Earlier in the year we teamed up with the bike fitting experts, Velo Atelier, to bring you six simple – but challenging – stretches for cyclists. We’ve joined forces again to bring you six essential strength exercises.
Being both supple and strong on the bike are key to unlocking your potential performance. Whatever your discipline is, you need to have a certain level of flexibility to be able to adopt those race positions, and to throw your weight around the bike at the drop of a pedal.
We’ve worked with Dorte Jensen, who is a level 3 pilates instructor with over five years experience. The stretches in these videos aren’t likely to be unknown to you, but she’ll demonstrate the correct way to carry them out and highlight common errors which can hamper the effects of the stretch. Here are the cycling stretch videos we did earlier this year:
- Glutes (view that one here)
- Quads (view that one here)
- Hamstrings (view that one here)
- Hip Flexors (view that one here)
- Neck (view that one here)
- Calves (view that one here)
Moving on to strength exercises…
It isn’t just about having a flexible and supple body though. Having a strong core is more than just a six pack, it includes your pelvis, lumbar, abs and much more. This group of muscles is responsible for fending off early onset fatigue, keeping a stable riding position and distributing your weight efficiently.
We’ve already covered:
- Strengthening the neck (view that one here)
- Strengthening the abdominals (view that one here)
- Strengthening the thoracic (view that one here)
Strength exercise number fours looks at strengthening the rhomboids.
This is probably one of the most simple, and yet effective exercises. It’s especially useful for those who sit at a desk all day, or feel stiffness in their mid-upper back. The rhomboids are skeletal muscles on the back that connects the scapula with the vertebrae.
When you feel tender between and around the shoulder blades, it’s usually down to tightness in the rhomboids. This simple exercise takes just a few minutes of your time, and it can be done anywhere… event at work!
Watch the clip below for a tutorial on strengthening your rhomboids.
