I NEED to work on my upper body to gain some strength for biking. I also could do with more flexibility in my lower back and hamstrings/hip flexors.

I have no weights or kettle bells and do not plan on getting any unfortunately.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a program using just my own weight (press ups etc) please?

Prisoner Squats. Do just about everything. Press ups for everything else.

do they involve 6″ inches and soap?

Pull-ups, dips, bench / plank, yoga. Buy a basic set of dumb-bells

yoga – bit broad mate!!

Go to a class. To get the most benefit do it every morning, it does amazing things.

In a word: Pilates. That will hit all of the above and you can do it at home as well without any kit.

As I’m discovering, pay lots of attention to upper back flexibility and strength, think chin ups are a good exercise, but you can also do various extensions with your arms.

BikeRadar has a good article about improving your time trial position which focuses on upper back strength. My problem is I’ve started too late and am struggling with tension in the upper back, so I’ve just bought foam roller which I’m unashamedly excited about, anything to release the constant tingling pain across my shoulder blades…

2nd yoga. You’ll be amazed.
Swimming is good for upper body too, and more interesting than press ups

Buy a singlespeed, that’ll give you a proper upperbody workout and make you a better rider too

don’t be daft

Yoga for sure.

Ride your bike more. Put the seat down and PUMP! That way you build the muscles you need for riding…

adstick – Member

Ride your bike more. Put the seat down and PUMP! That way you build the muscles you need for riding…

having a 2 year old kid, a missus and a demanding job, not feasible buddy!!

Try the ‘convict conditioning’ book, has six different exercise, each or broken down to 10 different levels of progression. They are all body weight exercises so you will not need much equipment. It works all major muscle groups, if followed properly and you put the time in you can incredibly strong.

I brought the book, did wounder if it would be any good but was very pleasantly surprised, well written and excellent ideas of the progressions for each exercise. As a bonus it does not take that long to do (compared to going to gym).

if your cheeky you may even find a free down load on line of the book.

I find **** does the trick, just change hands every other day.

What do you actually want to achieve? Upper body is a lot of muscles…

This man talks a lot of sense: http://www.bikejames.com/

You can do a lot with bodyweight exercises, as he discusses in his blog.

just do ‘lots of hill climbing’ with your elbows tucked inwards… you can feel your back muscles working… 😉

+1 for http://www.bikejames.com

Be aware though that some people think he’s a tool…