Mine is only based on having conducted strength training in some form or another for almost 30 years. I started with a lot of high-rep machine stuff when I was running in HS, graduated to free weights after I stopped running, and have done CrossFit and olympic style lifting periodically over the past ten years or so. No one in their right mind would look at me and call me a sprinter!
I’m probably not level 3 on some of the upper body stuff right now. And it’s probably safe to say I’d be faster if I dropped some muscle mass, but at 5’10" and around 155lb/70kg… meh.
@Jonathan
So a feature request: Can we have an option when selecting a plan (Base seems perfect) to prompt strength training on X number of non cycling days and then track the results in Trainer Road? For people like me who don’t have all the equipment needed (yet!) possibly provide alternates for the exercises and let us lock them in at whatever level we want to work on. Then based on our body weight, which you already have in our profile, propose the suggested weights for each exercise. Seems to fit the making us faster better all around athlete goals of TrainerRoad. Thanks!
@chad for those of us who don’t have some of this equipment, does the following chart look correct for correlating the bench press to pushups? (obviously ignore the differences in stability between the two)
I’m trying to draw some reasonable inferences without signing up for the gym
Without actually doing any math that looks like it’s probably right to me. However, don’t forget that as you begin to elevate the legs it starts to be more and more like an incline bench than a flat bench so you’ll start to shift more of the load to your shoulders as the angle increases.
Yeah it looks like just a little bit of elevation makes a big difference in getting you to the 70% mark, with additional elevation not making as much of a difference.
I’m thinking I can get a relatively similar amount of stimulus by 18-24in of elevation and doing the pushups on the bosu ball.
I’ve tried at the gym, but it’s either a hassle changing after a swim or undermines a swim by doing it first.
I don’t have kit at home. I could buy a bar and weights, and use the garden swing for pull-ups.
Our problem is as Schmidt said, and like our other workouts we need to make it as easy to get started as possible. I’m thinking similar body weight exercises, and do them after a bike or getting back from the run so you don’t have to change specifically for it.
Pretty sure Chad recommended weights the same day as intense bike sessions on the podcast but it was some time ago.
You can also increase the effective weight on one side by elevating one hand. I’ve done this with my hand on the “bell” of a kettlebell on one side, on the ground on the other. Books or a block would work, or a regular pushup “handle”. Keeps the motion roughly the same, but increases tension and range of motion the elevated side. So you could elevate your feet, do five reps with one hand elevated, then switch and elevate the other hand for five reps. That might get you an even higher effective % of BW.
I’ve been on-and-off in the gym for most of my adult life. Had a bad all around year (fitness-wise) but things got better 10 months ago. Basically, I have a decent lifting history over the last 10 months, getting about 30-45 minutes of lunch/gym time in one to three times per week. I concentrate on bench and squat for ego and simplicity reasons. After my 5x5 sets on those, I usually do something else, depending on the movement in slightly higher volume, lower weights. The “standards” inspired me to try some things out.
I stack up fairly well on the pushing movements, but really poorly on the pulling movements. The deadlift being a bit of both is the decided middling one. I know I was able to DL 115% of my body weight just a few weeks ago. I doubt I’d get 150% of my body weight off the ground 5 times.
Splitting the difference between levels 2 and 3 on my “normal” 5x5 sets for back squat. I’m sure that with fresh legs and a spotter I trust, I could get pretty close to 150% for 1 set of 3. Not worth the risk at this point, with tired legs. Maybe if I back off the bike hours when the weather turns sour, I’ll really concentrate and hit 5 reps @ 150%
Its been a while since I’ve done much military pressing (seated or standing) but my office gym (ceiling height) won’t permit any standing overhead presses. Taking a crack at the movement yesterday I was able to get a solid “Level II” + weight at 10 reps with dumbbells, seated. I’m confident I’ll get 5 reps from the seated position with dumbbells in another workout or two.
I have never done a bent-over-barbell row in my life so I’m going to take some serious time before I try to load my 6-3" frame with my body weight (195ish) in a new position.
Pull-ups, huh… I’m apparently strong enough to be an all-around female, but 3/5 of the way to being an all around male. I’ve always struggled with pull-ups, but understand that its a combination of weak muscles AND long awkward levers (arms).
I’m pretty confident any lack of performance ON the bike is from lack of consistency in getting ON the bike… the weights are for overall health and because I can, not to further my cycling performance.
If you can find a playground (or similar) and grab a 45 lb kettlebell, you can get started. There’s a lot of information out there about bodyweight and near-bodyweight (simple equipment) exercises. For chest press, you can progress pushups: incline, regular, diamond, decline, single-arm incline, single-arm regular. For row, inverted bodyweight rows, varying the incline. Single-leg squat and deadlift variations with a 45 lb weight are a good start.
You can measure your specific values by doing your pushups on a scale. I personally range from 68% at the top to 74% at the bottom.
I also have three kids ranging from 35 to 85lb, who I get to lay on my back to give me a little more variety of effective weight while on vacation. This works exceptionally well.
Coach @chad, can you provide some Level 0 recommendations. Today for the first day ever I went to the gym. I struggled with both form especially with keeping a straight back and the weight recommendations. The gym trainer suggested eliminating the weights and focusing on the form first and to do more transition exercises before hitting exercises like deadlifts and barbell rows.
I ruptured a disk at L3 several years ago doing squats. I think for free weight exercises, form is absolutely essential to avoid injury. I would seek out a trainer associated with Starting Strength or Barbell Medicine for a session or two to learn proper form. With a history of this disk rupture, I avoid high bar squats and use low bar squats as trained by Barbell medicine. No back issues currently.
Weird that heavy squatting and DL have helped with your back pain . I used to have a “bad back,” but now I’ve got a much stronger back (core) that sometimes suffers from delayed onset muscle soreness, which is far more predictable in its timing and recovery than “bad back.”
Just listened to start of last podcast (Sofia was on) and they touched on something that I hadn’t thought of: if I heard that right, then I should be including the weight of the bar in the lift total when comparing current strength to their guidelines (did I hear that right @chad ?) Yes that makes a ton of sense but I wasn’t doing it (was using weight ex. bar). So now to go weigh the bar at GoodLife I guess…as I do not think it is as high as the standard 45lbs google is telling me. Anyone else lift without even thinking about adding the bar weight to total while tracking…or is it just me whole feels pretty daft right now?
There are lots of different causes of back pain. Mine (more semi chronic soreness than outright pain) was a result of low core strength, some muscle imbalance and tight hip flexors. The dead lifts (and other strength work too) addressed 1 and 2 and focused stretching helped with the hip flexors.
. I used to have a “bad back,” but now I’ve got a much stronger back (core) that sometimes suffers from delayed onset muscle soreness, which is far more predictable in its timing and recovery than “bad back.”