Unicycling and weightlifting.

General
1

I’ve been pondering lately about starting weightlifting again to strengthen my legs for Muni (also to increase my overall fitness and lower my weight :wink: ). I’m hoping the two can compliment each other. Does anyone else use weights to help with unicycling? And what exercises have you found useful?

Apart from my rowing machine that I use for cardiovascular work (though if you see me ride you’ll know its not been used lately) I like to only use free weights (again not for a while). I’m not keen on machines and this stems from being an Olympic weightlifter when I was younger, that’s Olympic style weightlifting not lifting in the Olympics, I wish. I’d also like to start back with some competitions now they have categories for more senior lifters, I’m in no shape to start straight into it but that’s something else. Also Olympic lifting helps me with balance, especially the snatch (or it did when I was younger).

A question for Scott Kurland, have you tried Olympic lifting? From your descriptions in the thread Solo!! you sound like you might be good at it, liking full squats and disliking all the stuff that goes with powerlifting. Of course there is still drugs but you always know who is using them when they put the leotards on :wink:

Cheers, Gary

2

Re: Unicycling and weightlifting.

> I’ve been pondering lately about starting weightlifting again to
> strengthen my legs for Muni (also to increase my overall fitness and
> lower my weight :wink: ). I’m hoping the two can compliment each other. Does
> anyone else use weights to help with unicycling? And what exercises have
> you found useful?

Yep, see Solo post, though I’d guess squats help more than everything else I
do put together. Heavy waist work (200# side bends, weighted hanging leg
raises, evil wheel, weighted breathing, et cetera) would probably be a
distant second. The bent-arm dumbbell swings I do for juggling might be
useful for unicycling, on reflection, given how much arm-waving I do. :wink:
I use 40# hex dumbbells to warm up and 100# hex dumbbells for the work set.
Start with something lighter.

Lifting has never ever made me lighter, though. You’re on your own there.
>
> Apart from my rowing machine that I use for cardiovascular work (though
> if you see me ride you’ll know its not been used lately) I like to only
> use free weights (again not for a while). I’m not keen on machines and
> this stems from being an Olympic weightlifter when I was younger, that’s
> Olympic style weightlifting not lifting in the Olympics, I wish. I’d
> also like to start back with some competitions now they have categories
> for more senior lifters, I’m in no shape to start straight into it but
> that’s something else. Also Olympic lifting helps me with balance,
> especially the snatch (or it did when I was younger).

Heck, if you can do squat snatches and overhead squats… that would rock.
>
> A question for Scott Kurland, have you tried Olympic lifting? From your
> descriptions in the thread Solo!! you sound like you might be good at
> it, liking full squats and disliking all the stuff that goes with
> powerlifting. Of course there is still drugs but you always know who is
> using them when they put the leotards on :wink:

I bought Brooks Kubik’s video on Olympic Lifting and practiced power
snatches and cleans and push presses for a while, but I kept hurting my
wrists. A beginner with a coach and light full-diameter plates would
probably avoid this problem. I kept the overhead squats, though, and am
slowly moving toward Dan John’s prescription of bodyweight x 15. Closer to
bodyweight than 15, though.

Unicycling even a block causes massive lactic acid buildup, and I can run 5K
comfortably in less than half an hour and do a dozen speed full squat
doubles with 190# in less than 12 minutes. I assume once I get better at
this it’ll get easier. On reflection, I should probably bike for cardio and
conditioning, it just seems like admitting defeat to that bastard Grendel.

3

Once upon a time (again), I competed in the Jr. Olympics in Olympic weightlifting while in High School in Maryland. My high school coach was also a Jr. Olympic coach and got me into it. So long ago now. At that time, I had never heard of unicycling. You guys sure are bringing back some memories for me. Thanks.

Brutus

4

Re: Re: Unicycling and weightlifting.

I’ve not tried that I’ll have to give it a go; I need a large lung capacity (ex-smoker).

I ought to of said lower my fat percentage :slight_smile:

Yes I can but it’s not a good idea to rock while doing it :slight_smile:

I have this problem; I’m thinking of doing higher reps with lower weight, at least I’ll start like that but the temptation for more weight…

Gary

5

I went into my loft today to get my camping gear out for BMW4 and I caught a glimpse of my weightlifting trophies from my younger days, dumped in a box…sigh, brought back some good memories though and aint that what its all about? I unicycle for the good experiences and then they become good memories :smiley:

Gary

6

Re: Unicycling and weightlifting.

> > * …weighted breathing…*
>
> I’ve not tried that I’ll have to give it a go; I need a large lung
> capacity (ex-smoker).

Right, don’t kill yourself on my account, though; ease into it. Here’s how
I do it (which is, of course, NOT how you ease into it):

Put half a dozen 5s and a 45 on a loading pin, lock it down with a spring
collar, put the contraption (5s down!) on your belly, breathe for a minute.
If that was easy, add a 45. Repeat to failure. I use 300, but I’ve been
doing this a loong time, almost a decade. When they get really heavy, you
tip 'em over sideways so the 5s are aimed pretty much at your testicles (a
reminder to not let your grip slip) then scooch as close as you can, grab
'em and sort of row them into your belly, then lay back.

> > * Lifting has never ever made me lighter, though. You’re on your own
there*
>
> I ought to of said lower my fat percentage :slight_smile:

Oh. Leaner, yes.

> > * Heck, if you can do squat snatches and overhead squats… that would
rock. *
>
> Yes I can but it’s not a good idea to rock while doing it :slight_smile:

Touché.

> > * …massive lactic acid buildup… *
>
> I have this problem; I’m thinking of doing higher reps with lower
> weight, at least I’ll start like that but the temptation for more
> weight.

I hate 20-rep squats a lot. They’d sorta squash the ‘lighter’ idea into
flat bloody goo, too.

7

Re: Unicycling and weightlifting.

You have a concept 2 Ergometer? That is a good workout to use, it is one of the best for cardio. Do you have any times? I find it really hard to spin the erg very fast. Check out http://www.crash-b.org if you get back into it. :slight_smile:

topside

8

I’m not a lifter at all, but isn’t heavy lifting sort of the opposite thing you want to do to improve control and spinning speed while cycling?

9

Re: Re: Unicycling and weightlifting.

No I don’t have a Concept II I have a Delta Marlin (I’ve seen the same model with different names though).

I’ve never really kept any record of my times I just kept an eye on my heart rate and did sets of 5 mins or so. My rowing machine is one of these enclosed magnetic ones rather than the air or friction ones so I don’t know how fast it spins, pretty fast by the sound of it though.

Cheers, Gary

10

This is a dilemma with any resistive training and in lifting weights the temptation to lift greater and greater weights is high (I think Scott may confirm this). I’m trying to get a routine that will aid my unicycling and uses weights ‘cause I no how to use weights.

When training for Olympic lifting I concentrated a lot on speed and balance, which I guess would be good for trials (explosive jumps etc.) but, at least at the moment, I’m not into trials I’m more into Muni.

Cheers, Gary

11

Re: Unicycling and weightlifting.

> I’m not a lifter at all, but isn’t heavy lifting sort of the opposite
> thing you want to do to improve control and spinning speed while
> cycling?

No.

Well, it depends. If it cuts into your riding, yes. Otherwise, strength is
good for control and speed and anaerobic endurance.

12

Instead of weight lifting, spend twice as much time riding. Or get a REALLY heavy unicycle.

13

Re: Unicycling and weightlifting.

On Fri, 13 Sep 2002 18:32:43 -0500, AccordNSX
<AccordNSX.axzsy@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:

>Instead of weight lifting, spend twice as much time riding. Or get a
>REALLY heavy unicycle.

The unicycle with stabilising weight, estimated to weigh about 500 lbs
(not troy pounds).

Klaas Bil

If you had this signature, I have forged it.

14

Re: Re: Unicycling and weightlifting.

Weight lifting and speed and or endurance riding are a very hard mix. Heavy weight lifting in an intense or even moderate “building phase” takes away from speed and endurance. You will look much more impressive, and be faster for very short anaerobic bursts, but lousy at speed and endurance riding. I attribute it mostly because while in a building phase the intensity is high enough that “any riding” even low intensity adds additional time to the much-needed recovery period.

The only way heavy power lifting works to enhance riding is to build in winter and or fall months and only lift to maintain while the riding increased during the summer. Still, even with this method, power will be lossed if one is working for speed and endurance gains. Again, it’s very hard to have both. It takes a bunch of experimentation

My best season on a bicycle was spent power lifting in the winter and doing maintenance weight lifting once a week while riding. What were 4 to 5 sets of 8 to 12 reps every 5 to 6 days during the power phase, turned into 3 sets of 6 reps once a week with the same amount of weight. Like I said, as the season moved on and miles increased, the weight lifting power decreased a little. It’s hared to have both. One has to be very careful and pay close attention to upcoming events or rides. It’s a balance

dan

15

Re: Unicycling and weightlifting.

> Scott Kurland wrote:
> > *> I’m not a lifter at all, but isn’t heavy lifting sort of the opposite[color=darkred]
> > > thing you want to do to improve control and spinning speed while
> > > cycling?
> >
> > No.
> >
> > Well, it depends. If it cuts into your riding, yes. Otherwise,
> > strength is good for control and speed and anaerobic endurance.
> >
> Weight lifting and speed and or endurance riding are a very hard mix.[/color]

Hmm. Maybe competitive racing? Certainly lifting never interfered with my
commuting by bike or doing an occasional Sunday morning century with a
previous girlfriend (hi Danielle!).

> Heavy weight lifting in an intense or even moderate “building phase”
> takes away from speed and endurance. You will look much more
> impressive, and be faster for very short anaerobic bursts, but lousy at
> speed and endurance riding. I attribute it mostly because while in a
> building phase the intensity is high enough that “any riding” even low
> intensity adds additional time to the much-needed recovery period.

So you’re faster but lousy at speed riding? :wink:
>
> The only way heavy power lifting works to enhance riding is to build in
> winter and or fall months and only lift to maintain while the riding
> increased during the summer. Still, even with this method, power will
> be lost if one is working for speed and endurance gains. Again, it’s
> very hard to have both. It takes a bunch of experimentation.

Once again, how much speed and stamina are we talking about here? Heavy
lifting didn’t hurt my century times. Not that I’d squat on Saturday, of
course, but a dozen 50-60% 1RM speed squat doubles on Friday didn’t
interfere, though the century did tend to worsen the following Monday’s max
effort squat/dead/gm workout.
>
> My best season on a bicycle was spent power lifting in the winter and
> doing maintenance weight lifting once a week while riding. What were 4
> to 5 sets of 8 to 12 reps every 5 to 6 days during the power phase,
> turned into 3 sets of 6 reps once a week with the same amount of weight.

Ah ha. I tend to do 1-2 top sets (singles) on max effort days, and low reps
(1-3) for everything, which probably interferes with stamina work a lot less
than, goodness, 40-60 reps in high-rep sets. Ick.

> Like I said, as the season moved on and miles increased, the weight
> lifting power decreased a little. It’s hard to have both. One has to
> be very careful and pay close attention to upcoming events or rides.

As long as the hard rides were on Sundays I didn’t have to be careful or pay
attention. If they were on another day I might have to skip a lower-body
workout.

16

Re: Re: Unicycling and weightlifting.

I don’t doubt that yours, or anyone’s style of lifting will enhance ones riding an occasional Sunday century, or commute. But using these rides as a measuring stick to determine weather weight lifting increases or assists with speed and endurance riding is not going to be accurate. We are talking about two totally different riding styles.

The work out you described is designed to increase strength at “power lifting events”. It offers nothing for unicycle or bicycle riders wanting to maximize their speed and endurance capabilities. In fact your style will reduce speed in a big way. Again that is not to say that it won’t assist with beginning or intermediate level recreational riders. I think it is fair to say that in these cases most any activity invoving effort is going to help.

In the world of speed and endurance unicycle and bicycling there is a quick test everyone can take that will measure how effective he or she’s training is at each sport. In cycling it is the flat out and back 40K Time Trial. Most riders can train to get their time under 1 hour. Speed, power, and endurance are tested in 1 single event. This is a goal that your local racers strive to achieve. It is a nationally recognized measuring stick used to determine weather training is working effectively in each city’s organization. I have talked about this a lot in other threads.

Fashioned from bicyclings 40K TT, this newsgroup has determined a distance that most people can unicycle in 1 hour (on a Coker) with proper training. Although it may need some adjusting, at present the distance is 15miles. A flat out and back 15-mile time trial is going to be a fairly accurate measuring stick at determining your trainings effectiveness. If you can do it in 1 hour or less, congratulations your training is working! And please share your training regiment with us!

Until one tests themselves with either one of the above rides, training effectiveness will be in question. The fastest riders in the country are performing squats and dead lifts, along with a few other core movements at 8 to 12 reps (depending on the phase) every 4 or 5 days depending on the individual. As the season progresses little or no lifting is preformed.

I mentioned a former American Olympic Track gold medallist that now competes professionally in short 2.5-hour criterioums and road races. While performing on the track he lifted a lot because it assisted in the short anaerobic kind of riding done on a track. Now he rarely lifts at all because it takes away form his speed and endurance with his new style of riding. Some of you may have seen him on OLN while riding in the New York City criterioum last month.

My 2 cents
dan

17

Re: Unicycling and weightlifting.

> I don’t doubt that yours, or anyone’s style of lifting will enhance ones
> riding an occasional Sunday century, or commute. But using these rides
> as a measuring stick to determine weather weight lifting increases or
> assists with speed and endurance riding is not going to be accurate. We
> are talking about two totally different riding styles.

Four, actually.
>
> The work out you described is designed to increase strength at “power
> lifting events”. It offers nothing for unicycle or bicycle riders
> wanting to maximize their speed and endurance capabilities. In fact
> your style will reduce speed in a big way. Again that is not to say
> that it won’t assist with beginning or intermediate level recreational
> riders. I think it is fair to say that in these cases most any activity
> involving effort is going to help.

I guess I’m an intermediate recreational rider then. It helps me. I’m glad
we agree that it helps beginners and intermediates, even if it’s problematic
for the elite, since (by definition) the elite are rather less than one
percent of the population.
>
> In the world of speed and endurance unicycle and bicycling there is a
> quick test everyone can take that will measure how effective he or she’s
> training is at each sport. In cycling it is the flat out and back 40K
> Time Trial. Most riders can train to get their time under 1 hour.
> Speed, power, and endurance are tested in 1 single event. This is a
> goal that your local racers strive to achieve. It is a nationally
> recognized measuring stick used to determine weather training is working
> effectively in each city’s organization. I have talked about this a lot
> in other threads.

I can’t do that. 40K is a nice ride, but getting it done under an hour is
out of the question. Of course, I ride a Specialized Hard Rock, not a
four-figure road bike, but even on a four-figure road bike, naw.
>
> Fashioned from bicycling’s 40K TT, this newsgroup has determined a
> distance that most people can unicycle in 1 hour (on a Coker) with
> proper training. Although it may need some adjusting, at present the
> distance is 15miles. A flat out and back 15-mile time trial is going
> to be a fairly accurate measuring stick at determining your trainings
> effectiveness. If you can do it in 1 hour or less, congratulations your
> training is working! And please share your training regiment with us!

Call it 25K, since the Veloway is a 5K loop. When I get to where I can go
more than a block without falling off, I’ll let you know. :wink:
>
> Until one tests themselves with either one of the above rides, training
> effectiveness will be in question. The fastest riders in the country
> are performing squats and dead lifts, along with a few other core
> movements at 8 to 12 reps (depending on the phase) every 4 or 5 days
> depending on the individual. As the season progresses little or no
> lifting is preformed.

As you pointed out earlier, elite training doesn’t necessarily bear a big
resemblance to intermediate training.
>
> I mentioned a former American Olympic Track gold medalist that now
> competes professionally in short 2.5-hour criteriums and road races.
> While performing on the track he lifted a lot because it assisted in the
> short anaerobic kind of riding done on a track. Now he rarely lifts at
> all because it takes away form his speed and endurance with his new
> style of riding. Some of you may have seen him on OLN while riding in
> the New York City criterium last month.

Developed a heck of a strength base before he gave it up, though.

18

After having a great time at the British Muni Weekend, with a particularly good downhill (thanks Leo), I now know the main weakness in my fitness…stamina. I normally ride alone or with my son and this means I set the pace so when riding with other riders that have an obviously greater stamina level I got an appreciation of what I need to aim for.

The lactic acid build up in my quads meant that I just couldn’t get up the longer (for me) hills without stopping. Another problem I found when my quads were burning was I lost some control of the unicycle but this also happens when someone comes up quietly behind you then shouts smile :wink: Something I can say I was better at than most, with perhaps one exception, was the ability to extricate liquid from my skin; I did a lot of that.

So I’m on a quest over the winter months to find a good routine that will improve my stamina and includes lifting weights. I probably need to build up some slow twist muscles rather than the fast twist type. For me short sprint speed on a unicycle is only limited by balance (or more accurately the fear of a face plant) but I need to be able to sustain this for a longer time without my quads burning.

Gary

19

Re: Unicycling and weightlifting.

> After having a great time at the British Muni Weekend, with a
> particularly good downhill (thanks Leo), I now know the main weakness in
> my fitness.stamina. I normally ride alone or with my son and this means
> I set the pace so when riding with other riders that have an obviously
> greater stamina level I got an appreciation of what I need to aim for.
>
> The lactic acid build up in my quads meant that I just couldn’t get up
> the longer (for me) hills without stopping. Another problem I found when
> my quads were burning was I lost some control of the unicycle but this
> also happens when someone comes up quietly behind you then shouts smile
> :wink: Something I can say I was better at than most, with perhaps one
> exception, was the ability to extricate liquid from my skin; I did a lot
> of that.
>
> So I’m on a quest over the winter months to find a good routine that
> will improve my stamina and includes lifting weights. I probably need to
> build up some slow twist muscles rather than the fast twist type. For me
> short sprint speed on a unicycle is only limited by balance (or more
> accurately the fear of a face plant) but I need to be able to sustain
> this for a longer time without my quads burning.

Um, twitch, not twist.

For lifting I recommend 20-rep squats. Of course you’ll hate them and me,
but their effect is startling.

Read this: www.ultimate-exercise.com/therelationship.html

20

Re: Re: Unicycling and weightlifting.

My message is that “MOST” people with a good training regiment “CAN” do a sub 1 hour 40K TT on a bike, and or a sub 1 hour 15mile TT on a unicycle. The benchmarks are set in both disciplines not for the genetically gifted, or what you call “elite” but for the rest of us mainstream riders who are either racing at the local level, wanting to improve our century times, muti-day tourists, or anyone with an interest in speed and distance cycling or unicycling. This gives us a point of reference with regard to where we are at versus where we could be. That’s all. Elite riders are in another world all together.

If you “cant” do either, than its most likely because you have no interest in doing the training in order to be at you best. With that said by all means doing what it takes to be at your best at either discipline isn’t for everyone.

I was a much faster rider on my $300 dollar cross-bike than now on my 4 figured racing bike. A little food for thought; -)

dan