Lifting weights and manhandling your bike

[darius]

I'm looking to get some extra upper body strength to be able to "manhandle" the bike a bit easier, such as when pushing around the driveway/garage. Might also help recover from a potential drop situation.

I started working out last month at home with dumb-bells only, focusing on biceps and triceps.

Starting weight was 35lbs to get into a routine then increasing weight 2.5 to 5lbs each week as a goal. I'm currently up to 52.5lbs max lift 2 sets of 5.

Does anyone else have strength goals or worked out to handle their bike a bit easier?

 

[Erci]

I work out to handle everything better, not just the bike! Been at it for over 20 years. Was a personal trainer for 6 years.
Definitely big part of my life and does help in many situations.

 

[darius]

I work out to handle everything better, not just the bike! Been at it for over 20 years. Was a personal trainer for 6 years.
Definitely big part of my life and does help in many situations.

20+ years- that's awesome. I'm determined to stick with it and as you said, for the benefits besides the bike.

 

[armystrong]

Work on your core strength (abs and back) and also your legs. Those muscles groups are what you'll mainly use to lift your bike and move it around. The strong core will also help you on long rides.

 

[greg]

working your t-shirt muscles won't do much

work your whole body, your legs make up 50% of your muscle, and training them releases growth hormone which helps the rest of your body grow

don't neglect your legs, and also your back (what do you think is going to help you pick up the bike if you drop it)

in terms of functional training, deadlifts, rows, and pushing a car (or weighted sled) around a car park are good

there's tons of stff you can do, have a look at "Starting Stength" for a good introduction, figure out a routine that encompasses everything, and try and progressively increase the weights and get stronger.

Even for looks you need to train your legs and back, your lats will make your back and hence front look wider, and you don't want to be the guy with massive biceps and chicken legs.

If you are doing big compound lifts (squats, deadlifts, presses, cleans, etc), then this will work your core. Planks are also great, as sometimes it's easy to work your hip flexors rather than your abs and obliques.

 

[2old2ride]

I worked out for over 3 decades. Being stronger NEVER harms you. Right now I use a TRX suspension system. At 60, I'm pretty much too old to add muscle mass but the TRX keeps me from sagging. I loath wrinkles. When I hold my arm out, no loose skin to flop around. The TRX uses your own body weight, so it is almost impossible to overstrain something. It is very portable, fitting in a small sack and weighing maybe a kilo ( 2 pounds for us Ami's). You won't build muscle mass very fast but it would be ideal as a low impact starter for serious weight training.

Functional Training Solution That Gets Results - Try TRX Training | TRX

Dibbs on the blonde. Youse guy can fight over the brunette.

 

[YZF73]

My personal opinion has always been than it's more about technique than strength in the normal day to day situations of manoeuvring a bike. Saying this, in emergency or unexpected situations, strength does often come into it.

It's probably well worth you focusing on the techniques you use for manoeuvring your bike, but don't let me stop you hitting the weights, never a bad thing to do. :thumbup:


Yamahaboyz

 

[darius]

working your t-shirt muscles won't do much

work your whole body, your legs make up 50% of your muscle, and training them releases growth hormone which helps the rest of your body grow

don't neglect your legs, and also your back (what do you think is going to help you pick up the bike if you drop it)

in terms of functional training, deadlifts, rows, and pushing a car (or weighted sled) around a car park are good

there's tons of stff you can do, have a look at "Starting Stength" for a good introduction, figure out a routine that encompasses everything, and try and progressively increase the weights and get stronger.

Even for looks you need to train your legs and back, your lats will make your back and hence front look wider, and you don't want to be the guy with massive biceps and chicken legs.

If you are doing big compound lifts (squats, deadlifts, presses, cleans, etc), then this will work your core. Planks are also great, as sometimes it's easy to work your hip flexors rather than your abs and obliques.

Thanks for the detailed info. So, I'd better work some more exercises into my routine before I look too funny. Hopefully I can still keep the routine compact and more likely to stick with it.

 

[Ssky0078]

I worked out for over 3 decades. Being stronger NEVER harms you. Right now I use a TRX suspension system. At 60, I'm pretty much too old to add muscle mass but the TRX keeps me from sagging.

Come to AZ and I'll get you on testosterone therapy with some growth hormone stimulators. You'll look like that cenegenics guy in 3 months.

View attachment 46328

 

[greg]

Thanks for the detailed info. So, I'd better work some more exercises into my routine before I look too funny. Hopefully I can still keep the routine compact and more likely to stick with it.

Stick to big compound exercises such as squats, deadlifts, cleans, presses, rows, pullups, etc, this will work best and keep your routine short. Try and find a copy of starting strength too, it's full of this kind of information and aimed at novices.

 

[Ssky0078]

Stick to big compound exercises such as squats, deadlifts, cleans, presses, rows, pullups, etc, this will work best and keep your routine short. Try and find a copy of starting strength too, it's full of this kind of information and aimed at novices.

If you're a novice to lifting find a good Crossfit gym that focuses on form and has limited class size numbers for the beginner classes.

And to be honest with you, I was the strongest I had ever been in my life when I was going to yoga class and lifting 2-3 days a week. When the muscles are flexible it allows them to have more complete muscle recruitment (firing) when doing an exercise. Yoga because it goes through a full range of motion and is just utilizing body weight vs. gravity as the resistance is a great way to strengthen while stretching. My bench at the time almost doubled going from 10 reps of 225 up to about 10 reps of 365. It was amazing. Somedays I wish I never went to med school and got fat and lazy from being too stressed out and too busy.

 

[2old2ride]

I consider Yoga to be working out. I figure 'working out' is any regular and routine exercise program. Push ups and sit ups every morning count. I don't differentiate between aerobic and anaerobics either. It's all 'working out', just with different goals. :thumbup:

 

[Ssky0078]

If you stick with it, maybe when cruising Venice Beach you can do this. You too can sport a banana hammock if you you work out. It's best if you squid at the beach with tank top, shorts and flip flop (ERCI, face palms about now, can't believe this guy is on our forum)

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyx6JDQCslE]LMFAO - Sexy and I Know It - YouTube[/ame]

 

[darius]

If you stick with it, maybe when cruising Venice Beach you can do this. You too can sport a banana hammock if you you work out. It's best if you squid at the beach with tank top, shorts and flip flop (ERCI, face palms about now, can't believe this guy is on our forum)

LMFAO - Sexy and I Know It - YouTube

Hey yeah my body looks just like that guys right now. But with bigger arms.

 

[CdnMedic]

Be careful with crossfit. It would be easy to get in a bad gym and hurt yourself... But with an instructor that takes their time and a small class size, it's good.

I'm doing insanity and I love it. It's all body weight, works your legs, core, shoulders... Pretty much everything. It won't make you bulky, just fit.

I do intervals on a spin bike 4 days per week in the morning for 30-40 mins at a decent intensity. Insanity most nights, and sports during the week. Weekends I spend racing MX. So I pick up dropped bikes a lot and have no issues doing so. I haven't had to pick the FZ up yet, but I doubt I would have much issue considering how active I am.

I don't lift weights too often (don't have much time and my fitness goals are basically for motocross) but I can out lift a lot of guys that lift regularly... And squats, people think that's all I do lol.

Generally, people just getting off their asses and active is awesome!

 

[Xavias]

I'm currently going through the Les Mills Combat workout program (2.5 weeks in and still loving it!)

It's basically a mix of martial arts and High Intensity Interval Training. The workouts are as follows.

30 minute kick start (Lots of kicking, as well as jabs and uppercuts. Mostly boxing with a little karate)
45 minute power kata (Incorporates 5 types of martial arts, like boxing, muay thai, Karate, tae kwon do, and a couple others)
HIIT1: Power (This is the strength building video for upper body and core, half the video involves weights, but only dumbells. I did this last night and IT IS A WORKOUT! Sheesh still sore.)
HIIT2: Shock - Plyo (This gets the blood pumping and the muscles burning. Lots of squats and such)
Combat 60 Ultimate Cardio Fighter (This is a non-stop 60 minute power-kick-punch-awesome fest. I just did this for the first time two days ago and I love it. 60 minutes goes very quickly, and you definitely feel it. I was gasping for air, but when I took a breath, my abs hurt because I worked them so hard.)

That's a small overview, but I will say this: I got halfway through P90x over the summer, dropped it because it was just too long. I couldn't make the 1:15-1.5 hours commitment 6 nights/week. So in the fall I tried insanity. I quickly became bored with it (though the results were awesome!) But it lasted about 18 days with me... Now, I'm going on day 16 of 60 of Les Mills Combat and I still love it! Everything is fast paced, it's all set to music, and it's a huge stress relief. If I have stress, I just kick and punch harder. And if I get tired of the people leading it, there's an option to turn up the music so you can barely hear the instructors. (Though, the female instructor is hilarious, gorgeous, and has a sexy accent to boot...)

I'd definitely recommend it! I've only lost about 1.5% body fat, and a total of about 2 lbs (fat was replaced by muscle), but I feel great! On saturday mornings, I'm actually thinking of integrating an extra insanity video in there, though. Just to get things fired up even more!

 

[lonesoldier84]

I have one goal when it comes to my strength training and my riding....

 

[darius]

Today I incorporated dumbbell bench presses and pull ups into my workout. They don't work out the biceps so I'll have to do curls separately. I absolutely sucked at the pullups.

I'll start dumbbell squats and deadlifts soon. It's good that these exercises can be done with minimal equipment, which makes it fast and convenient in the home.

I do need to replace my dumbbell handles though. One of the caps came off the end and the things are hollow and crazy thin. I don't want a handle snapping with weights over my face so time to get some solid steel ones.

 

[Ssky0078]

I have one goal when it comes to my strength training and my riding....

That is so awesome, where did that come from. It has to be the Jersey Shore. GTL baby!!!

I just looked it up, the guy has black painted PVC pipe and the bottoms of the water barrels that the highway department puts in the medians. BOOO, still looked cool

 

[2old2ride]

How did he stay on the bike? Must have a support wire somewhere. That and a cruse control of some sort. I learned by riding trials back in the 60's that you MUST have some throttle to stay up. Otherwise gravity wins. Gravity always wins but you can delay it's victory with a clever throttle hand(wrist?).