I'VE GOT YER FECKIN' CROSS-TRAINING RIGHT HERE!
Cross-training: words that strikes fear and boredom into my heart. My cycling library is contaminated with training books I’ve collected over the years. Each one is purchased knowing, yes, this is the one. Each one has a chapter on off-the-bike training. I recently bought Tom Danielson’s cross-training book, read some of it, have not done any of it. I’ve looked on Craig’s List for weights to set up a squatting station, none have met my strict requirements for some reason. I don’t run, period. I mostly hate walking and hiking. That’s why I ride a bike, FFS. Zumba, line-dancing, tai-chi…shoot me in the face, I’d rather develop a proper drug habit.
When I lived in a university town, despite their half-assed football program, they had a big stadium. Running those stadium steps was as close to enjoying cross-training as I will ever get. A full on boogie up to the top of the stadium, lope back down to the bottom, repeat until nauseous, repeat more. The top third of the steps were steeper, just to make it fun. It mimicked the mindless suffering and exhaustion us cyclists savor. It was intense enough that each session was over in under an hour. One would leave the stadium totally blown out and relaxed, again, like one would feel after a proper ride.
I used to go in the gym during the cold, unridable winter and do some horrid step treadmill and lift weights. Oh right, that was called youth and an over abundance of hormones. Now, that is just not going to happen. Shouldn’t living in Hawaii mean you never have to enter a gym again? Yes it does. I like to think my ineptitude in water-sports and the resultant near-drownings should provide some cross-training: elevated heart rate, thrashing of arms, seeing the all-embracing light at the end of the tunnel.
I could actually join CrossFit™. No, that would be unwise. Running seems to be an integral part of the regime, tattoos might be required and all that tractor tire wrestling would either ruin my back or bulk me up.
Aren’t we slighty proud of our chicken-chested scrawny upper bodies? Too much CrossFit could ruin a lifetime of chicken-chest development. And if we get good at running and swimming we might get crazy ideas.
Obviously, these are the complaints of a lazy cyclist who likes to ride his bike, end of discussion. There are no Rules to be quoted for off season cross-training except Rule #5. It is a universal Rule. There is no off season for Rule #5, but now it’s March, Milano-Sanremo looms. The off-season is off. I can safely put away my Tommy D book for another year.
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@Chris
cos it's fucking awesome
As an American who can no longer stomach American football (NFL is just a corporate sham to sell people Lite beer, trucks, and cell phones; college is horribly corrupt and NOT amateur), Aussies rules look pretty damn cool. Didn't watch too much when I was in Brisbane for a semester in college, but a nice video there.
Also, the guys look like athletes. American football players either look like a) bodybuilders on HGH or b) pre diabetic Jabba the Hutts. Those guys are in shape, but don't look like fitness models or fat fuck baseball players.
Any sport that includes the Donkey Kick Distraction Move, seen at the 7:15 mark, is aokay with me. That was great!
Aren’t we slighty proud of our chicken-chested scrawny upper bodies?
Yep - I searched hard and long to find a sport/exercise that would allow me to fit right in based on this personal attrribute
@Mikael Liddy
When you say NSW and QLD, you mean the states with any people in them? Not the states that are 99.9% fucking desert with a highly improbable city placed in the most inaccesible place possible?
@Mikael Liddy
The games only last for five hours and involves a completely impenetrable amount of fuck knows what going on. It's the Australian version of American Football, no doubt, and it's main purpose is to sell 4 wheel drives and insurance to boofheads.
I lift year round and find it helps with the type of riding I'm doing. The change in weight isn't an issue, (I, like a lot of you, am a fat fucker by pro cycling standards - so why bother with that comparison) and I'm a lot stronger on the bike and can hold a much better position. Sometimes lifting is more interesting than riding, sometimes it's the other way round, but doing something entertaining off the bike generally helps break up the horrendous monotony of road cycling with a bunch of 35 kilo pre-pubescant 20 year olds with high whiny voices and no arm hair. It's also quite satisfying to confound expectations occasionally and crush the runts on a climb. I may need 3 weeks to recover, and be straight OTA on the rest of the ride, but whatever.
Asking cyclists about lifting is generally like asking a virgin how to please a man/woman.
@Mikael Liddy
Civilised? In South Australia that's defined as burying the body afterwards.
And as for you @Chris, at least in League it's only ONE guy who shags the one on the ground.
I've recently taken up rowing and weights as a way to improve overall fitness and to recover from a bike crash related beck injury. I haven't seen the benefits on the bike but my body feels better than it has in years. Unlike @minion I am a fat fucker by anyone's standard so anything for fitness works.
i do Bikram yoga 2x-3x a week, and i have for years. i believe it actually DEtrains me somewhat to practice hot yoga so often, but the benefits, for me, outweigh this only possible negative. i also do 50 pushups every morning, because i am still often called upon to do conventional male stuff from time to time, like open jars, lift kegs of beer onto shelves, and, by the scruff of their neck, throw overly rambunctious young dudes clear of my bar every so often. as much as i like to climb hills, i’m never going to be any good at it, so the extra mass i carry doesn’t bother me too much.