Second Week of Weight Training

The start of the second week of weight training has begun. The body feels very good from last weeks light effort with the weights. It is now time to start increasing the amount of weight on each set while keeping the reps high.

Lifts today:

Upper Body
Side raises
Bent over raises

Lower Body
Leg Curls
Leg Extensions
Leg Press

Weight training begins!

It is time to get back into the weight room for some all around strength training. This winter the focus will be on building lower body strength and transition that to power on the bike for next year. I will also focus on strengthening of my joints in my upper body.

Over the years I have taken a fair amount of nasty falls and surprisingly have come away with only a couple of cracked ribs. However, earlier this year I pulled a muscle in my left arm and it is still not yet healed. I can feel that my joints are not as strong as they were just a few years back and I attribute this to the lack of weight training. I will start out with light weigh and high repetitions with a focus on good form to ensure that I don't stress the joints too quickly. Because I have done a lot of weight training in the past my muscle strength progresses at a faster rate than the joints can take so I need to be careful.

Another thing that I am going to try this winter is keep the intensity up as much as possible, probably once a week with an intense ride. I still need to get in the longer endurance rides to build base, and I plan to keep the hours down during the transition phase to allow the body (and mind) some time to rebuild.