multi reps then 4 weeks of heavy weights low reps then 4 weeks of plyometrics and twitch muscle work. Each 4 weeks is accompanied by complimentary aerobic work too.

TimesLikeThese · June 2009

Right well if you are like me then skiing will have given you huge thighs already.

Based on what you've said I'd go with an intense interval training based approach for both CV and weights
The treadmill is probably the best of the CV gear but mix it up if you get bored.

Start off with something like
@ 0-10 min = 6mph jog
@ 10-30 min = 1min Intervals @8mph then 1min @ 4mph
@ 30-35 min = 6mph recovery
@ 35-43 min = 1min Intervals @ 9mph then 1 min @ 3 mph
@ 43-45 min = 3mph cool down

Now stretch quickly and jump into the weights.
The key here is to maintain the intensity by minimising breaks and moving fast while maintaining strict form. No going to failure here. You also want to stick to the basic mass builders - no faffing around here - and use supersets to hit muscle pairings. Also have a backup routine or two ready so if a particular machine is unavailable you wont be waiting around and lose your intensity.

superset 1
back = seated cable row = 1x8
chest = bench press = 1x8

superset 2
chest = incline press = 1x8
back = front pulldown = 1x8

superset 3
shoulders = seated barbell press = 1x8
legs = alternating dumbell lunge = 1x10

superset 4
quads = leg extension = 1x8-12
hamstrings = lying leg curl = 1x8-12

superset 5
Biceps - alternating dumbell curls = 1x8-12
Triceps - dip machine = 1x8-12

Superset 6
Abs = crunch = 1x35
Lower back = back extension = 1x35

Repeat all supersets twice

Do this for a week, 3-4 times a week.
This was a good routine for me but I followed it with a swim for an hour before the cycle home.

Now like it or not your diet counts. Keep a diary for a fortnight and log everything. Count up the cals and see if you get a surprise. If you dont then cool. If you do then at least now you will be aware of it and can work out how much longer you need to spend on the treadmill to work that donner kebab and 5 pints of beer off!!!

The Prodigy · June 2009

Robmanic1 wrote:

Circuit training works well if your gym offers the class. Good all over workout if done right.

+1

RockyHopperShow · June 2009

TimesLikeThese has given you a great looking workout there, probably a bit too much for me mind lol. If I may suggest one thing though, and that is that you may find that with that workout in a busy gym you will be waiting for the equipment to do your exercise at some point or other. Investing in a cheap set of resistance bands (Wiggle sell 'em) which are easily packed in your gymbag, may help you to keep going uninterrupted. Last week I waited ages for the cable row thingymejig while two youngsters did their stuff while I could have been doing something else.....lesson learnt.

Dazzza · June 2009

Hmm ok this typically what i do, i won't say what weights i'll leave it to you to assess what is right just focus on working the muscle rather than lifting as much as you can, you'll just end up with a hernia or worse.

4 day split

1. Back&bicep
2. Chest&tricep
3. Delts/traps
4. Legs&abdominals

You can also do traps on back/bicep day depending on when you prefer it, this routine is good for training your muscles separately that way you don't end up overtraining.

Typically do 3x6 or 3x8 for strength and 4x10 4x15 for endurance and size once you get into a routine you can mix it up a bit.

On the actual lifts look around on youtube for ideas, on bicep i do preacher curls for size then hammer curls to really hit the forearms hard.

Incline flys for chest and close and wide grip bench press for the same.

Tricep i warm up with cable pulldowns then do dumbell skullcrushers for the second set followed by skullcrushers on the smiths machine to really kill them off.

For abs i either go on the smiths and raise my legs and on a flat bench with my backside hanging off ad legs straight out i raise them up and back out flat, reall kills the mid/lower abs, i don't need to worry about upper abs my job kills them already.

Protein is important as well, first thing and last thing at night, night being a slow realease protein like casein/cottage cheese or chicken etc.

Post workout whey/casein in water with 50g of dextrose then good slow carbs 1hr later in the form of a meal otherwise you'll crash from the dextrose and feel crappy/hungry.

Hth

Surf-Matt · June 2009

Paul - your routine looks good in terms of exercises but if you want to make quick gainsl start with that then move to a split routine - I did and it made a HUGE difference.

It does mean you MUST do each session without missing any (otherwise a bodypart is not exercised for over a week) but it also means you can really target specific areas.

Although you don't want to do any leg exercises, light ones are very good for pumping blood around your body at the start of a session.

Exercise the biggest muscles first - legs, chest, back, shoulders, triceps, biceps then abs.

Do abs every session.

Try and do three sets of each exercise and at least two types of exercise for each muscle group.

Don't spend over an hour on it.

Stretch constantly.

Do the last set to MMF (momentary muscular failure) every time.

Eat sensibly but don't get obsessed.

paul.skibum · June 2009

Thanks all. Some good advice in there.

I had a pretty easy, mainly cario and core trip to gym yesterday as I was still dithering about what to do - gonna make a note of TLT's suggestions and my old ski fit plan to discuss with a trainer on Saturday.

Thanks for the advice guys.

Give me a gym routine to suppliment riding

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