Originally Posted by
smoke
okay, cape. let's talk lifting from both a general health and a cycling viewpoint, and see what you think. i'm looking at an article that says you want to do multi-joint exercises (whatever that is). it goes on to say that if you lift, there are four multi-joint exercises you need to do above all others; pull-ups, squats, bench presses, and deadlifts. do you buy all that? i've also been toying with the idea of buying a home machine to do my lifting and get rid of the club membership. if you agree with the above stuff, it seems to me i wouldn't even have to buy a large home machine. all i would need would be a bench, a tall rack for bench presses and squats (maybe with pull-up handles on it), a bar or two, and some weights. does this sound reasonable?
---I don't buy all four of those exercises. I would say that pull-ups are a go. But I think that bench should be replaced with dips simply because it allows one to practice core stability much more than standard bench...and you can still add weight to it. Deads and squats are a problem area in that they do provide a great deal of benefits for a cyclist, but I feel that Olympic lifts such as: clean jerk, clean and press, snatch, etc, all using a sub-maximal weight (able to get 30-50 reps total) in a circuit fashion would be a more benefit the cyclist more as it strengthens the muscles yet still involves aerobic conditioning.