Cross Training
Cross Training
If you cycle only, you need to be aware that you are not building bone density. Possibly, you may even be depleting your calcium level and thereby weakening your bones. After all cycling is a non-impact sport, unless you kiss the tar. Hopefully, that does not happen too often. It therefore stands to reason that you need to supplement your cycling with some other activity. This other activity must be some form of resistance training. This will perform two functions:
- It will count as cross training, and minimise the injuries which come from endurance exercising.
- It will increase your bone density, and ensure that you do not become a fragile human being when you get older.
If at all possible, ride four times and gym twice a week, but even three rides and one gym workout is a great routine. It sounds impossible to many of you. Your lives are simply too busy to contemplate this time investment. I understand that, so try to build a program to suit your particular needs. By the way, I am not talking about four long road rides a week. Indoor sessions and spinning sessions are also counted as rides. Sometimes there is only 40 minutes for a quick indoor session. Do it. It helps.
Of course, you should also have a stretching routine which includes back and hams. One of the noticeable problems which old people have is stiffness, which stretching regularly will overcome.
My objective is to empower each of you to achieve health, strength and flexibility for the rest of your lives at minimal costs. Do not forget that, just as getting rich does not happen overnight, reaching the end of middle age in good shape starts now. You cannot afford to reach your sixties, and at that stage decide that you must get into shape. Of course, it is possible, but it is very difficult to break old habits and create new ones as you get older. Also there may already be some irreversible damage by then. There is no better time to start good habits than now; as hard as this may be, it will never get easier.
What you want, or should want, is strength rather than muscles. Cardio workouts are excellent for your heart, lungs, and vascular system, and it is the foundation of good health, together with diet and rest. I aim to add another dimension, which aims to look after the skeletal system, muscle tone, and tendons. If I really want to know how strong you are, I will want to know how many pull-ups you can do. My guess is that most cyclists can’t do any. I like Chuck Norris’ reply to the question: “How many pull-ups can you do?” “All of them”, he said.
Over the years I have found that resistance training has benefitted me more that out and out weight training. If I can move my own weight several times, that’s all I will ever really need. It amuses me when I go into gyms and see so many, guys in particular, who look like Adonis, the god of beauty and desire in Greek mythology, from the waist up, but below that, hidden under baggy track suit pants, are two painfully skinny little legs.
So, we as cyclists never need to hide our legs; we don’t have leg problems, we don’t need to hide them, but our upper bodies often need help. You don’t want big muscles as a cyclist. Dear God, you’d have to carry that extra weight on the climbs. Hell no! But you do want to be able to get into a speedo, and not look like a 90 pound weakling, don’t you? I’m proposing a healthy balance to see you through as you get older.
If time were no constraint, you would need no implements at all. You would simply get your gym gear into a bag, drive to your nearest gym, go through your routine, shower and get into clean clothes, then move on. This consumes much more time than a quick routine at home. This is what I am here to propose. You will need a few square metres of space to keep the necessary bits and pieces, and have enough space to move around. Ideally, a dedicated room, where you keep your bike(s) and gear is the best option. I am fortunate to have one of those. Some of my visitors call it my shrine. That is not the truth as I don’t worship either my body or cycling; I have bigger God. But I do recognise the value of good health, and as I age, it is becoming more and more evident that the years of these simple disciplines are paying dividends.
In an ideal world you would want an adjustable bench, a rowing machine, a stationary bike, some loose weights and a bar, dumbbells, a pull-up bar, a ball, and a mat. This sounds like a lot of gear, but it really is the bare essentials. Luckily, you can get away with even less. Leave out the bench and rowing machine and you’ll find that the rest is easy enough to have. There are always more implements you can add, but they take space and are expensive. We are choosing the cheapest, most effective route.
I cannot emphasise enough the importance of floor exercises, and my gym routine always includes some time on the mat. I use the floor for abs, back, core and some stretching. If I told you that I do as many as 500 sit-ups per session, it’ll probably freak you out, and I am not suggesting that you go out and try to do 500 sit-ups any time soon. Also I vary my abs routine in sets of 50. And they are varied, so as to access several muscle groups in the midriff area as well as obliques. All of a sudden it’s 10 sets of 50 and not 500 in a row. I start with some abs and then throw a set in here and there during the session.
In order not to gain unnecessary muscle, I try to do high-rep routines. If I am going to push, pull or lift a weight 30 times, or even 20 times, it must be manageable. You don’t want to build like a weight lifter, but you do want some muscle which is strong and effective. Also high reps tend to give you great definition.
My aim here is to complement the work you are already doing on your body. As cyclists, most of you have good legs and probably glutes. As sexy as pro cyclists are on their bikes and in kit, have you ever seen them sitting around a pool in their baggies? Have you ever seen anything so desperate? With those skinny white torsos and biceps as thick as my wrists, they all qualify for the old Black Cat peanut butter advert featuring the proverbial 90 pound weakling on the beach getting sand kicked in his face. By the way the 90 pounder in the advert was wearing baggies. No speedos for 90 pounders I’m afraid.
And so, let’s get down to specifics, and talk about the essentials. You need a 65cm ball, two pairs of dumbbells of different weights, a pull-up bar, and a mat. Total investment: under R 1 500. Also, if you are a remotely serious cyclist, and don’t have an indoor trainer. Just get one. It does not have to be a computerised what, what with power output and large screen, and be programmable to enable you to follow TDF stages. Even the entry level ones come with more than enough options to meet all normal requirements, provided you have a heart rate monitor. Again, I am not suggesting that top-of-the-range indoor trainers are not worth what you pay for them. It’s just that you can get 90% as much done with an entry-level one. And put up a mirror. Somehow I find it more gratifying to look at myself doing a bicep curl, and actually see the muscle bunching.
Obviously men and women need different programs, just as different people have different time constraints and have differing objectives. I would be happy to help you individually with a program. These programs should be reviewed every three months, but in time, they should enable you to be in tune with your body to the point of making your own adjustments as and when necessary.
The objective of these very simple guidelines, is to encourage a lifestyle of cross-training. For this to happen, the program needs to be sustainable. Your cycling will not benefit in the short term, but it will extend your cycling or sport career and quality of life beyond your imagination. There will be days when you don’t feel like doing anything, of course. Listen to your body, but I recommend sticking to the plan. Don’t forget: the real objective here is to improve your quality of life into your fifties, sixties and beyond, not to turn you into a sex god or goddess. You’ll just feel like one.
The gym program that I use, besides being adaptable for each individual, is almost infinitely variable. You can create programs which leave you incapacitated for days, or leave your already great legs so shaky that you can’t turn a pedal the next day. You adapt the program to suit your needs, lifestyle, and more importantly for upcoming important rides where you want to be strong.
We all would like to age gracefully. I like this little slogan which I read somewhere: “We can’t always choose the music life plays us, but we can choose how we dance to it”. And we all know that life is about choices, so let’s make a choice for quality of life, while we have breath in us. Life and death are not ours to give, but let’s take our chance to make sure that we get the best possible quality of life for as long as possible.
Last cliché: I want to die young as late as possible.
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