Icy Alternatives..

I kept on road riding through last years’ cold snap and I’m not sure it did me much good to be honest. The physical benefits may have been outweighed by the mental dislike of the conditions which meant that by the time it got warmer I felt like taking a break… bad timing!

At the moment I feel like hibernating as I was not designed for sub zero temperatures. The turbo is a good way to train and so is running but weight training is also beneficial, particularly for those 35 and over. When you hit your mid thirties your strength starts to decline but it can be kept up with specific strength training sessions. On the bike these can be as simple as riding up a hill in a bigger gear than normal and focussing on keeping your body movement to a minimum so all the work is being done by your legs. Running up an incline or stairs is also good.

In the gym there are lots of leg machines and gizmos but comparative testing has shown that free weight, compound leg movements are the most effective at maintaining and building strength. Free weights = not using a machine and compound means a multi-joint exercise e.g. Leg extensions are a single joint exercise and involve the quads only but a squat is a multi-joint exercise as it involves the knee and hip joints.

Multi joint / compound movements are much harder which is why you see so few gym goers doing them!

Top leg exercises: Squats and Deadlifts but you need to know how to do them properly to protect your lower back, but instead of not doing them its better to stick to higher repetitions of these exercises than work on lower reps on machines. If you want to try them but have no idea how to then ask for a qualified coach to show you. Mags like Men’s Health often have instruction on how to do these.

I wont go into all the different types of leg exercises here but if you have any doubt as to the effectiveness and targeting squats have on your major leg muscles then simply try this: lean against a wall with your back (push your chest out and arch your back so you can slide your hand behind your lower back) and lower yourself slowly until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Time how long you can do this for until your legs are screaming at you! This can also be done with one of those large exercise balls between your back and the wall. You can also do reps of these by simply standing and then slowly lowering yourself to parallel.

I really feel a benefit from doing leg exercises, particularly on short steep hills where you need to power up them to maintain your speed. Mph.