Hello everybody,
I just wanted to ask what your strength routine looks like. I’m only doing bodyweight stuff at home right now (hard enough when you are heavy) and I’m not exactly loving it. On Instagram I often see @DrewyWhite doing strength work and I know that I should do more to improve. Should I go to the gym? (my brain says wasted time on the way) Should I lift weights at home? (limited space, especially ceiling hight) Please inspire me 
I go to the gym and leave my phone in the locker. No distractions. Its firmly easy.
Start off with the heavier leg work with real weights (squats, leg press, lunges, calf raises). Continue with some lower back work. Few sets, many reps. Lower the reps and increase the weight throughout the winter.
I close off with a few core exercises, all 30 seconds on and 30 off. Or just 15-20 reps of a core exercise.
My WU and CD are the walks from home to the gym.
I WAS in the ‘no need for strength work’ camp until 6 months ago. And then I got involved with a Hyrox event which has led me to doing a lot in the gym and s&c.
It’s really helped with my core and my leg strength. I also like the discipline / goal of pushing more weight on the sled on a weekly basis.
However it’s also bulked my upper body and has inevitably put on some kgs. If you are are racer - bear that in mind. For me it’s okay, I plod and all round brute strength is fine!
Pav was really good about mixing things up for a bit and bringing in more run/gym for a few months. It’ll all change in the new year when I get properly focussed on my 2024 goal.
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I’ve been using Humango and really enjoy the variety of the strength workouts in there. They also have @pav and Rae doing demo videos. Pretty cool and super accessible, no gym or really much equipment needed.
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I did see your insta pics though. Was v impressive!
So a little snapshot of my babies or kettlebells.
So roughly in 2018 I saw a photo of me and my daughter and realised I need to change and loose some weight.
This wasn’t my heaviest but if I say my daughter used to refer to my stomach as her seat you get the idea. The kettlebells along with clean eating I turned my lifestyle around my daughter now wants a six pack like me. For me a gym wasn’t going to work having tried them before I knew I needed something I could just get done. Often this would mean workout out at 11pm showering and going to bed.
I am also now using HumanGo for strength work but I am also either changing the suggested workouts to doing ones with kettlebells for added weight. For example if it focus is on form not speed or if the description says about adding weights I will do that. One of the things I have found from Humango is the ability to have it plan in strength sessions along with running and cycling. This is where a coach has often had the advantage over other pre set plans or other apps. I will do two or three sessions a week one will be core based, one full body and another more focused.
I will add that S&C is the main thing limiting us and leaving us open to injury. We need to be resilient in order to take on the load from our more specific training and it is the strength sessions that will do that. I found I can do kettlebells at home just being mindful of the low hanging lights 
or in the garage or garden. I even keep one in the bathroom and will do calf raises or single leg squats etc while doing my teeth.
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WOW! Just wow! That’s progress. Completely confused by the weirdo imperial units of course but the pictures tell the story. If that is possible ar home, I don’t need a gym.
My main nemesis is anything that is a plank or a push up, even on a chair or table. Everything else is fine. Squatts, sit-ups, lunges. All of them super easy compared to the planks. Is there a way to work towards them?
Thats about 82.5kg down to 73kg. I think I was closer to 90kg at my heaviest and went down to under 64kg these days I sit around 66kg.
Push-ups you can start just leaning against the wall, or the back of a sofa for something lower. once your comfortable doing say 15 reps x 3 sets move down to kneeling push-ups start with say 6 per set x 3 if thats too hard do one set kneeling and then 2 sets against the wall or sofa.
Planks also start kneeling rather than trying the conventional position. focus on pulling in and film yourself to make sure you’re flat and not bending at the middle. Take it gradually 5-10seconds rest then repeat. Build up to 15,20 etc. Again doing sets.
I’d also say do it as a circuit for example burpee’s, 10 sec rest, plank, 10 sec rest, lunges, 10 sec rest, press-ups, 10 sec rest, squats then repeat 2 or 3 times. The 10 sec rest rest is more to transition from one exercise to the next. Also focus on form not quantity.
With HumanGo you can add in the strength sessions and they are mostly body weight so a great starting point. they also have videos for most if not all the exercises which can help.
I’ve found the kettlebells for home are great as they don’t really take up a lot of room. The only thing is getting your form right and there it could be worth seeing if someone local does group workouts with them to get coached on the basics.
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On furter question: I think we all get strength sessions and bike on one day from the big boss. How do you do these combined days? Bike or strength first? How much time in between?
Well that could be a can of worms your opening.
I would say It depends on whether they are done back to back or as two sessions with recovery in between. For example S&C first thing and then Bike/Run in the evening.
I don’t usually have that option up at 05:30 for work and hardly ever home until 18:00 so I’m not getting up earlier 04:30 when it can be a push to get the training done in the evening eat and be in bed for 10.
I end up doing them back to back and will do the bike session and then go straight into the S&C. What I do is skip some of the warm up, I still activate the upper body but obviously HR is up and legs ready to go.
@pav will be best to comment on how the order perhaps effects the adoptions required.
I usually use the bike as a warm up and the strength sessions afterwards when I have a flexible diary. If not it’s whatever fits.
This is a great question and mostly will come down to what works best for the individual.
Using myself as an example, I don’t really have time to do two separate workouts, so combine the two. Once I’ve finished the main set of my bike workout, I move into strength. This means I don’t really need to warm up (some light weights, but nothing major). Then when done with strength, I go back to the bike and do the cool-down there. This saves 20-30 minutes.
There are a couple of principles that work, but essentially we do want one thing and that is to train to fatigue which is where muscle growth happens (the caveat to that is the individual gets DOMS real bad, we might stop a little before this). When training strength directly after bike, it takes a lot less to reach that point (less weight and less reps). Obviously, there are other reasons for this fatigue so you might not get the same muscle repair and growth as doing the workouts separately (with heavier weights or more reps, for example).
Long story short, my preferred way to tell clients to train strength is usually:
1/ Strength immediately after bike
2/ Strength as far away from bike as possible on same day (but still after)
3/ Strength before bike, but still spreading as much duration between the two (same day)
Ideally never doing strength on a recovery bike day. Keep strength on days where bike work is hard too.
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@kevstorr how many of what weight kettle bell would you suggest getting? Thinking of rushing a last minute request to Santa.
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Also very interested in this. 8kg is the heaviest I have and this seems not sufficient. The big boss gave me a surprise heavy weights session and I had to improvise. Uninterruptable power supply with lead battery in the backpack. 
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