Winter Weight training

Hello Everyone, I'm not one for the gym but would really love to improve my cycling for next season. I am putting in the training on the bike and run but was wondering if a few months in the gym over the winter in addition to the rest of my training would help  does anyone do weight training to improve on there strength over the winter period what exercises do you do ?

Joe Friel has a good approch to Weigh training for triathlon ... check out 'Your Best Triathlon' or 'Training bible'

Im a firm beliver of training the whole body and not just the sport specific muscles as its these other muscles that provide the balance

I'm new to these forums but I've done a decent amount of strength training and read a lot on the subject so I think I'll be somewhat qualified to respond.

For most people new to strength training, a compound lift/linear progression routine such as Starting Strength is usually recommended. This consists of 3 short-ish sessions per week focussing on a few compound, all-round exercises and constant progression in functional strength is the goal.

A typical SS routine would be as follows:

Alternate workouts A and B....

Workout A:

3x5 Squats, 3x5 Bench Press, 1x5 Deadlift

Workout B:

3x5 Squats, 3x5 Standing Overhead Press, 3x5 (vary according to ability) pull-ups

You start the exercises quite a bit lower than you can initially manage to get used to doing the movements, work on technique and build your base, and you aim to put the weight up on each exercise ever workout. All exercises are done with a barbell and free weights. This means that every exercise works not just the muscles that are taking the main load, but your body as a whole, especially your core.

Exercises like squats and deadlifts have got a pretty bad rep because people injure themselves doing them. They don't deserve this rep because they are perfectly safe as long as you follow good form, which does take practice. There are tons of resources online for learning good form (SS wikia page with info on all the lifts: http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:The_Lifts)

This routine is aimed at any novice strength trainee (a novice in this case doesn't have any negative undertones, it simply refers to a person that can make regular workout-to-workout progression on their lifts). However as you're obviously doing a lot of other training (ie your tri training) then you can modify the program to fit with your routine. It will work almost as effectively if you only do the routine twice a week (eg A on Monday, B on Friday).

Hope this helps.

Btw, there are tons of different routines that people will suggest, and many will work, but in my experience and from all the reading I've done, SS or a variant is by far the most efficient method of gaining all-round functional strength. I've known a lot of people move on to SS after years of ineffective gym programming, and I've not known a single person be disappointed.

I'm a big advocate of something called Crossfit. Everyday is different, and it concentrates on functional movements, its great for the core as every exercise will be working the core to some extent. It isn't for everyone but I would recommend checking it out.

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