I believe I briefly mentioned complexes in a thread awhile back but now that I've started incorporating them into my program I thought i would bring them up again.
For those of you that don't lift weights this thread will probably be useless so feel free to move on.
I've always enjoyed lifting weights, free weights that is, and when I started getting the itch to ditch the bow-flex I had been using and get back into the Gym and ran it by Mohshee she was interested as well.
With a wealth of new knowledge at my fingertips I returned to the gym doing workouts completely different than anything I had done in the past which in reality are much more effective and for the most part less time consuming than what I have done in the past. And while the programs I use aren't designed around mountainbiking but overall strength and conditioning they will definitely have an impact on mountainbiking as well.
Once my body got used to working with weights again I decided to tack on very intense interval training ot the end of each workout. Not only do these short sessions burn some serious calories, they really train the body to deal with lactic acid buildup. For awhile this consisted soley of sessions on either the stationary bike or eliptical but this week i through complexes into the mix.
I got turned onto complexes awhile back when reading through some articles on Alwyn Cosgrove's site and they definitely intrigued me. My original plan was to do a 3-4 week phase where my workouts consisted entirely of complexes but after reading the article again it dawned on me that they are really just another form of interval training to combine with other workouts. So this week I decided to start working in the complexes programs 2 days a week and I could barely even make it through one set using a mere 55 pounds (and to put in in perspective I pretty easily squat and deadlift 215-225lbs for sets of 10.
The basic idea of complexes is to combine multiple exercises into one set. So for example, you might do 6 reps of deadlift followed immediately by 6 reps of bent over row, followed by 6 reps of romanian deadlift. That would be one set. The goal is basically to just keep the bar moving.
I have 2 routines I use, each consisting of 8 exercises at 6 reps each. The goal is to work up to 4-5 sets with 60 second rests between sets but it will definitely take some time to build up to that.
Complex A:
Deadlift 6 reps
Romanian Deadlift 6 reps
Bent Over Row 6 reps
Power Clean 6 reps
Front Squat 6 reps
Push Press 6 reps
Back Squat 6 reps
Good Morning 6 reps
Complex B:
Snatch Grip Deadlift 6 reps
Snatch Pull 6 reps
Upright Row 6 reps
Power Snatch 6 reps
Reverse Lunge 6 reps each leg
Push Jerk 6 reps
Jump Squat 6 reps
Needless to say, by the end of a set the heart rate is sky high and you are gasping for air. If you hit the weights regularlty I highly reccomend giving this routine a shot.
For those of you that don't lift weights this thread will probably be useless so feel free to move on.
I've always enjoyed lifting weights, free weights that is, and when I started getting the itch to ditch the bow-flex I had been using and get back into the Gym and ran it by Mohshee she was interested as well.
With a wealth of new knowledge at my fingertips I returned to the gym doing workouts completely different than anything I had done in the past which in reality are much more effective and for the most part less time consuming than what I have done in the past. And while the programs I use aren't designed around mountainbiking but overall strength and conditioning they will definitely have an impact on mountainbiking as well.
Once my body got used to working with weights again I decided to tack on very intense interval training ot the end of each workout. Not only do these short sessions burn some serious calories, they really train the body to deal with lactic acid buildup. For awhile this consisted soley of sessions on either the stationary bike or eliptical but this week i through complexes into the mix.
I got turned onto complexes awhile back when reading through some articles on Alwyn Cosgrove's site and they definitely intrigued me. My original plan was to do a 3-4 week phase where my workouts consisted entirely of complexes but after reading the article again it dawned on me that they are really just another form of interval training to combine with other workouts. So this week I decided to start working in the complexes programs 2 days a week and I could barely even make it through one set using a mere 55 pounds (and to put in in perspective I pretty easily squat and deadlift 215-225lbs for sets of 10.
The basic idea of complexes is to combine multiple exercises into one set. So for example, you might do 6 reps of deadlift followed immediately by 6 reps of bent over row, followed by 6 reps of romanian deadlift. That would be one set. The goal is basically to just keep the bar moving.
I have 2 routines I use, each consisting of 8 exercises at 6 reps each. The goal is to work up to 4-5 sets with 60 second rests between sets but it will definitely take some time to build up to that.
Complex A:
Deadlift 6 reps
Romanian Deadlift 6 reps
Bent Over Row 6 reps
Power Clean 6 reps
Front Squat 6 reps
Push Press 6 reps
Back Squat 6 reps
Good Morning 6 reps
Complex B:
Snatch Grip Deadlift 6 reps
Snatch Pull 6 reps
Upright Row 6 reps
Power Snatch 6 reps
Reverse Lunge 6 reps each leg
Push Jerk 6 reps
Jump Squat 6 reps
Needless to say, by the end of a set the heart rate is sky high and you are gasping for air. If you hit the weights regularlty I highly reccomend giving this routine a shot.