"Per Elmsäter" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:Steve Freides said:As others have said, with so many exercises, it's impossible to tell
what's helping you and what's not. I suggest a very simple
approach -
squat or deadlift on some sort of schedule: two legs days, so do one
each leg day.
And don't do anything else for a few weeks on leg day, just squat one
leg day and deadlift the next.
Steve. You usually give the most helpful advice, but this time I feel
you've
overworked it a bit. All I want to do is exchange a machine for a free
weighted exercise 😉)
Fair enough.
Quoted message said:Maybe I should have stated my goals. I am a 55 yo masters cyclist
that's all
into road racing and timetrialing. During winter season, October thru
April, I do a lot of resistance training in the gym. Lots more than
most of
my cycling buddies. Because I feel it helps my cycling and it helps my
general health. I really like to work out in the gym and I'm not
worried if
I put on an extra pound or two. Being a hardgainer that's about what I
will
put on.
I asked my trainer, an ex Bodybuilder, to give me a 4 day program with
two
legdays and two upper body days. This is why there are so many leg
exercises. I did these all of last winter and the program really
helped me
kick some ass on the road this season so I'm happy about it. However I
am
open for small changes trying to optimize my training.
You're right - what you're training for matters. Bodybuilding type
training for an endurance athlete, particularly one who is 55, could be
great - both age and endurance exercise tend to catabolize muscle, so a
program designed to put on muscle could be just what you need. It
helped last year, and that's great.
The basic principle of keeping your program simple is a sound one,
though. If your program is complex, it ought to be complex for specific
reasons. A hack barbell squat is a good quad exercise and a worthwhile
one, too.
I'll suggest another exercise you might try, the kettlebell version of
the hack squat, which you could do with a plate or dumbbell. The
movement usually called a hack squat is really a behind the back
deadlift. The kettlebell hack squat is still a bit DL-like but you use
a much lighter weight and come up on your toes at the bottom. It needs
to be worked into gradually and just doing it with bodyweight is
challenging for some, but it's great for strengthening the knees as well
as the quads. Here's how you do it - find a wall, squat down on the
balls of your feet as low as you can and position yourself so that your
knees are very close to the wall, about 1" is usually right. Then stand
up without touching the wall or falling over backwards. Once you can do
that, take a small plate and hold it behind your back, arms hanging down
as straight as is comfortable, and do the same thing. I do it with a
kettlebell, which because of the handle makes the center of gravity of
the weight quite low, but a plate or dumbbell ought to work about the
same. I'm lucky to get 20% of what I can get on a barbell back squat
this way. I can't compare numbers to the hack lift because I've done
that with a heavy weight.
Go here:
http://www.dragondoor.com/wpkb12.html?kbid=1022
and scroll down or search on "hack squat challenge" - the third time
that text appears, you'll see a couple of pictures of Steve Maxwell
doing it.
I'm not saying the above move is better, worse, or the same as the
barbell hack lift, just different.
For what it's worth, at least some cyclists prefer the leg press to the
squat because of the squat's tendency to build mass - they don't need
the back strength, they feel, just the leg strength, and the leg press
does what they need. There was a story about Robbie McEwen a few or
three ago doing something like 4 sets of 26 reps with some big weight (I
think it was 200 kg) in the leg press as part of his training, and how
he liked it so much that he took a few weeks off from competing in the
middle of the summer to get back to the weight room and do it again
before peaking for Fall races. (Robbie McEwen has had much success in
the professional cycling world as a sprinter in distance events, e.g.,
winning flat stages of the Tour de France and other long day races.)
Quoted message said:And yes I might eventually enter a PL meet to do some DLing just for
the fun
of it and of course to give me some targeted training for the winter
season.
On top of these 4 days in the gym I do 4 days of pure cycling
throughout the
winter. Two outside and two inside.
--
Perre
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