I’m bored and this is my current training conundrum…

What are your suggestions for routines etc?

Eat in the evening and you’ll get bigger. Eat in the morning and you’ll get toned.

Simple as that.

Damn you for having a definitive answer so quickly! 🙂

is it not just as said diet with low weight and lots of reps?

i dont know mind never been to the gym.

Swimming.

Damn you for having a definitive answer so quickly!

Sorry. Fixed for the sake of the debate…

low weights, high reps

Chase turkeys.

Smaller weights moved faster.

Imo. this needs some planmning.

to get stronger you will need to do high weights low reps (this will also get you bigger)

to maintain that strength you need to keep the weight the same and increase the reps – the muscle will ‘become efficient’ and get smaller.

dont know what you do already but i would suggest plyometrics and body weight sessions.

damn you for stealing my thread idea yeti, although its nice to have the same training conundrum to discuss!

i’m quite liking the sound of thomthumb’s suggestion though.

Never get tired of recommending the “Body Pump” classes my local gym runs: lowish weight, high reps, fit women (and men, whatever…)

Basically a series of routines, each one lasts a song: legs (squats), chest, shoulders, more legs (dips), triceps, biceps…

Well you hadn’t started it!!
I too like the idea of getting smaller with a maintainence program.
Although I have got a spell of getting my right leg back up to normal size to go through.

My current (weights) training is centred around bodyweight exercises, kettlebells, yoga, free weights plus and try to do a different session everytime I enter the gym.

I’m also aiming to do sets of 20 chin-ups but this is an aside.

Yep, I used to do Pump classes a lot mogrim. Can’t do squats at the moment so they’re out of the question.

I’m also aiming to do sets of 20 chin-ups but this is an aside.

That’s so dull though. Add a 20kg plate to avoid the tedium.

5th – that’s going to be pretty tough going!

We have a machine that you can load plates on (it’s split you can’t compensate for a weaker arm) that I’ve been loading with 20 kg over my bodyweight… sets of 20 though!! 😯

sit ups , leg raises , press ups & stretching.
Light weights, greater reps if you want to use machines.

Or get a girdle 😀

5th – that’s going to be pretty tough going!

We have a machine that you can load plates on (it’s split you can’t compensate for a weaker arm) that I’ve been loading with 20 kg over my bodyweight… sets of 20 though!!
I meant to keep the reps down to 10. Do sets of 20 at +20kg and I’ll worship you as a minor deity. Well maybe not, but I’ll be very impressed…

Roughly, what is meant by high reps? 50? 100? A million?

How much is low weight? Is it worked out as a percentage of your upper limit?

sounds like you already doing a lot of the things i would recommend. so the thing to change is the tempo. HIT training sounds like the way to go . its where you do high intensity exersises for a short period. for example burpees , box jumps, shuttle sprints maybe some boxing, slip some of these into your current program, between exersises and vary them to keep your body guessing.

Cheers Birdo… I noramlly fit in a circuit training session as well.
The guy that runs them does a different set of exercises each week.

To develop strength without particularly bulking up I’d recommend body weight exercises, alongside a sensible healthy diet.

Personally, I just keep it simple and informal.

Alongside the cycling/MTBing I do sets of press-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups, sit-ups, sometimes bicep curls and tricep dips (although the press-ups & chin-ups work the arms to a decent extent for my purposes).

This seems to give me good muscle tone and an extra bit of strength in my arms/shoulders/back.

I generally aim for sets of 15-20 reps.

Circuit training.

have you got any Olympic rings at your gym . they are always a good shock to the system and build incredible pound for pound strength.just look at gymnasts

what is meant by high reps?

for me, maybe 10-15 x2 or x3.

How much is low weight? Is it worked out as a percentage of your upper limit?

for me a light weight is one that feels easy for the first 10 repsx2.
like spinning it out on a bike , if you know what i mean.

birdo – we have! Not used them yet really… not sure what to do if I’m honest.

add heavy weight rings to your typing fingers – use bling if you wish as I think it will suit you. Get a 15 kg mouse and swap hands
HTH

I always thought (I’m no expert though)

Size – less weight, more reps, several sets, and ont he last one you should be pretty much vomiting, pushing so hard that the bar barely moves, then try and push it another mm at a time untill the pain gets too much, i.e. the more pain you experience in the last rep the more dmage is done and the bigger the muscle grows back.

Stength – big weight, few reps, never do anything to failiure, the idea being you’re doing it as part of a training program, no point being able to squat with 200kg if you can’t ride the bike the next day. The downside of this method and the reason most gym goers go for option 1 is it tends to result in injury if you’re not already doing lots of exercise to have all the strong connective tissue/strong bones etc in place?

(I’m no expert though)

You’ve just ruined one of my favourite delusions… I thought you were an expert on everything?

well to start with if they are low enough to the floor (abot 2 ft ish ) try doing standard press ups with your feet on the floor. if that is easy place your feet on a swiss ball. from the same press up position you can try extending your arms out to a T position and back in ( very hard ). then if you turn round lay on the floor you can do pull ups ( like a reverse press up) . also try triceps dips and from a similar position leg raises

Good ideas Birdo, ta!

light weight lots of reps toning

heavy weight feww reps bulk

Have you thought about going for some hypnotism sessions? Get the hypnotist to convince you that you are now Über-buff.
You can then forget all this training guff.
Not a problem for me because I am Über-buff, but I do worry about the rest of you.

Ian – can you give me the number for your hypnotist?

thisisnotaspoon – Member
I always thought (I’m no expert though)

Size – less weight, more reps, several sets, and ont he last one you should be pretty much vomiting, pushing so hard that the bar barely moves, then try and push it another mm at a time untill the pain gets too much, i.e. the more pain you experience in the last rep the more dmage is done and the bigger the muscle grows back.

Stength – big weight, few reps, never do anything to failiure, the idea being you’re doing it as part of a training program, no point being able to squat with 200kg if you can’t ride the bike the next day. The downside of this method and the reason most gym goers go for option 1 is it tends to result in injury if you’re not already doing lots of exercise to have all the strong connective tissue/strong bones etc in place?

POSTED 6 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

That’s it, I would add low weight +very high reps tends to tone muscle, and a middle weight with medium reps adds bulk. For strength “big weight” is not the weight you can get up just about if your technique goes to hell.

Find your 1 rep max (weight you can just do one rep of with PERFECT form) and do close to it. I like to vary the reps and weight per set so instead of doing 6,6,6 at weight X do 8,6,4 at X,X+1,X+2.

Obviously if you want to get strong then unless it’s for showing off at the weight rack then you’ll want to be “usefully” strong. Compound exercises like deadlifts, cleans, squats etc are what you want to be looking at doing. You want to be very controlled and super slow on the down stroke, as it were, and explode on the up stroke (P=F*V, not much use moving a large force (F) slowly (V) as your power (P) will still be low and power is wht you are looking for, for real life applications i.e becoming a faster cyclist/rower/etc.) Your back, your legs and your core (more on this later) are going to be the most useful areas to develop, biceps aren’t. So i’d skip the small exercises only working one muscle at a time, your biceps will get a workout when you do chin-ups, bent over rows etc triceps when you do dips, bench press etc.

Obvious but, structure your workout so the exercises including more muscles (deadlifts, cleans, even chin ups) are at the beginning and more specific exercises focusing on one or two muscles (bicep curls, if you must) are at the end.

Spend a lot of time on your core (infact my opinion on weight training for cycling would be that unless you are a track sprinter get out of the gym, buy a swiss ball, work on your core and ride instead)the more stable your core and the more even the muscles are on either side of your body the better you will perform at basically every thing.

Iain

I use limited recovery time between sets (45 sec ) This works the cardiovascular system harder burning more calories which in turn builds endurance without bulk . Keep reps in the medium range 10-12 x 3 with as much weight as you can comfortably complete the first set.
Fairly basic but it works.

I thought the term ‘toning’ was a load of rollox?

You either build muscle or lose fat to show definition?

I thought the term ‘toning’ was a load of rollox?

You either build muscle or lose fat to show definition?

Eh? The average Ethiopian has lost most of his fat and has penty of definition, but little tone (i.e. muscle)..

trickydisco +1