Leg exercises

[highsider]

Does anybody know of any good leg exercises I can do to get in shape for the riding season/track days? My legs are always killing me after riding for a couple of hours (okay, a couple of minutes), and I dont want to feel like a slug at VIR at the end of the month.....

[Awesome]

The trackdays were killing my legs last year. A little because my left leg was still healing.

I've been training for the upcoming season. I do the hill climb machine, the eliptical trainer, and the bicycle machine at the gym (hence why I want a bike). Squats and lunges are great too. I've also been working my wrists, hands and forarms a little extra as well. I spend all too much time at the gym. Almost 3 hours yesterday.

Any leg stuff is good. Stretching included. When I start lifting with my legs I'll be doing those bitch machines that you spread and close your legs. I've never seen a guy other than myself on them, but those are the muscles that you use when leaning off.

I need to pick up a new gripmaster too. Those things are great for the hands, wrists and forearms.

[benVFR]

Bicycling is your best bet... after all the cycling training I do for bicycle racing doing a trackday is not physically taxing at all. I always feel pretty fresh at the end of the day and that is great as the track is practically empty in the afternoon after everyone else has gotten tired.

Bicycling will build up all the same muscles you need and there is no other way to strengthen your aerobic system as well unless you are a born runner with no physical issues in your legs, back, feet, etc.. You do need to do it outside though as bicycling indoors is just plain awful and the life cycles in the gym are not designed for a fit person to work out hard on.

In the weight room nothing comes close to squats. Just make sure you learn how to do them correctly. I've been doing them forever as I had a coach telling me I had to do them in high school. My experience since getting out of college is almost no one does them in the gym, and lots of the trainers probably don't even know how to teach it. But any sport involving strength, you will not get any argument, they always say squats are the best, whether it is body building, football, powerlifting, all the way down to the endurance exercises like bicycling, XC skiing, etc.. I can squat 2x my bodyweight since I've been doing it so long, I have run into very few other people who can do that, and it is an immense advantage in some of the activities I've done. As long as they are done correctly with an appropriate amount of weight they are safer than most of the machine exercises in the gym, at least according to the sports medicine doctors I've gone to over the years. My doc says no leg extensions EVER for anyone for what it's worth, and he is a pretty high profile doctor who has worked with a bunch of pro athletes.

Strengthening your core (lower back, abs, obliques, etc..) is also key as strong legs without a strong core is kind of useless, your body has to be stabilized to get any use of strong legs. (And you won't be able to squat a lot of weight until you strengthen your core anyway)

The other excercise I think is particularly useful for motorcycling is lunges, since a tall person has their legs folded up so tight on a sportbike, an exercise like lunges with full range of motion is very useful. It really seems to help keep my knees from hurting.

[OreoGaborio]

I started doing wall sits & toe raises while waiting for the T on my way home from work

[Awesome]

Sex is great for the abs.

[Honclfibr]

Kick a dog. Repeat as necessary.

Cats work too, but require more reps.

[beet]

this year

[RSVMILLE661]

Hack squats, Leg press, leg curls.. do them.. they work.. Trust me.

1 lap = 30 hack squats side to side on the bike..

[Nikon]

kick hippies...there's plenty around here to go around

[Awesome]

what's a hack squat and I hate hippies.

[benVFR]

A hack squat you put your feet fairly far apart, toes facing outwards.

You would also typically pick the bar up from behind and below you rather than holding it on your shoulders.. but that varies.

You want to do something basic, and make sure your feet are about the same distance apart when you lift as they are on the bike. Most sportbikes seem to have the pegs about shoulder width apart though which is pretty natural.

All the leg/hip weightlifting stuff you could ever need:

link

[Jaynnus]

Originally posted by Nikon
kick hippies...there's plenty around here to go around

Whew....doesn't say anything about attending >30 Grateful Dead concerts or Patchuli!!

hip·pie also hip·py ( P ) Pronunciation Key (hp)
n. pl. hip·pies
A person who opposes and rejects many of the conventional standards and customs of society, especially one who advocates extreme liberalism in sociopolitical attitudes and lifestyles.

[RSVMILLE661]

When I (and I can only speak for myself) am "hanging off" My outside leg is "toe out" if you will and inside is also a bit "toe out" although that side is compressed or used as a feeler.

My shoulder is driven into the tank basically reaching around the back of the tank to the bar.

While racing at NHIS, taking into consideration the "a" labled turns. You swap an equal amount of times left to right up and down while shifting weight across the motorcycle. In essence looking at this motion based on Ben's Description. Toes out legs extended and compressed a hack squat is completed in each turn.

[benVFR]

Whatever you do ask a trainer if possible if you're going to do Hack Squats... they would definitely qualify as fairly "advanced" lifting and most of the commercial "foo foo" gyms these days you might get someone giving you a hard time.

The place I go now doesn't even really have a good safe place to do them unfortunately. Gotta use all the room possible for silly eliptical trainers and crap like that.

[chr|s sedition]

Originally posted by hessogood
When I start lifting with my legs I'll be doing those bitch machines that you spread and close your legs. I've never seen a guy other than myself on them,

i use that machine for karate. use those muscles when you move through stances at speed...and i also have never seen another guy on them, aside from one other martial arts dude.

1 rank away from black-belt,
-sedition

[OreoGaborio]

here's an exercize.... every time you take a crap, keep your weight as far back on your heels as possible & hover over the seat coming as close to it as you can but pretend it's covered in some dude's pee... or maybe it really IS covered in some dude's pee