TMonk

Gym day,

3x8 squat
3x8 deadlifts
+ a short abs circuit that I performed before, between and after the leg sets, 3 circuits total.

This was my first time ever doing deadlifts. I did not lift 551lbs.

Velocirapture

+1

Protein to give your muscles the material to rebuild themselves, and taking it in after your workout tells your body that it doesn't need to skimp. I find protein powder nice and easy. I also go for a teaspoon of L-Glutamine after gym as well as on-bike training. Its an amino-acid, so will probably be in a lot of protein powders anyway if you go the powder route. Its a recognized recovery-aid, which appeals to me. but not everyone is into the 'supplements' sort of thing.

Some carbs wont hurt, especially after a tiring gym session. Your sugar stores wont be depleted like after a long road race, but there's nothing wrong with helping the recovery process with some fuel.

bmontgomery87

I just eat something, pretty much immediately after walking out of the gym.
If my stomach isn't cooperating i'll have a protein shake w/ milk. If I feel good, I slay some carbs/protein. Usually a pasta or rice with lots of meat.

EthanYQX

The support for Rip generally begins and ends with starting strength. And yep, I agree he's a jackass.

Don't know Carroll's program but Lily's Cube Method is not a beginner program and probably not something I'd bother with for a cyclist at any point, unless said cyclist wanted to squat 750lbs for some reason. It also takes forever. 5/3/1 is the way to go for most athletes IMHO, at least "in season"

bmontgomery87

^^I agree with what you're saying.

I don't think SS is a bad program necessarily, but I'm not a fan of the clean. It's not an easy movement to do properly, and I don't have the wrist mobility for it.
The Cube shouldn't be done unless you have decent experience and know how to adjust your volume. I think you could do it with minimal assistance and get good results, but 5/3/1 is definitely the easiest program for athletes to follow. Super easy to adjust for off season or in season, workouts can be long or short, and the progress is sustainable for quite a while.

Even after 3-4 years of lifting, I usually fall back on 5/3/1 to base my programming on.

EthanYQX

Good call on the clean, had forgotten it was there. I'll be going back to 5/3/1 eventually myself

VanceMac

Now that racing is in full swing, I've pulled back to twice/week on squats. Although I am squeezing a 3x in occasionally, depending on how the calendar falls. I'm hoping I can still maintain linear gains (no matter how incremental) on 2x, but I'd be okay with at least maintaining.

Deads once/week, which I've never been happy about. Doesn't seem frequent enough, at my novice level, to really lock in the form, or cement the progression for those muscles/tendons/ligaments that aren't getting worked elsewhere. And my hamstrings are always tight as a drum the day after. As with squats, I am convinced they are an extremely valuable exercise... for life, as well as cycling.

My bench and overhead (A/B) are still 3x week. So far, they are my only upper body exercise. I am going to start adding in some chin/pull-ups. Did sets of 5 each yesterday, just as a trial. Even at my light body weight, they are hard!

Quinn continues to nag me about power cleans. And I get it. But they will likely have to wait until the winter.

VanceMac

Oh, and on Rippetoe... yeah, he milks that hardnose schtick, but come on, he's practically Emily Post considering the field he is in! I'm sure once people get to the advanced stage, they all move on to their various favorites (just like most cyclists start with Friel, but then move on). But for beginner form, and beginner/intermediate programming, he seems pretty solid. I will say this for Rip: he isn't afraid of the actual science (even when it conflicts with bro science), and he seems open to change when the science suggests it (evolving, rather than clinging to dogma).

queerpunk

I have a really hard time getting my damn elbows up in the rack position.

DanAVL

We have to address this pretty frequently with new clients and even some special programs athletes. Seems like a common mobility issue.
Generally we develop a basic series of stretches that they're assigned to do 3-4 times a week. If they stick with it, that's usually all it takes. I've only had one instance of a professional having to become involved.

I find most of this is caused by restriction in the anterior delts, triceps, pecs, and posterior delts. Besides area specific stretches I like the actual rack position stretch, although you need a baseline of mobility to begin that one.

queerpunk

Cool, thanks. I'll look some up.

Baby Puke

Please check out this clean vid. I'm sure there's some major things wrong. School me!
.be

EthanYQX

Disclaimer: I am a terrible Oly lifter.

The weight looks very light for you, but here's 2 things right off the bat:

-Setup. It's not quite like a deadlift. Start with the bar more over your toes, and sweep it into the pocket (your hips) as you come up. You should physically hit your hips with the bar.
-Initial pull: Again, not quite like a deadlift, the initial pull is like leg pressing the floor away. Hips rise a fair amount before the bar breaks off the floor generally.

This is a good video for the hip pop:


Finally, you're a little on your toes on the initial pull from what I can see. I could be wrong. Cleaning in Chucks is not easy.

Again, my clean PR is 185 so I'm hardly an Oly lifter. This is just what I can see and anyone here feel free to correct me.

Baby Puke

Thanks for the tips, Ethan. Yeah, it's probably light for my capabilities, but with my form as bad as it is it's the most weight I can manage at the moment.

queerpunk

First thing I saw about your lift was that your rack position could use a bunch of work - you kind of catch the bar with your elbows pointed down and then roll your arms back.

i'm not sure how to address it, though. I'm slowly trying to learn powercleans, but SS and my rack are gathering dust while the season is in full swing.

Jaytron

Do you guys do regular deadlifts or sumo?

EthanYQX

Conventional.

I would suggest that conventional deadlifts are a better lift for a cyclist (and more athletes) but if you lift significantly more weight and make faster progress lifting sumo, that will do more for your limit strength which is really what you want to train so it's a bit of a push.

TL;DR: Conventional unless you're way stronger in sumo.

Impreza_aL

regular... but i haven't touched a weight in 2 years...

mcafiero

Catch the bar on the top of your chest. Elbows up. When you catch, let the bar roll back Towards your fingertips. You're holding the bar in a front squat hold.

misterwaterfall

Please tell me that isn't your deadlift set up

Baby Puke

For completeness, I'd appreciate some eyes on this s well:
.be
To me this looks improved. Seems like squatting to a slightly too-deep box for a couple of months improved my hamstring flexibility and fixed my "butt-wink".

BTW, Quinn's Texas Method has been working well for me so far, knock on wood. Thanks, Quinn.

P.S. Sorry, you might wanna turn the sound off before you watch. Gym music.

EthanYQX

Squat looks great, depth is fine, knees track well, weight is back. All good!

Owen21

Just joined up - interesting thread.

Is a good ability of weightlifting a good indicator of track ability? I'd like to jump on a bike - ideally to train for track sprinting events but I'm not sure where to start.

I weigh 78kg, clean 133kg and snatch 103kg. Squat 160, front squat 150, deadlift 200.

Id like to know what bike would be good to train on for starters, then how to train to get a decent capacity for the training before modelling it on my nearest velodrome.

EthanYQX

Yes and no. Limit strength (1RM ability) is a very general adaptation (which is why it provides great returns athletically) and will help just about anywhere. It's certainly not a direct translation, though.

queerpunk

A good weightlifter might be good at pedaling a bike, but being a good bike racer is about a lot more than power.