Winter 'training'

[Trek420]

"I am surprised if your knees give you trouble that you can do a stair climber, they just kill my knees. Spinning or an eliptical are the only things that don't hurt my knees.

Irulan"

Well gals, I took my test for second degree black belt last night and passed. From all reports it looked great!

I want to thank you all for your training sugestions especially steering me to the eliptical trainer. I had so much more energy and mobility that my teachers were literaly shocked.

Well, that's over. I'll always do Aikido for as long as I can but now....I can get back on the bike!!! Don't have to go through another test for at least 3-4 years so ....more time for cycling!

whoopeeeee.

[TwoTiredGal]

I also do the weight lifting and running thing during the off season. Since I'm in Colorado I can usually get some riding during the winter but not as much as I'd like so I use the trainer sometimes also. For weight lifting, I used the Mountain Bikers Training Bible and thought that was a great way to workout to get or stay in shape. I try to run outside as much as possible but the treadmill is a great alternative. I have a few friends who are using Fit For Life workouts because they're a little shorter timewise than your average workout and that seems to be working for them also. I guess my advice is to do what you love or find something that makes you feel like you're improving your skills on what you love to do and then you'll stick with it more. Oh... and snowshoeing is a great butt and quad burner!

[vinnysmom]

I am experimenting with a couple of things - both indoors as this apparently is the year for big sloppy snows with only a few days reprieve between new snowfalls.
I racewalk and run on a treadmill and then scoot over to the stairclimber in the mornings and then have joined a weighttraining/cardio class in the evenings a couple of days a week.
Maybe adding something new a couple of evenings will mix things up and keep me motivated for these dark dark early evenings.
The class is also teaching me some new freeweight things.
The class is so small this time of year that it's practically a shared lesson with a private trainer.
Inexpensive way to work with a trainer as the classes are offered through our local city gym for only $25 beans for an eight week session.

[Irulan]

Originally posted by vinnysmom
I
The class is so small this time of year that it's practically a shared lesson with a private trainer.
Inexpensive way to work with a trainer as the classes are offered through our local city gym for only $25 beans for an eight week session.

that's a steal!!! what a great price. Have fun.

What kind of weight program do they talk about in the mountainbikers training bible?

Irulan

[TwoTiredGal]

In the Mountain Bikers Training Bible, he (Friel) developed a program that is ultimately for racers because it's centered on peak performances at certain times for certain races. But I wasn't racing when I did it and it still worked great for me. It's just different intensities and different amounts of weight depending on where you are in the season. The weight workouts themselves are whole body rather than doing upper one day and lower another day. I did like that! He also has cardiovascular things in the book but I didn't pay as much attention to those so I can't say much about them. I really like the book though and refer back to it quite a bit when trying to decide how to evolve my lifting at various times.