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.
So we’ve been working closely with Dorte Jensen at Velo Atelier to bring you six strengthening exercises to improve your core and body support on the bike. Starting with the neck.
Many cyclists suffer from sore neck and shoulders after a long ride, and it’s no wonder as to why because we have to crane our neck in an awkward fashion. Working on this group of muscles will give your neck that much needed support to see you through the long days in the saddle.
The video below will show you a quick and easy exercise to strengthen these muscles – it’s harder than it looks!
