Beginner Exercise Program: Month 3

author : acbadger

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We have used the past two months to build endurance and strength on the bike and will begin to incorporate swimming into the program.

Introduction:

This program is a continuation of the introductory cycling program designed for the beginner exerciser/triathlete for the month of April. We have used the past two months (see month 1 and month 2) to build endurance and strength on the bike and will begin to incorporate swimming into the program.

This program is meant to aid in weight loss by incorporating low to no impact exercises that will be gentle on your joints while strengthening muscles, bones and cardiovascular systems. All new athletes/exercisers should do what they are capable of doing. If you find that one week is difficult, DO NOT move onto the next week until you feel comfortable with the week you are on currently! There is no time limit to this program. Work at your own fitness level. Feel good! Feel invigorated! Feel like you are accomplishing your goals…and at the end of a session, feel like you WANT to do these workouts!!

Also, please keep in mind that any of these workouts (aside from the programmable ones on the stationary bikes) can be done outside if you prefer to start on your own road bike. However, if you are like me and do not live around any hills, you may have no choice but to take the “hills” inside to a stationary bike in the gym or to an indoor cycling class where the instructor cues you to add resistance when simulating a climb.
 

At the end of this months program is strength exercises (unchanged from month 2), swimming definitions and also two new nutrition tips.

Please read the Medical Clearance article and the Restrictions and Terms of Use so that you are aware of certain medical conditions which could negatively affect you if not checked-out by a physician beforehand.

*Abductors: Outer Thighs and

 Adductors: Inner Thighs

** Upright Bike: Looks like a regular stationary bike at the gym. A Recumbent Bike has a chair on it with a back. Aids in lower back support. Some beginning bikers may need to start on a Recumbent Bike and graduate to an upright bike.

***Cadence: Check cadence by placing one hand above one knee. Every time the knee comes up on the upstroke of your pedal it should hit your hand. Hold your hand above your knee and count the number of times your knee hits your hand for 15 seconds. Take that number and multiply it by 4 to get your cadence.

RPM: Revolutions per minute. The number of times you pedal stroke in a minute.

STRENGTH TRAINING

When you are choosing weights, you need to choose weights that will allow you to complete the set, but not so little weight that you are not feeling the work by the 8th or 10th repetition. It is smart to start with lower weights, complete a full workout and then make the adjustments as you go or during the next workout.

Sets: The number of times you perform a series of repetitions.
Repetitions: The number of times you perform a particular exercises in a row.

Examples of exercises:

Legs

Lunges: Place one foot in front of the other, like you are taking a giant step forward. Your foot in the back should be positioned on the ball of the foot, heel up off of the floor. The front foot should be flat out in front of your body. Before you begin your lunge, tuck your hips under your body and lower the back knee STRAIGHT down to the floor. The front knee should be over your ankle, NOT over your toes. If your knee goes over your toes, you are lunging forward and not down. Practice one set of lunges without weight. Take light weights (after you have confirmed your positioning is correct) and let your arms hang to your sides holding the weights. Lunge down and up 12 to 15 times each side for 2 sets.

Chest

Dumbbell chest flies: Lie in a supine position (back on bench) on a flat bench. Take two light to moderate weight dumbbells and hold them up over your eyes, palms facing each other. Slowly lower the weight down to your sides, elbows should not go below the bench. Slowly bring the weights back up to starting position. Do not clink the dumbbells together when they reach starting position. Be sure that you have a slight bend in the elbows…NEVER lock a joint.

Back

Good mornings: Placing a straight body bar (bars that are covered in rubber, usually come in 9, 12 and 15 pound weights) across your shoulder blades. Legs should be shoulder width apart and knees slightly bent. Hinge at your hips (push your bottom back) and lower your upper body down, keeping your back straight, shoulders back and chest out. “Bow” half way over and slowly return to starting position. Do not use fast movements with this exercise. Slower is better on these. Be sure to use muscle NOT momentum. You also don’t want to throw your back out by moving too quickly.

Shoulders

Front dumbbell shoulder raise: Standing, take 2 dumbbells and have them hang down in front of you at your thighs. Lift both arms up together at the same time ONLY to shoulder height. Once the weight is at the top of the movement, slowly lower the weights back down. Keep your arms as straight as possible keeping the elbows soft (NEVER lock out a joint). If this movement is too difficult for you, a modification would be to lift one arm at a time (alternating lifts). As you start gaining strength…perform the exercise with both arms together.

Triceps

Tricep kickback: Taking a single dumbbell in each hand, bend slightly forward at the waist. Keep shoulders and elbows back. Keeping your shoulders stationary (no swinging/movement) and elbows back, lift the weights up behind your back and then slowly lower them back to a 90 degree angle. “Kick” the weights back, controlling the movement, do not swing the weights. You can do either arms together or one arm at a time. A variation of this would be to add a twist to the kickback (turn the palms up to the ceiling after ‘kicking’ them back.

Abdominals

Bikes: Lying on the floor, place one leg up, knee bent at a 90 degree angle. The opposite leg should be out straight. If your lower back is coming off of the floor with your leg out straight, your leg is too low to the floor, bring it up a bit to relieve some of the tension in your lower back. With your hands behind your ears (DO NOT lock fingers behind the head), take the opposite shoulder over to the hip on the side where the knee is bent. Alternate sides, switching the shoulder and bent/straight legs. Perform 15 to 20 each side.

STRETCHING:

Be sure to hold stretches for 10 to 20 seconds. DO NOT bounce when you stretch. All stretches should be held where you feel a stretch only. You should feel NO pain while stretching!! Most health clubs have posters of what stretches to do for what body parts. If you are unsure of any, please consult an exercise specialist at your local gym. You should rotate through each stretch at least twice. This part of your exercise regimen is as important as your strength or cardiovascular component.
 

Warm Up:

Take 5 minutes to jump on a cardiovascular machine/walk in place/etc. to get your body moving, blood flowing and muscles warmed up. We encourage warm ups to loosen muscles which will prevent any strains, sprains or tears.
 

Cool Down:

It is IMPORTANT to bring your heart rate back down after a workout. Be sure to walk around the gym, walk slowly on a treadmill, pedal slowly on a bike, and etc. 5 to 10 minutes after a workout. If you workout hard and then stop immediately with no cool down, this could promote blood pooling in the legs!! Be sure to keep moving SLOWLY after a workout until your HR (heart rate) is back down TO less than 100 bpm.

SWIM DRILL DEFINITIONS:

Kick: Grab a flutter board and just kick. There is no use of arms for this drill.
 
Pull: Use a pull-buoy; place it between your legs. Squeeze it with your legs so you cannot kick. Swim down the length of the pool using your arms only. Preferably freestyle.
 
Finger Drag: When you raise your elbow up in your freestyle stroke, your fingers should gently drag through the water by your side as you come up for a breath. This keeps your elbows high out of the water.
 
Bilateral Breathing: Being able to breathe on both sides of your body. To practice this, take three strokes then breathe. Take another three strokes and breathe again on the other side.
 
Thumb Scrape: After you’ve reached above your head for your stroke and are now pulling your hand through the water, as your arm is coming up to take another stroke, your thumb should graze your thigh on the way up. This ensures that you get the fullest stroke possible.

Rest breaks between sets

For the SHORTER lengths (25's to 50 yards) take a 30 second break to recover.  For the longer yardage, take up to a whole minute.

Bilateral breathing

If bilateral breathing is too difficult, alternate between bilateral breathing and breathing every stroke. It's best that you start trying/experimenting with bilateral breathing early since it is so difficult. We don't want to introduce it too late in the game so you panic about it come triathlon time.  *But definitely keep it to breathing every stroke if oxygen uptake becomes an issue and you find yourself gasping and not getting enough air.  Bilateral breathing mostly helps to stay in a straight line and to be able to site from both sides as necessary in a open water swim.

NUTRITION:

Here, I will give you one or two tips on nutrition a month. I am not a licensed Nutritionist, so please only use these as guidelines. I think they will be helpful where most of you are just starting out. If you require additional help, please contact a Nutritionist in your area.

Tip #1 Let’s talk about when to eat. We discussed eating every 3 to 4 hours to keep our blood sugar in check…but we didn’t discuss WHEN TO START eating. Here’s a tip…you should eat the minute you wake up in the morning. It’s important to get that metabolism burning and the BEST way to do that is to eat when you wake up. Remember, your body has gone about 8 hours without food. You need to restock the furnace with fuel. If you want your metabolism to kick into high gear, you MUST start your day off with a healthy breakfast.

Tip #2 Know when NOT to eat. Try not to when you are bored. If you find that it is a problem you have, try drinking 8 ounces of water before you eat something. It may just be that you are thirsty or, again, bored. If the water doesn’t help, try going out for a walk, read a good book (maybe a training or nutrition book), or log onto your FAVORITE website (www.beginnertriathlete.com) and see what is new.

Try not to be an emotional eater. If you have some good/bad news, try to celebrate/take out your misery at the gym. Maybe a quick bout of strength training, a walk/run on the treadmill or take an aerobics class you’ve never tried before.

Lastly, DO NOT eat 2 hours before bedtime. For example, if you go to bed at 10, no more eating after 8.

NEXT MONTH:
Next month, look to maintain your strength training workout.

As for the rides, we are going to start working on strength endurance. We’ll try to hit the roads once a month and get outside (weather permitting) for a longer ride. We’ll keep long rides for the weekend so they won’t interfere with work/family/other workouts.

We’ll be continuing to focus on swimming drills. If this month’s addition of swimming is difficult for you, contact your local YMCA and ask about adult swim lessons. Most YMCA’s offer them at reasonable prices.

Stretching should remain the same, but I’m going to incorporate one yoga class a week for those who have a hard time stretching on their own!!!

….Rock on TRIATHLETES!

Beginner Exercise Program: Month 4

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date: April 3, 2006