Body Weight Exercise Routine:
I am a firm believer of incorporating full-body fitness into my own training and training for my coaching clients. I have developed an effective full-body exercise routine where you don’t need any weights at all. All you need is some floor space and a pull-up bar. You can do this workout routine at home and also outdoors at exercise stations. Unless you are really training to be a lightweight climber where you need to have minimal upper body muscle, incorporating a full-body fitness routine into your plan is essential. It will help prevent injury, improve overall health and wellness, and prevent muscle soreness and back pain. Also if you’re going to train with me, your going to look good too!
Superslow Circuit Training:
When I was I started lifting weights when I was 13, I would typically focus on quantity over quality. As a runner and wrestler and high school, I would love the feeling of exhaustion at the end of the day through weight lifting. The weight training transitioned into my addiction for high mileage. I loved focusing on high repetitions, sets, and a long workout time. While I felt accomplished at the end of the day, I really was not improving my running times and wrestling skills to their fullest potential like I could if I focused more on specificity and quality.
In 2010, I started up training with Gary Anger doing his “Super-Slow” workout out. This workout involves pushing the weight as slowly as possible both inward and outward, recruiting the maximum amount of muscle fibers and stressing the system to its fullest potential. As time progressed, I started decreasing the total workout time and increasing quality with Super-slow. At first I thought I would lose tone/fitness in my body. This however, was not the case. In fact, I noticed that I became stronger and more efficient on the bike and kept up the same tone/ fitness. I would combine the super-slow with a push-Up/abdomen to keep a strong core.
After starting Super-Slow, I noticed an increase in my 1-minute and 5 minute power, improving my Anaerobic and V02 max values. As hard intensity training and super-slow working out progressed, I noticed results in my bike racing.
The Super-Slow workout is about 25 minutes. The workout is intense and hurts. Often people look at the product of one’s body and initially may be jealous but forget about the pain and struggle that went into the training to produce the body/ result. There is no cheating or shortcuts and Gary pushes me to the max. Long solo miles and super-slow training is perfect in the winter months/ no racing time. I would definitely recommend Gary Anger/Super-Slow for any cyclist looking to maximize performance through weight training and also anybody looking to start up with a personal trainer.
