Getting Fit with Jack Walton

Jun 7 2008 The Journal

AS the region gets into gear for the Northern Rock Cyclone event, it’s a good time to share some tips on conditioning for cycling.

Whether you are a keen cyclist or enjoy it recreationally, you will make performance gains and benefit from taking the right steps to developing your fitness for the bike and its specific demands on the body.

The Demands of Cycling?

The physical demands typically focus on:

Endurance, power and balance.

A cyclic motion of the legs.

A flexed and held position for the upper body.

While there are many health and fitness benefits to this exercise, this position and action is somewhat different to what the body is accustomed to. This is important for a number of reasons, including your posture, generation of power and injury prevention.

Endurance Training

Long distance and over-distance training will improve your aerobic fitness. Shorter distances on more challenging routes (hills) will increase your strength endurance. You may also want to develop your neuromuscular system with short drills that focus on your technique.

Postural Influences

Postural distortion occurs because of the highly flexed position a cyclist is in over a long duration. At Functional Trainer we look at structure and movement in order to design programmes that reflect your needs. To prevent injury, enable greater power output, go for longer a duration and at higher intensities, it is essential that you address your needs. You may need to increase the flexibility of some muscles and improve the strength of others.

Importance of the Core

The core acts as a foundation for power to be produced from. It is important that cyclists focus attention here as well as typically on the leg muscles.

Bike Set-Up

As posture is so important, then make sure your bike is set up correctly.

Rest

If suffering from an injury or struggling to improve performance, then look to your recovery. This may require attention even before changing training methods or style.

Carefully consider your rest, sleep, nutrition and hydration levels.

With the Cyclone event (www.northernrockcyclone.co.uk) only about one week away, keep your preparation on track and investigate advice on factors such as nutrition, hydration and recovery methods.

‘Functional Trainer’ provides Exercise Coaching for Health and Performance: 07792761324, or jack@functionaltrainer.co.uk