What’s interesting about “Corrective” or “Prehab” exercises, is that many serious athletes scoff when they see a program with these often light or non-weighted movements. Add to this skepticism the fact that these exercises often put the athlete in a position to feel weak or unable to do something, and we have a recipe for likely disaster.
“While the e-bikes that have geometry similar to folding bikes are an exception to this, I DO see power-boost Mountain bikes and Road bikes as quickly becoming a way for coaches and athletes to better control training stress on scheduled recovery days or long endurance days, where cutting an athlete’s ride at a specific point may not be feasible (think Kilojoule rides, and taper Target TSS/Intensity Factor rides). In my opinion, this can be HUGE and can significantly boost riders performances, when done properly. “
The missing piece, when it comes to strength training, for most athletes, is the understanding that strength training (and cross training for that matter) should be focused on strengthening the body in movements that are NOT done in their sport, and which will lead to better stability and strength through the sports movements. ESPECIALLY when we are talking about strength training for cyclists and triathletes.
But the psoas is like a fine wine… it’s much more complex than a fancy label and not coming in a box, or something called a “Bladder”. Ya just can’t make it feel good with a few glasses of boxed wine/ Lunge, Reach, Twist Stretch…
You may be thinking these changes are a bad thing, but in fact, this very mechanism of the human organism- adapting to the working demands we place on out body- has led us to be able to survive for however many thousands of years, as we’ve adapted to the stressors and demands placed on us.
What’s interesting about “Corrective” or “Prehab” exercises, is that many serious athletes scoff when they see a program with these often light or non-weighted movements. Add to this skepticism the fact that these exercises often put the athlete in a position to feel weak or unable to do something, and we have a recipe for likely disaster.
“While the e-bikes that have geometry similar to folding bikes are an exception to this, I DO see power-boost Mountain bikes and Road bikes as quickly becoming a way for coaches and athletes to better control training stress on scheduled recovery days or long endurance days, where cutting an athlete’s ride at a specific point may not be feasible (think Kilojoule rides, and taper Target TSS/Intensity Factor rides). In my opinion, this can be HUGE and can significantly boost riders performances, when done properly. “
The missing piece, when it comes to strength training, for most athletes, is the understanding that strength training (and cross training for that matter) should be focused on strengthening the body in movements that are NOT done in their sport, and which will lead to better stability and strength through the sports movements. ESPECIALLY when we are talking about strength training for cyclists and triathletes.
Again and again, the most common advice to those who are looking to “lighten” is to “ride more...a lot more”, and “create a deficit of 300-500 a day”. While this advice is essentially the foundations of how to get down, there are actually a few more very important details that you MUST know before you start your Watts per Kilogram journey. That is, if you want to get light AND fast.
Photo: Fred Jordan
