Biker395 

Yikes. Cycling is great exercise for a lot of the body, but I have recently become aware that I am a 98 pound weakling (although I certainly weigh more than that) when it comes to just about everything else.

Officially in "silver sneakers" territory, I decided to join a health club and start doing some light weight lifting. I thought a "body pump" class would be just about right, so I signed up.

Walking in there, I had a look about and decided I needed to keep the weights on the light side, at least for now. So I looked at the thinnest woman I could find and decided I would use the same level of weights.

That worked well ... at first. Before long, I was struggling to lift the weights at all and my arms felt like rubber bands. To look at me, you'd think I was waaay stronger than they were, but clearly NOT. Not even close.

So yea, I need to get off the habit of relying strictly on cycling to keep in shape. Taking more of the body pump classes and doing some light weight lifting. I'm also going to start swimming a bit. Clearly, I need it.

What do the rest of you do to round things out, so to speak?

staehpj1

I haven't been doing much lately, but I like rowing. I have a concept 2 erg and when it is crazy hot it is a great indoor workout. I really should do more rowing on a regular basis.

freeranger

My wife does the Silver Sneakers classes at a local gym. I'll go to the gym, but work out on the exercise machines and sometimes dead weights. Been doing it for a while and it has helped. Haven't gotten many rides in this season, but could tell last time out that the gym has kept me in shape. Started easy, more reps with weight I felt comfortable with and worked my way up. Seems to have worked.

big john

Light weights, high reps is a general rule to follow. When I was in school I lifted 2 hours a day 5 days per week. Got pretty big, close to 250#. Periodically I have gone back to lifting but not for a long time and I am astonished at how weak I am. It's only gotten worse since I stopped working.

Carbonfiberboy 

My wife and I joined our first gym in '79 so we could get strong enough to go commercial salmon fishing in Bristol Bay.. Although slightly irregular, we've been gym members ever since. We try to put in an hour twice a week at the gym, though in summer it's usually just once a week. Gaining weight from strength training is largely a function of diet. Looking around, the greatest benefit might be simply preventing injuries. I think it also increases endurance. We do sort of half-body workouts, pushing one day and pulling the other. We wear HRMs, thus gym days can count toward our CTL.

Getting strong at the gym is a slow process and the older we get, the slower it is. Now is always a good time to start.

Wildwood 

Not much. Seldomly = Light weights for arms/upper body, 2 sets 15 reps. Mild stretching regularly. Yardwork on an acre. Grandkid toddlers.

2 Ibuprofen before rides instead of after the ride.

Jughed

Suffered a bad back injury, really bad, from powerlifting. I can no longer lift with free weights and need to be ultra careful even while using the machines.

I'm still carrying a bunch of the muscle weight from those days - not really conducive to bike riding/climbing... so for now I stay out of the gym and limit my body workouts to pushups and some floor exercises/stretches. My core is really weak from the back injury & doing core work is sketchy for me, I don't want to blow the back up again... so I reluctantly do core work and should do more.

Once I get my weight solidly down into the mid 180's - I will start with some light strength work on the machines.

MoAlpha

Weight training: Multi-joint movements, e.g., squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, presses, mainly focusing on the lower extremities and back. All pretty heavy (for me at 153 lbs) and low reps, theoretically to avoid stiffness. I do one session a week during the season and two in the winter. It's convenient because there is a great free-weight facility at work complete with volunteer certified coaches, if I can find them.

I do few sessions a week of abs and flexibility stuff at home. I'd like to start with a movement/flexibility trainer this winter to work out some of my congenital and acquired kinks before I'm too old.

Jughed

It's funny how everyone is different. Gains on the bike for me come slowly with a ton of pain (not really pain, but you get the point). Gains in the gym come fast for me... Same with loosing weight - slow, long, drawn out process. Gaining weight/muscle - it just packs on.

skidder

Doing two days/week of brisk walking reps on a local hill. About 30 minutes worth each time. Amazing how that's improved my bicycling endurance vs just spending time in the saddle and trying to get in some intervals. I also use fixed weight dumbbell pairs I bought at a sports store that was closing down. 15lbs, 20lbs, 25lbs. Definitely helps with the upper body conditioning.

_ForceD_

I’m also an avid (open water) swimmer. And, up until about 5-6 years ago participating in triathlons until hip replace, and now pending knee replacement forced me to all but stop running. I would like to go to the gym for weight on a regular basis…but I just can’t seem to make the time. So…swimming functions as my upper-body fitness. I also crew on a 40’ sailboat for weekly racing. I’m the bow man…hoisting sails. That frequently takes a bit of effort. So I count the arm motion of swimming as my workout for hoisting sails.

Dan

TakingMyTime

Although I've been incredibly lazy this season...

I prefer to ride at least 2 times a week. I get to the gym a minimum of 2 times a week and now that it's summer I try to get in the pool 2 times a week. Sometimes I will exchange a pool day for a gym day or vice versa. Then on the odd day I will go on a 2 mile walk through our local park with my neighbor. I feel I stay busy more than most my age (68)

Steve B.

I would rather do an alternative activity outside instead of a weight room, so will pool swim, where I’m lucky to have an outside 50 meter pool, or will kayak. The upper body workout is helpful with mt. biking

dbf73

I like Kent Hrbek’s idea of crosstraining - bowling and ice fishing

CAT7RDR

Hiking, resistance bands and dumbells, landscaping, tree trimming and gardening are my other physical activities but I do not look at them as cross-training.

I'm sure there are some cycling benefits working the posterior chain with these activities.

I find vigorous tree trimming a tough workout. After 2-3 hours I am spent.

Biker395 

That is me too. I am REALLY not inclined to lift weights by myself and the like. I had a friend accompany me to the health club yesterday. I was there to take a bodypump class, and he was there to lift weights. I like the class. There is an instructor there to tell you what to do. There is music, and there are lots of others in the room who are also lifting weights and going through the regimen. For me, that makes it more interesting and I am more likely to do it. He wasn't interested. His perfect health club would be one with no people in it, and just a bunch of free weights and machines, all readily available. That wouldn't work for me, as there is nothing more boring to me than dutifully lifting weights in a room all by myself. And I know myself well enough to know that if it is boring, eventually, I will stop doing it.

The classes make that quite a bit better, but I can't help thinking I would be even better off finding an activity that I enjoy that is effective in the areas I want. Swimming, kayaking, rowing perhaps ... that kind of thing.

Jughed

Lifting, and lifting heavy, is one of my favorite activities. And I like to do it alone... if only I still had the ability.

If you lift long and hard enough, with heavy weights - your body will release a rush of adrenaline and hormones that can make you feel like superman, and act like a professional wrestler. I prefer to be that level of moron on my own...!!

MoAlpha

I lift because if I don't I will lose more muscle than I can afford, due to the 10-15 hrs/wk I put in on the bike during the season. Also, hitting age 70 with a roadie's physique is a bad idea from the all-cause mortality point of view and utterly pointless if you're as slow as I am.

GhostRider62

Does playing ice hockey count as cross training? Clearing 350 pounders from in front of the goal isn't getting easier and there are a lot of fat guys in Beer League adult hockey. I should join a gym or something, 2 years ago I could bang off 50 pushup really fast and now I can't do a single one post accident.

Biker395 

I would say playing ice hockey definitely qualifies!

Re pushups: I can identify with that one too. You're not going to believe this, but in high school, I once did 100 pushups in a minute. Literally bang-bang-bang. Now I am lucky if I can do 10 with all the time in the world to do them.

Biker395 

Why do you say a roadie's physique is bad from an all-cause mortality standpoint? The two issues I can think of are Afib (common in endurance athletes) and lost bone density. Are there others?

big john

I worked with a guy who played amateur hockey. He wasn't tall but he was very strong. He would run in the hills to work on his stamina and he said he was only on the ice in short intervals. He also rode dirt bikes and mountain bikes but his worst injuries were from hockey.

MikeWMass

I ride 1 or 2 days a week in nice weather (2-3 since I recently retired).
I used to run every day I didn't ride but a knee replacement put an end to that!
I took off from my PT following knee replacement, and now I work out every day that I don't ride, first thing in the morning after brushing my teeth. I do 1/2 hour on spin bike, then bowflex machine for 30-45 minutes, alternating days upper and lower body, pushing the resistance on most exercises, reps on leg extensions (can only get so much resistance with the bowflex machine and I have the maximum upgrades), and ending with ROM for legs and lower back.
I have definitely noticed that I am a stronger rider than I have ever been, althoughI must admit that my riding does not involve a training regimen.

ofajen

I think you are on the right track.

I’ve been doing some strength training fairly consistently for a bit over twenty years, but only with relatively light weights.

At home I mostly do light dumbbell weights and floor work (push-ups, plank, crunches, etc. etc). At our rec center I will often do a circuit of the weight room followed by a run on the indoor track.

I don’t really want to lift weights but some sort of strength training is clearly necessary for my overall fitness.

Otto

MoAlpha

Yes. Low lean body mass (independent of fat) in later life is a major risk factor for mortality. Presumably something having to do with frailty and falls.