by | Feb 6, 2014 | Training
How to strength hip flexors for cycling.
After completing Ride London last year, high on my cycling achievements I cracked on with training for my next big event, double Hadliegh the Olympic course, twice in two months! I developed a niggle in my knee mid August in the middle of my training and frustratingly had to pull out of the nationals. After speaking to some friends in sports science and taking their advice of using rest, ice, compression and elevation (R.I.C.E) with no ease on what seems dot be a very painful knee, I went to see a physio at Optimum Health. After explaining about my lack of training for Ride London and buying a second hand road bike I was assured it was fixable but told not to ride my road bike until I had a bike fit. It also was brought to my attention that I didn’t have a knee probable I had a hip flexor weakness.
I was given some exercises to do which really worked so I wanted to share them with you.
First of all I had to learn to bend from my hips, a basic hip bend should involve you moving your glutes backwards and keeping a straight back, then to stand up you should squeeze your glutes to push you back upright. This will make you activate your hip flexors instead of bending through your back.
Then you need to build single leg strength, standing on one leg with your hips level is a good place to start and also glute bridges, I have been doing single leg glute bridges and find there a great exercise.
The body weight Bulgarian squat is great for working right into your glutes and strengthening up this muscle group. Remember to keep your knee tracking your toe and your chest and shin parallel like in a normal squat.
A normal back squat develops power in these muscles as well as working your whole body.
Then there is the magic moves of pilates, personally pilates is one of the fundamental elements in my training as it keeps my core strong. I will talk about my favourite pilates exercises for cyclists in another post.
Once i had started to build up my strength i had a bike fit at Wyndymilla which was great it turned out i needed a new handle bar to bring my arms in so i wasn’t so stretched out.
I started my recovery rides on my mountain bike as i had very little issues when riding this bike and built up slowly to start with until i noticed i didnt have a pain any more, good times!
I have tried to keep up some of my exercises and realise now how important it is to do some strength and conditioning work to not only develop better cycling muscles but also to maintain good posture.
If you have any other hip flexor exercises i would be really interested to find out what has worked for you?
by | Jan 10, 2014 | Training
Keeping training momentum in the summer is easy, you jump from work to your bike and eat up the miles and sprint up the hills with the birds singing and the sun shining until late. In these conditions its easy to have decent training sessions and concentrate on your riding and not the elements. The winter is a whole different kettle of fish! To start with its dark by 4pm, the roads are wet and full of drivers eager to get home not looking where their going, and the single track has turned into a sticky mess (great in the light, not so great in the dark). This although sometimes good fun is not ideal training time and often makes me frustrated not feeling I can get the most out of training rides.
This is the time of year when my turn my attention to the gym and especially get into Spinning.
Spinning, when you cant get out on your bike is a fantastic way to get a high intensity workout of the muscle groups key for cycling. Spin classes have the added bonus of an instructor and loud music to keep you pumped up and pushing up that last hill climb which is great for days when your motivation is lack luster!
The high intensity of spin classes means I usually spend most of my time anaerobic (that nice place where you feel like your lungs might burst and your heart is beating out of your chest) with my heart rate above 160bpm.
High Intensity Interval Training is (according to a 2011 study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting) a great way to improve your aerobic capacity, just 2 weeks of HIIT can improve your aerobic capacity as much as 6-8 weeks of endurance training. I certainly feel like Spinning has improved my fitness and feel exhausted after a class. After a spin class I refuel with a protein shake and a carbohydrate lunch like a brown bagel and cream cheese (a little bit of fat is good for you!).
Spinning is often a sticky hot affair so its worth taking a towel and large water bottle too!
I use the spin class once or twice a week to help reduce my lactate production and enhance neuromuscular control as there are often sprints in a spin class I try and tailor this into my training plan as a fun variation to the gym.
by | Sep 22, 2013 | Training
The last two weeks I have been training on a Wattbike, the benefits of using a Wattbike is the pedal efficiency data you can collect. When training on a Wattbike you can see the polar view which is a graph showing you one pedal revolution, the diagram shows you the stroke of each leg and the amount of power being generated in each side is shown as a percentage at the bottom of the screen.
The line shows you the angle of peak force and to improve technique you want the angle to be the same at both ends. During the cycle show before Ride London I had a Wattbike test and found out that my highest power output for my left leg was at 106 degrees and my right at 113.
The red line shown in the picture shows pedal strokes to improve performance and pedaling efficiency the idea is to make the oval as smooth as possible getting rid of the dips which show the dead space where very little or no power is being produced.
I have been working on my pedalling efficiency on the Wattbikes and have found it really useful as you can watch the diagram and feel how each stroke feels and adapt your technique as your going along. I then found when I’m on my bike I’m thinking more about stroking my foot round and how the movement feels. Training on a Wattbike has been very beneficial and I feel like my technique has improved although its not become a habit yet so I will continue to train as much as possible on a Wattbike.
I have been training at anaerobic threshold on the Wattbike and also interval sessions, I have found that the consistency at one speed in the anaerobic threshold training works better as trying to sprint and give it everything you have got and watch the diagram for pedalling efficiency is not easy!
I feel my technique has improved and I want to continue to work on this over the winter until it becomes second nature. I would highly recommend training on a Wattbike as I think it helps you to understand and use your legs more effectively.
by hattenburrow | Jul 5, 2013 | Coaching, Training
Last week I had a V02 Max Test (the maximum capacity of an individual’s body to transport and use oxygen during incremental exercise, which reflects the physical fitness of the individual) with Surrey Human Performance Institute.
I had felt recently that my training had plateaued especially since trying to encompass training for Ride London in August with cross country racing.
My VO2 Max came out at 47.5 ml/kg/min at a power output of 241 watts. I was very please that this was a good result in the good category at the higher end of the scale as my Dad had said his VO2 was low and with it being linked to genetics I was suspecting mine to be slightly lower than this.
The summery of my results can be seen below:
My Anaerobic Threshold (AT) lies at a power output of 184 watts and a heart rate of 150 – 155 bpm to improve this i need to train around this threshold for around 30 – 40 mins twice a week.
It was really interesting performing the VO2 max test and the data has been very valuable in moving my training forward i will use my new programme to help increase my performance. I have decided to concentrate on improving my AT, maximal aerobic power, lactate clearance and endurance as i feel at the moment these three sessions will have the more effect on both my long distance work and racing.
Thank you to SHPI for taking the time to do the test with me! I will keep you updated on my progress with my new training programme.
by hattenburrow | Apr 14, 2013 | Nutrition
Healthy Snacks, Banana and Almond Slice.
We all love a little bit of sweetness in our lives. Having a sweet tooth makes it rather tempting to dig into something chocolaty or a slab of cake before going on a training ride, but these sweet treats don’t sustain you for very long, as they are full of sugar which give you a quick boost but leave you wanting more very quickly.
What you really need are foods that have a low Glycemic Index (GI), these are foods which release carbohydrate more slowly over time in order to sustain the training you are doing for longer. So to combine something sweet with something that will sustain training I’ve started making banana and almond cakes, these are full of slow releasing energy and a sweet treat at the same time. Bonus!
What you will need:
3 large bananas, mashed
Sliced almonds, a hand full
200g (7 oz) plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
150g (5 oz) caster sugar
1 egg
75g (2 1/2 oz) butter, melted
A cap full of vanilla essence
How to make:
Preheat your oven to 180 C / Gas mark 4, then grease a tin, any tin will do as long as its about an inch deep. You could also make this into a muffin mix by using a muffin tray. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a mixing bowl and add in your sliced almonds.
Using a blended mix together the bananas, vanilla essence, sugar, egg and melted butter, once its turned into a yellow goo pour in stirring as you add the dry ingredients once its all mixed together add to your baking tray and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. You will know its cooked when you can lightly tap it and it bounces.
Leave to cool and then cut into slices, grab your bike/trainers and your delicious treat and your good to go.
I hope you enjoy my healthy snack, if you have any alternatives please share.
