the original question was about strength training, not a weight-bearing endurance activity.
what exercises, and loads, would be sufficient for 1) building bone density and 2) developing muscle recruitment for cycling, other than barbell squats and dead lifts ?
Sorry if I haven’t been specific enough @RobertK.
I am also interested in what exercises build bone density. Is it only strength training? Or can weight bearing endurance activity also stimulate this?
I feel this is relevant to your original question.
Also, as you say, do squats with light weights add to that signalling?
Having just spoken to my partner I suspect I might be accused of hiijaking the thread?
I had thought the answers to my questions to be of benefit to you as the OP. Apologies if that’s not the case.
As people have already suggested, it’s a good question for a Chad deep dive.
It’s all good @Bullseye
I was responding to the guy who told me to go running, then doubled down by telling me that I was getting too specific and therefore should go see a physio.
Cheers @RobertK
Not a bad lesson for me though.
Forum ettiquete is a learnt skill like any other.
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If you’re going to respond to a suggestion with “but this is my medical history, your answer doesn’t help” then you are 1) asking people to get too specific and 2) you’re not disclosing relevant concerns in advance. I’m not going to waste my time guessing what else you might not have mentioned, that renders any other suggestion I make inappropriate for you. Go see a professional or quit whining when random people on the Internet aren’t tailoring their answers based on your unknown medical history.
For @Bullseye and anyone else interested in maintaining bone density: yes, weight-bearing endurance activity does a good job. My understanding is that regular walking is enough to maintain bone density, but something more vigorous one way or another is necessary to increase it. For example, if you incorporate a lot of elevation change (as you would get from hiking, or stairwalking), that is usually sufficient to increase bone density.
For anyone other than @RobertK interested in strengthening their legs for cycling but concerned about loading up their spines too much, Chad has recommended pistol squats before. I’d add shrimp squats, lunges, and good mornings as ways to target different parts of the legs and posterior chain without needing quite so much weight on the bar.
Looking forward to trying pistol squats. Should be interesting…
I’m doing static side planks and am just getting far enough past a rotar cuff injury to start adding movement to it. I love how easy it is to identify progression with strength work.
I do countless sets of stairs 5 days a week. Good to know I’m maintaining bone density (at minimum).
I think it can be daunting when we’re old enough to have collected injuries and potentially not young enough to fully recover from more we might create, by trying to lift beyond our means.
It’s important to feel what we do within our safe limits is effective.
@matthew.weigel the first paragraph of the original post notes that the inquiry/discussion was in reference to exercises and loads that could develop motor recruitment improvement specifically for cycling, and for bone density.
Indeed, rather than offering the reference to my medical history, I should have noted that the suggestion of running was simply off-topic and of little to no relevance to the original post.
