scheibo

i dont really have any fixed hours at work, i mainly just try to be there around meals to get food. last winter i talked to my manager about riding during the day when its warmer and light out (outside of DST i just ride in the morning). he didn't care as long as i was still productive, he just asks me to keep my calendar up to date so that if he ever needed to find me he'd be able to check and see where i was. its starting to get harder to peace out whenever i feel like it now that i've been there longer and have more obligations, but im usually good at shifting around or ditching meetings to exercise.

awesome, right?

trope is that east coast watts are more, west coast just has higher tss.

scheibo

also, its probably important to note i have zero commitments on my time outside of training and work. its much more impressive that fudgy is able to hold about the same amount of training load with a wife and twins.

spectastic

yesterday, i did squats for the first time in like 4 years. just realized how weak i am. i used to warm up with 135 lbs. now, they wear me out. and today, it hurts to move around (the good kind of hurt).

I think I might mix in some squats, lunges, cleans, leg presses, and box jumps in the next coming weeks.

Ygduf

wrong way around

Ygduf

my job is basically half time if I do it well...

aaronmcd

Coincidence, today I did squats for the first time ever! (Excluding body weight or dumbell squats).

Tried out the gym near our apartment cuz I wanna try to keep some upper body mass. And some friendly dude was willing to show me how to use the rack and how to do squats. 5 high back and 5 low back with 45, upped it a bit each couple sets til I almost failed on 185. I may not be able to ride for few days. And it also hurts the shoulders a bit.

spectastic

Hm didn't even know about low bar squats. Why low bar? That just seems like more hurt on the shoulder. And you have to lean more, which could tax the back more, so technique is more critical

aaronmcd

Idk, the guy showed me both and had me try both and told me to see what I like more. The low bar felt better in that the weight wasn't bearing down as much, but the stretch to hold it in place was a bit tiresome. It also felt easier to go lower, balance felt better. I'd have to give em a few more tries with higher weight to really have an opinion though.

jsk

Low bar squat uses more glute/hamstring, most lifters will able to squat a bit more that way once they learn the proper form. That's why most competitive power-lifters use low-bar.

High-bar is a little more quad-dominant, and a some people will find they can go deeper without being limited by hamstring flexibility. Olympic lifters tend to prefer high-bar position for their back squats.

As far as back angle, whether that's really an issue depends on the lifter and their proportions.

I prefer high-bar because I'd rather have squats be more quad-dominant, and as someone with a longish torso I find it easier to keep a neutral spine at the bottom with high-bar. Also, low-bar caused me issues with elbow pain.

spectastic

how does the lifting help your sprint?

what other workouts do you find effective?

mattm

I hit up the gym for the first time ever last night - gyms are weird. Dudes staring at themselves in mirrors while flexing.. I mean are they going to see a difference right away??

Did some leg curls, leg extensions, and rode some weird zwift-like bike. Then I checked my quads in the mirror.

TheKillerPenguin

The pump is important bro. Need them instagram likes.

aaronmcd

Well, the day after squats feels much better, no worse than if I did a huge ride yesterday. But I felt tired overall. Body just isn't used to pumping iron!

happybday29475

Skip the leg extensions, it's a good way to grind away cartilage. If you need to do'em, bend your knees just a little.

There are other ways to work your guads.

mattm

Like riding a bike..

Actually what are the other ways?

I have no idea what to do in the gym. Afraid of squats since my shoulder has a plate and I can barely wear a backpack without it hurting, don't want to put weight on it.

spectastic

I look at the mirror to make sure my form looks like what I think it looks like. form is super important for compound movement, especially for heavier weights.

spectastic

wth.. I can barely walk!

spectastic

you can do lunges with dumbbells. I've thought about leg presses too, not the ones where you max out on weight, but rather try to emphasize explosiveness. I vaguely remember that kind of stuff from football. It's probably got some over laps with plyos.

mattm

Yeah no I can see that - I mean after putting down the weights, dudes are flexing in to the mirror.

spectastic

yea that's weird. don't do that.

aaronmcd

It's like looking over data files after a bike race or workout. I guess.
If they're at the gym for body building purposes it makes sense to examine and see how they are doing.

hack

Just make sure you're looking at the mirror immediately in front of you when checking yourself out during squats/deadlifts/etc. Easy way to tweak something if you're not keeping form by twisting your neck around to look at mirrors.

I prefer low bar because I could always put 10% more weight up when squatting low bar vs high bar and how much weight you have on the bar is pretty critical for looking legit in the gym.

Pure strength workouts are good in the gym and have some carry over to the bike. Squats (highbar, lowbar, front) and deadlifts (romanian, single leg, standard) are good for building up strength. Explosive movements (power cleans) are also good and have transfer to the bike.

There used to be a weight lifting thread somewhere round here with lots of good info. The track forum has a good weights thread, too.

aaronmcd

The Dude randomly coaching me said don't look in the mirror, keep head neutral and slightly down. I asked about form and he said that's what I'm here for! Haha. Does make sense though. Low bar high bar I did the same weight, but I am figuring out the movement a bit. I've done enough gymnastics to figure out form pretty quick but it still takes more than one workout it seems. I'd like to do deadlines too, but I tried with fairly lightweight dumbells (45 each hand) and it hurt my collarbone where I have the plate. Probably just weak **** in there still since I basically stopped working out as soon as I finished PT. gonna try and build it back up. Those cleans look complicated and difficult though!

happybday29475

I wish I could do squats but a back injury prevents it. What I do instead is Bulgarian Split Squats:
hold dumbbells in each hand...start with nothing or 10lbs each hand and work up.

I think @Hermes and a number of others around here know their way around the gym and might be able to add other ideas as well.

hack

Ideally, you're not looking in a mirror, but somewhere on the ground a 5-10 feet in front of you. Helps to have someone there giving you some pointers during the lift to avoid the need to look around.

Cleans are great, but there are a lot of moving parts. I haven't been in the gym in a while (2 years??) and I'm sure I've lost a ton of strength.