Well its June now and Im moving into build phase for Ironman 16 weeks away…possibly.
Ive been using the 5x5 method. Earlier in the year, much more inconsistent but the last six weeks has been 3/week with only one missed session. The plan was to move down to twice per week, and maybe 5x3 and maintain existing load…but now Im thinking the sessions will be too hard in context of build phase:
I’ll be doing five bike sessions (3 hard, 1 moderate, 1 easy), 3 runs (1 hard, 2-3 easy), 1 maybe 2 swims (easy and moderate, but each with a modicum of speed work).
But with the cage and kit at home I can squat, dead, bench, press, oh press, pull any time I want so in a way its the easiest session to add, I could even squat after every bike if I wanted.
I have been doing the same. Last 4 weeks consistently got 3 5x5 sessions in. Having the cage there makes a massive difference, I just pop in the garage at lunch, even did a session at 9 at night, would never have driven to the gym.
Anyway What to do depends on how hard the 5x5 sessions are. If you are at the point of needing 3 minute rest or struggling to get to 5 then that is going to be causing a lot of fatigue. Timing will be important as well. If I am focusing on strength I will always do strength training first, but as you are building your SBR that needs to be priority. You dont want to be doing strength the day before intervals or a long run.
I would deload a bit and do 5x3 twice a week to maintain. Maybe even once a week if its too hard.
Yeah, thats a good point on the rest. I use 3mins on squats at 100% bodyweight.
I think around 75-80% bodyweight squat would feel heavy but perhaps RPE 5 or 6…but is it still heavy enough for the benefit? Pwrhaps its more a question of what I can do without affecting the bike build.
90-100% bodyweight squats 3/week definitely affected my 5/week bike to date (about 100TSS less than my build target) but I still got through them by juggling in rest days and catching up at the weekend. I want to avoid that.
Started to hit the weights fairly hard. Using my garage gym.
One thing I am finding hard is when doing any kind of back exercise I dont seem to be hitting my lats, my arms do all the work. I googled and watched on video of some bros explaining that you need to build the mind muscle connection and to do isolation exercises before compound. I started with some dumbell pull overs trying to focus on the lats rather than the chest. Not sure it made much difference. Possibly it will take a few sessions to get it.
Try one arm dumbbell rows. Bend over with one knee and one hand on a bench, then pull the dumbbell straight up from the floor to your shoulder.
Really let your shoulder sag down so the first part of the movement is pulling it back up before your arm does anything at all.
I find they’re really good for feeling the lat as it has to start the movement.
Ps. Try not to rotate your trunk, keep everything else still.
Im obviously a novice, but neither of these statements sound right to me.
Your muscles are connected to your mind through nerve cells or they wouldn’t function. I don’t think you need to “think” I think you need form, which is a skill I suppose.
Isolation before compound exercises…why? I only do compound exercises, because Im looking for general strength and Im a triathlete. Is isolation required for bodybuilding? Maybe?
My physio had me do the mind thing too.
For the squat, you may naturally only use your quads. So you need to think about engaging you glutes and hamstrings if you want to do the exercise properly.
You could say it’s form, or just muscle awareness.
This is what I understand. Men who can make their pecs dance isnt because they have huge pecs its because they can completely engage the entire muscle, learnt through a lot of weight lifting.
Which is back to my original question. When I do say a bent over row I cant properly engage my lats so my biceps and shoulders take over. What I need to learn is how to engage those lats.
Which is why I think the suggestion of isolation moves was suggested to focus on only those msucles.
I will keep trying that and see. I can tell I dont engage the lats because I never get doms there. If I bench hard I can feel it in my chest for a couple of days
I’m with Jim, I did bodybuilding for years and it makes a massive difference, particularly that last bit of contraction in the muscle that comes after the full range of motion, the squeeze.
As an example, if I do the classic bicep pose (whilst the muscles aren’t very big anymore) I can get a peak on my right bicep that just doesn’t appear on my left. One isn’t stronger than the other but I just can’t get the same connection with my left to get that last squeeze to make the muscle pop up.
Without doing a tiny movement of the arms I can’t see how you could isolate the lats?
On what % of the fibres you contract that is surely result of the load? You can give it a mighty conraction without load but then you don’t need a weight.
I’m with @joex on this. Low reps, high load is the way forward IMHO. I am making decent progression in load without putting on muscle.I don’t have the time to do isolation exercises so just do compound lifts.
A Canadian S&C guy, Matt Jordan has written a few good articles on strength training for endurance athletes. The main things I remember was “lift, push, pull. 3-4 sets of 3-4 reps heavy load.”
Yes here on my tod. Power cage, with spotter bars incase it all goes tits up. Pull up bar integrated. Just waiting for the cable attachment to come back in stock.
