Strength / Weight Training

Managed 4 reps ... Definitely stronger than 6 months ago.

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Not bad for an OHP.

I wouldn't try to adjust calories based on weightlifting as it still forms such a small % of your overal daily caloric consumption. Getting enough protein, carbs and sleep etc each day will help with recovery rather than thinking about specific days.

wish my gym had one of those preacher curl machines...

Lol

So an extra half a packet of chocolate hob nobs should cover it?

Cyclist forum so leg press should be easy and I'm definitely not showing off

for a 3 (4 if I am lucky) session a week programme, what would you add in:

start on pull ups and warm up with 10-12 then add weight, then add weight again for 5 X 5 (aiming to get this to 3 x 10 soon)

Squats - like to do 5 x 10 but if adding weight might go 5 x 5
Bench - either BB or DB depending on whats free 3 x 10
Dips - 3 x 10 and now adding 5kg, long term aim to improve that
Bent over DB row (3 x 10 each side)

Usually do wee ancillary things like incline crunches with a plate or maybe hanging leg raises on the bar.

Do need to do deadlifts but end up skipping them as the bar/space at gym busy, But will have to just make sure I manage at least once a week. But what else would you add? or take away?

I hope you replaced all those afterwards for the mere mortals...

Do you do all of that each time?

I like machines to help with single leg stuff or use a landmine attachment.
If I'm short on time I like the 6- 12 -25 routine
Generally I superset squat, OHP, Bench, DLs with pullups/dips or whatever
Lat pulldowns/Facepulls...curls?

I’d want some overhead pressing in there from a shoulder health perspective and maybe some low back work if you can’t get deadlifts in (45 degree back extensions are great). Unilateral leg work (bulgarian split squats especially) are a great tool for helping with imbalances if you find any issues from only doing squats for legs. If it’s working though then crack on.

Anyone know of some good resources on implementing/progressing plyometrics? Still teaching the Strength & Conditioning club at school and my very limited knowledge of plyos is now a weak point I'd like to plug. Read the NSCA book but Angus Bradley & EliteFTS is only gonna get me so far.

I've also been given "tell us what you need" clearance for outfitting the school gym. Beyond excited to see what I can get away with!

Edit:
If this comes up in search for anyone, I ended up using Angus Bradley's GPP intro to plyos template.

So I've been having physio on my knee this past month due to an inflamed bursa and one of the recovery exercises is to focus on single leg presses (on the LP machine). This was informed by my desire to get back into running and was told a normal benchmark would be 8 reps @ bodyweight. I know my legs ain't impressive but I'm a long way from that... does that sound a bit OTT to anyone else?
I think it might be the case similar to my feeble pull-up tally that losing 10kgs will do more good than lifting heavy weights.

If anything I would say that is light! When running you will put 2-3x your load through your legs.
I'd also say not to get discouraged, the advice is correct but just like anything you can build up to it. Have you tried working through what 7, 8, 9, rpe feels like? The good thing about single leg is you can go pretty heavy as you have another leg to spot you!
I'd also say that heavy is better than high reps, so trying to get to 5 x 3 and then 3 x 5 reps at bodyweight with good form might be a more realistic near term goal

2-3x the load but in a much more mechanically advantageous position.

The guidance is that you would ideally be able to single leg press that as a specific strength test for runners.

My experience from loads of single leg stuff post injury (a decade ago) is that 8 reps of body weight single leg is achievable but high bar for a runner/ cycling type.

Two things would be - first make sure you’re starting from at least 90 degrees. Depends on the machine, but it’s sometimes easy to have your leg at less than 90 bend and not be aware (feel free to go deeper once you’re happy at 90 degrees, but start there).

Second get to the point where you can press 1.5 with both legs easily, say 3x10, before single leg.

Single leg on the press can be weird with body positioning and the force sliding you off to one side.

You've thrown me with this. I meant, when that force goes through your leg running, it's at a much lower degree of flexion than what you'd experience on a leg press so weights shouldn't be close to comparable. Am I missing the point completely here? (Please tell me if I am - I don't know nearly enough about strength training for endurance).

My understanding is that strength training gets the best overall results if you're at or heading towards full range of motion, particularly on the eccentric part.

If you don't use that part of the range in some sport, you can still use the greater strength it got you.

I had a similar physio plan for a knee injury and it worked wonders.

One thing to note is there are various styles of leg press machines and the weight can vary massively depending on how you move on the machine. I was up to 90kg on one machine which equates to 40kg in my gym. With some machines you move diagonally so some of your body weight is factored in.

That’s really interesting, ta. When I was peak running I was 75kg (188cm) and had no real leg strength to speak of, which was probably why I was plagued with injuries. Now I’m 86kgs with a more rounded strength but realise I have some huge imbalances.

That’s a good point. I reckon I could get close to BW on a single leg pendulum squat but the leg press machine (not a vertical push plate type) is really tough.

@cookiemonster Thanks, this injury is actually engaged in the first 5-10° of movement in the leg so deeper doesn’t actually equal pain. It is finally beginning to feel less inflamed so I’ll do another couple of weeks of my prescribed exercises before increasing any load.

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Im just going what I’ve been told by several running coaches and running specific physios! And seems backed up by training plans of a fair amount of track athletes. I’m not sure on more than that.

This is the leg press machine I would be using - those horizontal ones might be different.

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Angled leg presses also differ a lot in weight, so the physio's recommendation only really makes sense if they know which machine will be used. Also, for a particular machine and weight, the difficulty changes a lot with foot placement (lower on the plate will generally be harder, which is why you see most people with feet placed too high if they are interested in improving quad hypertrophy/strength), depth (most people stop far too high) speed of rep, degree of pause at the bottom. I would hope the physio gave some advice about this form stuff. I would focus more on good consistent form and working up slowly ( but with enough challenge) than worrying about a particular (seemingly nonsensical) target weight recommendation.