Upperbody training

[bladedave]

After a few months on my bike im quite happy with the gains ive made in my fitness, and my leg size.
But my upper body is losing out, has anybody got a simple plan for building a bit of muscle on my top half.
The training will be done at home and with dumbells.

 

[montage]

bench press
dumbell rows
pull ups
shoulder press
If you can get a barbell - deadlifts (take care with form)


Google these

You will also want some core exercises and there are so many of these so chose your favourite.

 

[montage]

P.S. to start off with do these all in one session twice a week. If you are feeling you could do more a couple of days later then either up the weights and keep doing them twice a week, or throw in a third day.

 

[jimboalee]

When you buy the dumbells, you'll get a booklet of instructions with them. Or a large wall poster showing the various exercises, or a poster with a picture of Lysippos' Herakles and other pictures of a young Joe Weider doing the exercises.

 

[numbnuts]

I use dumbbells to help with kayaking, but I have notice that now my arms don’t ache so much while riding, well worth the money. I got mine at Argos

 

[bladedave]

thanks everyone off to buy some now

 

[jimboalee]

thanks everyone off to buy some now

Don't be so hasty.

The same effect can be had using a pair of 6 pint milk canisters and sand.

Then download the instruction sheets off the web.

 

[ChrisBD]

I have always used dumbells and body-weight excercises for muscular development / strength training.

Do not underestimate the role of calesthenic / plyometric type / bodyweight exercises - unless you are a bodybuilder or power lifter they will prove better than "real" weight training.

There is an old book (privatelly published) called Muscle Dynamics, which goes into some detail about such training, based around the HIT / MMF principles - very very good!

Alternate these types of exercises with a range of open and closed had chin-ups and you will develop much better and quicker than just dumbells alone.

Here are some links:

Plyometrics

Calesthenics

My own "weights" routine consists of the following:

Wide Grip Closed Palm Chin-Ups
Narrow Grip Open Palm Chin-Ups

(these I do in a pyramid set style - 1st set 1 rep / 2nd set 2 reps / 3rd set 3 reps / 4th set 4 reps etc up to my Max (between 15-20) back down one at a time to 1 rep)

Calesthenic push-ups - wide hands
Calesthenic tricep push-offs - narrow hands (like a press-up but with my feet on a box so my body is paralel to the floor, and my hands flat (palm open) on the floor) I push up with my hands, pushing my hands off the floor - if that makes sence?

Hand Stand press-ups against a wall - take your trainers off so you dont have rubber marks on the wall!

Calesthenic ab crunches and ab cycling

I also on occasion use plyometric jumps with a ball, or weight, as I might duck walks with weight (dumbells)

Although I have and do use weights (dumbells); its all too easy to just "go through the motions" in using them. A good chin-up bar and body weight exercises gives you no choice other than to do them properly - as any gymnast would testify!

edited to add - try not to fixate on a specific number of reps (repetitions); instead, work to MMF (maximum muscle failiure / fatigue) this will ensure that you are pushing your ability to the edge each time!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

bench press
dumbell rows
pull ups
shoulder press
If you can get a barbell - deadlifts (take care with form)


Google these

You will also want some core exercises and there are so many of these so chose your favourite.

+1 all of those

pressups and planks can make a big difference to your core strength (says mr lardyarse fatboy, but I've been poorly) and need no gear

 

[Rob3rt]

tbh, for cycling performance I wouldnt bother with any upper body excerise bar core stengthening (which everyone should do regardless of their chosen sport).

But if you want to bulk up a bit and want to do it on the cheap, press-ups, sit-ups (many variations) and pull ups are your friend! Superset the exercises for added effect.

 

[Dayvo]

Skipping for fine-toning
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epZjMuRRXLo

Swiss ball
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyOUEiqnln4

 

[TheBoyBilly]

I'm going to try some of this stuff down the gym tomorrow (cycling has pretty much taken over my fitness regime these past six months, apart from 'interval' walking on the treadmill and some cross-training) I'm a bit apprehensive about chin-ups with crunches as I think those will take a bit of getting used to, but I'll certainly try despite probable odd looks from the gym regulars. I've managed to take 4" off my waist in four months and would be over the moon if I could show a similar loss by Christmas.

Bill

 

[Yellow Fang]

Press ups are good, although they are a killer. When I was a teenager, I went through a phase of doing press ups every day. I got up to 126. They may not have been what a gym instructor would consider proper press ups, but they were still killing. There are a lot different varieties of press ups anyway. They made me quite broad shouldered. The main down side was that I tended to favour my right arm more than my left, so my right pec ended up larger than my left. Another down side is that it probably slowed down my running and cycling a bit.

Chin ups are good too. I used to do mine from the attic door using gardening gloves, but you can buy chin up bars to attach to your door frames. Unlike press-ups, chin ups tended to even out my pecs. They also enhance your deltoids.

May I also recommend you go to circuits classes at your gym? It's easier to keep going with an instructor and other people around to push you on.