I started out doing weighted pull-ups by looping a leather strap through a 10 lb cast iron plate, and then looping that strap over a regular web belt (made to hold up your pants.)

It worked, but it was not comfortable nor sturdy. And you couldn’t adjust the weight without untying many knots. But it saved me $35 and bought me some time until the E-Z Dip Dumbbell Dipping Belt came out!

See, I always wanted to do weighted pull-ups, but I never liked the regular old dipping belts because they didn’t look safe. The price is not too bad ($30-50,) and they can hold 100+ pounds of plates. But they balance on your hips and look dangerous and uncomfortable!

Then there are weight vests, but they’re way too expensive for this purpose – like $50-80 or more just for a 10-20 lb vest.

Luckily, I found the E-Z Dip Dumbbell Dipping Belt before my homemade solution ripped apart. The E-Z Dip is a new style of dipping belt. It’s awesome!

What really sets the E-Z Dip apart is that it holds dumbbells rather than plates. Rather than wrapping a chain through a cast iron plate and hooking it up (as you do with every other dipping belt,) you simply stick a dumbbell into the hanger.

The dumbbells stick in there and don’t slip at all. (Standard dumbbells only though. Those adjustable dumbbells with the rubberized handles are too fat.)

If you want, you can also get a plate holder that hangs off the chain. It’s pretty cool because I don’t have a huge selection of dumbbells, but I do have some heavy plates.

Along with that, the E-Z Dip is very easy to load and unload. With dumbbells, you just lay it in or pull it out of the holder and put a new one in. It couldn’t be faster. No need for belt adjustments when switching dumbbells either.

This is great if you want to keep the belt on between sets, but don’t want the dumbbell weighing you down. You just take it in or out between sets since it only takes (literally) one second.

The plate holder isn’t nearly as slick as the dumbbell holder, but it’s useful to have around, especially if you don’t have a huge dumbbell collection. (The plate holder needs removed from the chain each time you want to change weights.)

Once loaded and you get working out, the E-Z Dip stays on your waist!

The belt stays on your waist because it has a big, thick belt around your hips and back, which balances nicely. Then there is an adjustable nylon strap on the front you tighten down like a regular belt. Every other dipping belt I’ve seen lacks this feature!

With my 32″ waist, I basically had it pulled as tight as possible. It didn’t need to be very tight to feel secure though.

Tightened down, the belt is comfortable.

It doesn’t dig into your sides. There are extra neoprene hip cushions underneath the belt for supreme comfort. Way better than a plain leather strap!

Also, you can adjust the chain length to whatever you want. Since it’s a linked chain and there are two hooks on the belt, just hook into whatever link you wish.

Comfort-wise, you can adjust it to fall into that sweet spot between your thighs, so you’re not banging weights off your knees or your family jewels.

The belt and chain are also sturdy and secure.

I started out using the belt for chin ups and pull ups. I tested it with 5-50lb of weight, using both the plate holder and the dumbbell holder. All were secure.

Supposedly this belt holds up to 300lb. Well, if you know anyone who can do pull ups with 300lb hanging off their waist, have them test this belt and let me know how it goes!

I mentioned this before but I’ll mention it again since it has to do with safety – the belt actually tightens down on your waist and is held in place. It does not just balance on your hips, as most other dipping belts do.

The price is definitely at the high end – about $70 plus shipping ($81 total for the complete package.) That’s double what some other belts cost, but I think it’s worth it for the lack of hassle and increased comfort and safety!

My final verdict is…

The E-Z Dip works great. No complaints here. It is expensive, but if you want to do weighted pull-ups safely and without a lot of fumbling around, it’s worth the money.

Of course, if you can’t do more than 5 or 10 pull ups with nothing more than your body weight, you won’t need to invest in something like this for quite some time. But if you plan to spend the money on a dipping belt, I encourage you to look at the E-Z Dip.

Official website: www.Hold-Ons.com

Ever gone out mountain biking on technical trails and ended up with sore forearms? Or maybe you did a lot of standing climbing on your last road ride, and your forearms are feeling it?

Forearm strength is not a top priority for cyclists, but your forearms do come into play during certain situations. Having strong forearms will come in especially handy during mountain biking, with the constant steering and lifting the front wheel. Not to mention holding on during white-knuckle descents!

So if your forearms ever do get sore from riding, that’s a good sign they need some training. Here are three ways to work them:

3. Wrist Curls

This is a basic, boring exercise for the weight room, but it will directly work your forearms.

To start, get some light dumbbells (one for each hand.) What you do is sit down on a bench and place your forearms flat on the bench or on your quads. Then you simply curl the weight up using your wrist. (It’s the same concept as a regular bicep curl.)

I recommend doing both pronated (palms facing the ground) and supinated (palms facing up) curls.

2. Twist Ups

I don’t know if there’s a true name for this exercise or device, but it’s something my football coach showed me years ago.

Basically it’s a weight plate tied onto a 5′ section of rope, with the rope then tied onto a 1′ section of dowel rod. (It’s easy to make one at home.)

To work your forearms, you hold your arms out straight in front of you with both hands on the dowel rod. Start with the rope unraveled and the weight plate resting on the floor. Moving the dowel rod with just your hands/wrists, roll it up so the rope goes around the rod and the weight gets pulled up to shoulder level.

Then, even though your forearms probably hurt like mad, turn the dowel rod in the other direction to slowly unravel the rope and get the weight plate back to the floor.

1. Weighted Pull Ups

Here’s my favorite way to work your forearms, and it doesn’t require a separate workout.

Start doing weighted pull ups! These are regular pull ups, but you use a dipping belt to hand weight plates off your waist.

This exercise will work your arms, shoulders, and back a little more than a normal pull up, but it really works your grip! Your hands and forearms are likely to give out simply from holding up the extra weight.

Unlike during a simple wrist curl, your forearms will really feel the effects of a weighted pull up!

A similar concept is doing heavy deadlifts. As you add weight, chances are your hands and forearms will crack long before your hips do! They’re tough, but the increased forearm strength will be worth it!

Try one or all three of those exercises and I doubt your forearms will get sore from bike riding anymore! (And if you’ll be swimming or kayaking in some triathlons, it wouldn’t hurt to build bigger arms for that.)

While most cyclists and runners aren’t concerned with having big arms, arm strength comes in handy for XC skiing, swimming, kayaking, BMX, mountain biking, and even bike repair! So let’s look at building big arms…

A Question On Bicep Curls!?
Right. Im 14 and am naturally quite skinny in the arms. I have started doing bicep curls with a 3kg weight. Any ideas until i notice a difference and what can i do to make the process happen quicker. E.g. Should i eat more fatty foods etc. I want to stay complelty away from steroids.

Thanks!
-Skinny Steven

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but doing bicep curls with a 3kg (~6lb) dumbbell isn’t going to get you anywhere. You could curl all day but your arms will stay just as skinny as they are now.

So the first thing I would do is just forget the curls altogether. You could work your way up to heavier weights, but even then, you can lift more weight with other exercises. I’m not saying you can’t do curls later, but if you want to pack on some real size in a relatively short amount of time, look elsewhere!

There are four main exercises I suggest: pull ups, chin ups, dips, and shoulder presses. These exercises involve compound movements that work your entire arm, which allows you to move heavier weights, which leads to greater gains in size and strength.

Pull ups, chin ups, and dips can all be started with just your body weight. That will be a little safer than jumping into a big weight lifting program.

Shoulder presses will require a barbell and/or dumbbells, but you could start out with pike push ups (or handstand push ups) to work your shoulders before hitting the big weights.

How many sets and reps should you do for these bodyweight exercises? Read this: Determining Sets and Reps for Bodyweight Exercises.

More weight lifting and lots of eating wouldn’t hurt, either.

For example, you could add in a lift like the deadlift (maybe some squats too.) By working big muscles in your legs and back, your body will produce more of a testosterone response from your workouts. This could lead to better growth in your arm muscles for the same workout (studies are conflicting.) Regardless, it wouldn’t hurt to work out your entire body and not just your arms!

Being a beginner, I’d suggest following a pre-made plan from an expert. A book that would probably work for you (that you might enjoy reading as well) is Nate Green’s Built For Show.

And you need to eat extra calories if you want to build muscle. As in, LOTS of food!

As for your diet, stay away from junk food. Make sure you eat healthy foods like lean meats, whole grains, and lots of fruits and vegetables. You can eat fatty foods to get more calories, but stick with fatty foods like almonds, avocados, and olive oil. No junk food!!

Basically, if you do a good amount of weight lifting and eat lots of natural, unprocessed foods, you should see some results! It won’t happen overnight, but stick with it for a couple months, and I think you’ll be pleased.

BUILT FOR SHOW: Four Body-Changing Workouts for Building Muscle, Losing Fat, And Looking Good Enough To Hook Up

Catchy title, huh?

Me being a fairly skinny and not very muscular cyclist who spends more time with bicycles than anything/one else, the book caught my eye for sure. It’s also cool that Nate Green is 23 years old, so he’s about my age, and also about my height. One small difference though – he’s big and strong!

The “big and strong” thing may not appeal to cyclists, but I think it’s important for cyclists to be lifting weights to supplement endurance training, and it’s a good idea to learn about weight lifting from actual weight lifters, who are typically years ahead of cycling coaches when it comes to building strength and size in the gym.

So you (as an endurance athlete) may not follow everything in this book exactly, but you can still apply many of the principles in this book when you do lift weights.

If I have convinced you so far, let’s review the book…

The First Honest Weight Lifting Book

BUILT FOR SHOW is the book everyone wanted to buy, but couldn’t get till 2008. What I mean is that every time some guy bought a book about body building and/or strength training, it wasn’t truly about getting big and strong. Rather, it was to impress the ladies.

And throughout this book, Nate is making some sort of remark about how a certain lift will build certain attractive body parts that women really admire, how this exercise will help you perform better, etc.

Nate explains that in the intro better than I can, so even if you don’t want the book, I suggest taking a peek at the intro when you’re in a bookstore.

As you can imagine, it’s fun to read. It’s one of the most enjoyable “how-to” books out there. It focuses on the truth, but it contains plenty of humor and good stories to make it fun. It’s written in a good tone, mainly for testosterone-filled teenagers and young men.

Quality Information

Don’t let the humor fool you – when it comes to getting big and strong, Nate means business. BUILT FOR SHOW is packed with training and nutrition advice, how-to photos, and four complete training plans.

First, there’s a section on flexibility and mobility. These traits are important for athletes of all types, from weight lifters to cyclists to badminton champions.

Next, the workout programs themselves are well thought out and easy to understand.

The actual plans may look complicated (like most exercise plans do,) but Nate explains it in simple language. It makes a lot of sense how he lays out the plans, and you don’t have to be a mathematician to follow along with the recommended sets and reps.

How Nate sets up the plans is cool, too, specifically how he combines various numbers of sets and reps into the same program. That should decrease boredom and provide a well-rounded approach suitable for the target audience.

After you get through the plans, you need to see how to perform the exercises properly, so Nate includes a detailed section complete with photos.

There are typically only two pictures per exercise, so it’s not quite as good as a video would be, but the pictures are clear and the text makes sense. (This section spans 80 freakin pages, so yeah, it’s thorough!)

The only downfall here is that some of the exercises require a gym membership, or at least a killer home gym. We’re talking a power cage for $500 or more, plus attachments, a cable station, lots of weights, and of course, a room of your home to put this stuff in.

Fortunately, when you can substitute similar exercises requiring less equipment, Nate goes ahead and gives you the “garage variation” for those of you who workout at home with nothing more than a barbell and plates.

(But if you have a gym membership anyway, no sweat.)

Moving along, the nutrition guidelines are spot-on. They are surprisingly close to what I would recommend.

My only true disagreement is that Nate recommends, “if you drink beer, drink light beer.” I don’t recommend light beer at all (it’s like white bread vs whole wheat bread,) but if we put minor differences aside, Nate has a great book.

Finally, the style and fashion advice is great. Some stuff I was aware of, some stuff not. It’s great for guys because it covers enough stuff, but doesn’t get too complicated.

Especially great is the part about picking clothes to make your skinny body look more built. That probably applies to 99% of all pro road cyclists, so cyclists shouldn’t feel left out of this book after all!

BUILT FOR SHOW, For Cyclists

This book isn’t written for cyclists, but at the same time, it kind of is.

If you’ve been a bike racer for any length of time, you know it’s not really a sport that’s going to attract a lot of girls, so you might not be looking for the sex appeal aspect of this book. Also, a bike racer won’t be dedicating their entire week to gym workouts, so you can’t just jump into this program head first.

But there’s plenty of good stuff left for us, like the principles of strength training. Cyclists that do hit the gym (which I recommend) don’t typically spend a lot of time or effort to develop the best weight training regimen. They end up with some beginner workouts and high-rep, low-weight crap that isn’t very effective in any regard.

But if you look at the exercises and guidelines in this book, and take the “myth busting” part of the book to heart, you’ll be much better off than if you follow a more mainstream program (i.e. the one found in The Lance Armstrong Performance Program, which I don’t think is even close to what Lance does in the weight room.)

So it’s funny, this is actually a great book for cyclists who need some true weight lifting advice (even if you don’t know you need it.) It’s an easy-to-read book with everything you need to know about developing a real, worthwhile weight lifting plan. You just have to adapt the actual workouts to your limited training time (due to your full schedule of on-bike training.)

My final verdict is…

If you like the title, you’ll love the book.

Me? I love the book. Great advice. Fun to read. Perfect for anyone looking to build a good, strong body, especially if you’re new to weight training or you’ve been doing it a while but not getting results.

As for cyclists, I still whole-heartedly recommend the book, because the advice is spot-on, and I don’t recommend skimping on weight training.

Official website: www.BuiltForShow.com

Author blog: www.TheNateGreenExperience.com

Buy online: www.Amazon.com

Just like bicycle mechanics can debate endlessly over “which chain lube is best?,” coaches are going to debate endlessly over the idea of weight training for cyclists…

Should I do upper body weights/conditioning as a road/mtb cyclist. My coach and other people on my team say ‘no’ that it isn’t important. Seems like it would be a good idea though.

Thanks,
Bulging Biceps Billy

Hi Billy,

I’m a big fan of upper body conditioning, especially for mountain bikers. I think everyone should lift weights, at least in the off season.

I certainly don’t recommend any sort of bodybuilding routine, but a straightforward strength training program composed of some basic exercises is great. During the off season, that might be squats, lunges, deadlifts, rows, dips, push ups, and pull ups done 2-3 times per week.

Once racing season begins, you should probably drop the weighted squats and lunges and ease up on the arm exercises a little. At this point you might only lift once per week, if at all.

But you can still do your calisthenics during the season. At the very least, competitive cyclists should be doing basic body weight workouts – push ups, planks, bird dog, lunges, mountain climbers, etc.

A nice compromise between weight lifting and the easier body weight exercises is plyometrics. These jumps and explosive movements are intense like weight lifting, but they don’t require weights or a gym!

Personally I like to hit the heavy weights in the off season (full body) but then switch to mostly body weight workouts and plyometrics during the season. I’ll still do shoulder presses, dips, and pull-ups (with weights) during the season, but I have to back off on the squats once the serious interval training begins.

This strength training will get rid of muscle imbalances and possible posture problems from hunkering down over a bike for hours on end, as well as strengthen your bones, which is VERY important for cyclists!

(Cycling being a relatively low impact activity, it doesn’t promote bone strengthening to the extent that weight lifting does.)

The weight lifting is not going to increase your aerobic capacity so you can ride the Tour de France. And you do have to give up a little bit of riding time since you’ll need increased recovery from adding in weight training.

But I feel the general health and injury prevention benefits outweigh the risks! (As long as you are lifting with proper form, that is.)

And contrary to popular belief, you won’t turn into a hulk just by weight lifting (unless you’re on steroids!)