Just started doing some deadlifts to get a little stronger. Not aiming to bulk up or anything.

Does anyone use those adjustable kettle bells you fill with sand? I don’t have enough space for a long bar and don’t want to spend lots on a kettle bell only to find it’s too light/heavy. I’m 58kg so don’t need a lot.

How about resistance bands? There’s plenty that are strong enough for deadlifts and you don’t get the restriction of the bar going around your shins. You’ll probably need some grips or similar as I find grip strength is the weakest bit.

Got some resistance bands but they’re too progressive for deadlifts or any big movement.

I’m 58kg so don’t need a lot.

You’ll be surprised how soon the weight builds up. I’m 65kg and lifting over 100kg now after 3 months, started low and just increased 5kg each week. Make sure you pay a lot of attention to your form, deadlifts and squats are not lifts you want to get wrong.

Tests why I want something I can add weight to easily, with little cost. Sand filled or water filled would be ideal. Or even concrete?

Forget sand or water, their weight per volume is far too low to do anything meaningful with when it comes to dead lifts. Steel is 5 times heavier for the same volume, I started with the sand filled nylon weights, very quickly moved them on and replaced them with steel when I realised this.

I’m 63Kg best lift 160Kg. I’ve bought a piece of galvanised scaffold type bar for my bumper weights, makes lifting more challenging and is shorter so doesn’t take up so much room.
I’ve found after years of training the strict overhead press to be the most beneficial exercise, especially as you get past 50.

Are you set on deadlifts? If so I’d consider trying to join a gym, it would get you lifting heavier and safer more quickly.

But, I’d say that unless you have a great desire to start lifting heavy rather than just get a bit stronger then there are better exercises out there and don’t require as much equipment. For instance single leg deadlifts also work balance and core and don’t require 100kg of plates. Pick up a kettlebell and subsequent heavier ones as you progress, or start with adjustable dumbbells. I’d also say they are more adaptable for general strength and fitness. The default answer in many of these threads is power rack and Olympic bar and plates regardless the the op was only asking to add a bit of strength training.

Can you not get a s/h set with the great covid sell-off? Filling with sand, water etc sounds like an epic ballache.

IANA kettlebeller but you wouldn’t ever pull real weight on a KB deadlift – it’s a technique thing to lay the foundation for the ballistic moves people do, swinging them around. If you wanted to do this sort of stuff you’d need a small set, as the weight you used for deadlift would be too heavy to swing.

You can get adjustable weight kettle bells which have steel plates which connect on/off.

There are quite a few different deadlift variations that you can try as you build up your strength.

Some of them you will not be able to lift as much as a conventional deadlift, so you will not hit a weight limit as soon.

Have a look at Romanian deadlifts to target glutes and hamstrings.

Stiff leg deadlifts to target hamstrings.

Pause deadlifts are great as well.

As above, you’ll never get heavy enough without a bar and weights. If you don’t want to buy the weights (plus associated squat rack, bench etc) then just join a cheap gym and use theirs.

There’s no point doing strength training with a weight that you can throw arround indefinitely. It’s not Aerobics/HITT.

Also kettle bell is going to force you into a wide stance which whilst great for your ego isn’t a ‘real’ deadlift except on tik-tock.

Not interested in gyms. This is just something I started doing when I get home after a run. Using a dumbbell at the moment but want the cheapest way to add weights. Want to target hamstrings and glutes.

Not a cheap option but a pair of these would at least get you upto arround bodyweight without the need for a full barbell.

https://www.strengthshop.co.uk/strength-shop-riot-monster-loadable-dumbbell.html?

But I’d reconsider doing it in a gym, the key bits of deadlift technique revolve around coming away with bruised legs from the bar. Doing it with anything other than a bar is liable to cause injuries because you won’t be able to set your shoulders or keep the weight as close to your shins.

This is just something I started doing when I get home after a run.

Also a bad idea.

Romanian Deadlift is the Boss for hamstrings and good for glutes – one of the top lifts for cyclists. But it’s hard to do properly without a bar – or rather it’s hard to learn without a bar because the position of the weight relative to your legs is important. If you know the form then it’s prob fine with dumbbells.

You could try and rig something up to do nordic curls, there are probably guides on youtube to do so.

Mark rippletoe is good to follow on correct form

https://startingstrength.com/

This is just something I started doing when I get home after a run.

Second the fact that this isn’t the best time to do strength moves.

Gyms are full of strength kit. Unsurprisingly, that kit, will be the best kit for doing strength moves like deadlifts or overhead presses or whatever.

Join a gym, or pick up a barbell with about 100kg of iron, that will do you for everything.

Or look up some bodyweight exercises. Pistols/one leg squats, dips, chin ups, are all good stuff.

Lots of bodyweight progression possible e.g. pressups can go from leaning against a wall thru normal press up thru legs up on a box pressups thru to handstand position pressups thru to planche pressups.

Post run seems the best time for me. I’m warm and stretch after weights. I’ve tried other times but end up too stiff the next day. I could try pre run weights. Or before or after a short ride.

Post run seems the best time for me. I’m warm and stretch after weights. I’ve tried other times but end up too stiff the next day. I could try pre run weights. Or before or after a short ride.

Ok, hear me out. To get the benefit from any strength training you need to be lifting the most weight you can lift for the prescribed number of reps (about 5 reps for strength without hypertrophy). Lifting less weight will deliver no results, it’s a waste of time. Deadlifts in particular need carefull thought, most programs will only do one set of 5, or 3×3, or even less. Usually with squats as the ‘warmup’.

Any strength training is always done first for this reason, you do your big compound lifts (deadlift, squat, bench press, overhead press, row) first (and only do a selection of them so you don’t tire yourself) as you want all your muscles as fresh as possible. Trying to do them post run when some muscles are tired is going to cause an injury (i.e. your legs could be writing cheques your back can’t cash) or a lack of results (your legs just can’t lift enough to stimulate a training response).

Then you do your accessory work (smaller but still compound exercises like face pulls, inclined press, single arm rows, latt raises, lat pulldowns) to address weaknesses in the primary lifts.

Then you do isolation exercises. This is for when you’ve messed up and really neglected something. Training one very specific muscle at a time.

Lifting insufficient weight, after cardio, with potentially poor form because of the equipment will either give you poor results or an injury.

Lifting insufficient weight, after cardio, with potentially poor form because of the equipment will either give you poor results or an injury.

see also crossfit 😉

Get some proper coaching. The Deadlift is a simple move, but done wrong can mess with your whole posterior chain.

@johnx2 – Having been a long term CrossFitter i must correct you – it isn’t CrossFit that injures people its people that injure themselves… by lifting too heavy, too quickly and not having or sticking to form. 😉

Romanian Deadlift is the Boss for hamstrings and good for glutes – one of the top lifts for cyclists. But it’s hard to do properly without a bar – or rather it’s hard to learn without a bar because the position of the weight relative to your legs is important. If you know the form then it’s prob fine with dumbbells.

Walking or static lunge will target the glutes and is more dumbbell friendly, although you can also do it with a bar. It also requires half the weight as you target each leg on it’s own. It also requires more core stabilisation as with anything asymmetric – so more bang for your buck.

@johnx2 – Having been a long term CrossFitter i must correct you – it isn’t CrossFit that injures people its people that injure themselves… by lifting too heavy, too quickly and not having or sticking to form. 😉

Don’t all cults say that everyone’s acting of their own free will 😉

Barbells can be stored vertically which takes very little space and are probably the best and most flexible for deadlifts but you really should be doing a number of different exercises to target the entire body.

If you are just trying to get to get fitter and more toned then a 12kg kettlebell could be used for a wide variety of exercises, is cheap and is easy to store.

I would second the recommendations of going to a gym and trying their kit. Personally I would not do a strength program like Stronglifts 5×5 at home by myself without having a proper cage and bench which would take up space.

I would second the recommendations of going to a gym and trying their kit. Personally I would not do a strength program like Stronglifts 5×5 at home by myself without having a proper cage and bench which would take up space.

Swap back squat for front squat and barbell bench for dumbbell bench and you can train on your own, to failure, perfectly safely.

FS also requires much more core activation than BS so you get more bang for your buck but will lift maybe 20% less.

Thisisnotaspoon has it.

If you want to work on getting stronger, don’t mess about, join a gym, learn how to lift.
I’m assuming you ride regularly, as you post here, you said you run, sounds like you are probably doing enough cardio as is.

Join a gym, learn how to lift heavy things safely, set aside some time to lift those heavy things 2 or 3 times a week.

Full disclosure: I’m 3 weeks out from tweaking my back Deadlifting with a hex bar, so have avoided any hinging lifts and Back Squats since.
I also may not go back to Deadlifts and Back Squats, as I’m quite enjoying the lack of lower back stiffness in the last week or so.

I do a few other things too that target other areas. I don’t want to get big or put on much weight. Just want to improve hamstring and glute strength a little which is my weakest area.

Try banded walks for glutes. And have a watch of ‘knees over toes guy’ on you tube for hamstring stuff.

You could get started with goblet squats, pretty challenging with as little as 25kg to get depth and form.

I don’t want to get big or put on much weight.

Unless you increase your calorie & protein intake significantly, this won’t happen anyway….

I do a few other things too that target other areas. I don’t want to get big or put on much weight. Just want to improve hamstring and glute strength a little which is my weakest area.

I hear this a lot, don’t worry you won’t. It takes long term commitment, diet, genes etc not just lifting heavy things occasionally.

You could get started with goblet squats, pretty challenging with as little as 25kg to get depth and form.

I’ve replaced Back Squats with Landmine Squats while my back heals (a variation of Goblet Squats).
I may not go back to traditional squats after this!

This thread is relevant to my intrests.

I started MTB as I wanted to get fit but hated the thought of going to a gym. Now I’ve joined a gym so that I’m stronger and fitter on the bike. Funny old world.

Only been going 2 months but doing 3 sessions a week with a focus on one set of equipment each day. Day 1 is kettle bell, day 2 is bar bell, day 3 is sandbag then bar bell as its a longer session. Doing that 5×5 thing I see a lot off on youtube (dead lift, row, squat, press, and then pull ups* on a moneky bar). Plus I do the rowing MC for a warm up, some of the leg and arm machines, rope pulley, and some medicien ball crunches for variation.

*Pull ups are really hard. I do them in sets of 2.5. That is One, Two, Two and a half … rest

I had an old routine that kinda stopped 2 years ago and trying to get back into it.

Upper body twice a week:
2 x 10 pull ups
1 x 10 chin ups
Shoulder routine that I don’t know the name of but works for me.
Press ups
Plank 2:30min
Bicycle crunches 2 x 40

Lower body:
Not got a set routine yet.
Already ride and run but want to add a little more strength there.

Goblet squats look good. Just need to settle on a hamstring workout now.

Also relevant to my interests, I’m forever trying to work more strength into my routine but am walking a constant knife-edge waiting for my back to spasm or tighten up.

It’s very frustrating when you have a good session and think your form is good then spend the next three days hobbling about with a twitchy back ☹️

Is this where the machines come into their own? e.g. if I want to work glutes and hams without tweaking back?

Is this where the machines come into their own?

Maybe, yes, possibly, but I’d be cautious about majoring in machine training as they tend to promote imbalance between muscle groups. Using e.g. squats as your main leg/back training gives a correct balance of leg and back strength.

Obviously medical reasons take precedence.

In general, stick to the big stuff. Regular back squat, bench, row, deadlift, overhead press, chin ups, dips. Use your body as a complete unit etc etc. Big movements work better for ‘unassisted’ lifters.