My legs are fit but upper body is neglected

[united4ever]

Cycling is all I do. No other exercise except normal amounts of walking. Have a desk job. Had a case of frozen shoulder for the last month's and the physio was saying it's good to do some lifting or something as part of a routine to build muscle.

What's the easiest entry activity. The thought of lifting weights, push ups, pull ups sound tedious as can be so looking for something that I could enjoy a bit. That way I would be less likely to give up. I am 50 male btw.

 

[Drago]

All the things you find tedious.

If you want the guns theres no avoiding the work, says me at nearly 58 still with 18 inch pipes.

What you gotta do is find an approach that works for you.

 

[PaulSB]

To stick at it you have to understand your motivation. Why do I want to do this? If it's because the physio suggested you should it won't last. You need to look inside yourself and understand what you want to achieve. As we get older it's about a lot more than building muscle.

I was the same 2½ years ago. The thought of weights, press ups etc bored me. I started to work with a PT who helped me understand my aims. Today I go to the local gym four times a week. I always leave feeling better than when I went in.

My motivation? I'm 71. My youngest granddaughter is 1. My ambition is to see her reach 21.

 

[YMFB]

Use a PT, get some ideas then spend a few £ on some dumbbells/Exercise ball

 

[Sharky]

You could stick to cycling, but take the hills, standing up on the biggest gear you can turn.

I'm sure it was Chris Hoys book I read, when he said he used to ride his bike with his brakes on for strength training.

 

[winjim]

Lifting is the sort of thing that seems tedious until you start doing it, then like any hobby you start focusing and getting into it. It helps that in the beginning the results are fairly rapid. You can put on a surprising amount of muscle really quite quickly, you'll notice the difference in the mirror within 6-8 weeks which is really motivating.

There always seem to be dumbells for sale locally on facebook etc. A couple of sets of light to medium weight and an exercise mat will get you started, learn the basic movements and ignore the complicated stuff, it's nonsense. By the time you've learned the movements you'll have outgrown the lighter dumbells so then you can decide if you want to carry on with bigger weights at home or maybe join a gym. I know some people on here have got bigger setups but I've got a set of adjustable dumbells, mat, step and bench, and it all tidies away nicely into a corner when I'm not using it. 45mins to an hour 3-4 times a week, listen to a podcast or whatever while I'm doing it and I'm ripped compared to this time last year.

 

[bikingdad90]

@united4ever, if you are like me you’ll get hooked on seeing incremental improvements.

I used to be able to chest press 40kg for 10 because of a shoulder impingement but now after a year up to 50kg for 7. Will move up to 51kg when I can 10. The hardest weight in the gym is the 0.5kg!

Alternatively, racquet sports are good for cardio and upper body fitness and conditioning. I play badminton too.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

The limited range of motion in my left arm (swinging straight arm up in front of face; out to side to touch ear; reaching up to between my shoulder blades), that began around December '24, was diagnosed as a frozen shoulder sometime around March. Never had anything like it before.

I was simply told that over time it should free up, everyone is different, don't do much in way of exercises besides every now and again gently challenging the range of motion. My biggest fear was it would get so bad, that it would reduce my ability to cycle, thankfully never became an issue.

Happened to notice the other day that besides reaching up between my shoulder blades, a lot of the range had come back.

Only sort of lifting I've done over the year is carrying used crockery to kitchen, carrying ~10l buckets of dirty/fresh water for my fish tanks and carrying my ~15Kg ebike up and down the stairs to our front door.