Speed, Power and Control on the Trail
Let's face it, if you're not bleeding, you're not biking.
That's an exaggeration, of course.
But spills and falls come with cycling of any kind, whether you're an extreme mountain biker or a high-speed road warrior.
Raw elbows, raspberry rashes under your ZOICs, aches, pains and assorted bumps are all just proof that you're pushing hard.
But if you really want to get better, if you really want to be able to climb faster, negotiate turns quicker, and still have strength in your legs after 2, 3, 6+ hours on the trail, there is no substitute for long, challenging rides.
And provided you do it smartly, a little gym time to help develop strength endurance and explosive power -- two elements you must have if you're going to compete against top bikers.
But training can take its toll on your body..
..
and if you're not careful, it can actually hamper your performance.
Here's how.
Hour after hour on the back of a bike puts pressure on your glutes, hips and low back.
It can create muscle fatigue and strain that weakens your body instead of strengthening it.
Continual forward lean on handlebars tires shoulders, and strains and torques rotator cuff, upper back and elbows.
Grip strength needed to grasp handlebars during long rides not only draws on hands for holding, but also uses forearms, biceps and triceps.
If not stretched and strengthened properly, they can let you down just when you need biting strength and split-second reaction to negotiate rock-n-boulder terrain and hair-pin turns.
And, as if you haven't heard this a hundred times already, everything begins with your core.
Your core, which includes erector, spine, abs, and the many small-but-important muscles that encircle the middle of your body, is where strength and balance begin.
If it is weak or strained or out of balance, the rest of your body will follow.
Upper back will clinch up, arm strength will dissipate and explosive force from your legs will desert you.
Ice, Rest or Weight Room? So the question is how do you build strength, endurance and power without injuring yourself or creating dangerous muscle fatigue, in the process? The answer is to take care of your body.
Even if your chosen sport didn't include falling into jagged rocks or hurtling into brush that tears at your legs and arms, the repetition of training torques your body in unnatural ways.
And whether you rest, "ice-and-go", or use weights to strengthen weaker muscles --routine strains, injury, fatigue and stiffness add up.
The result can be growing pain and recurring injury, that can hamper your performance (or worse).
Not Just a Collection of Loose Parts You see, your body is not a loose collection of interchangeable parts.
It is one, single entity.
When you injure one shoulder, your body compensates by putting more pressure on the other, healthy shoulder.
To move that added workload to the healthy shoulder, your back turns itself just a millimeter or two one way or the other.
Left to its own devices (meaning continuing to train without treating the source of the problem), your body changes the way you sit, the way you ride and ultimately affects the force with which you can turn the peddles.
The answer, then, is to treat the source of the problem, right? To do that, though, you'll need to undo all the twisting, turning and tightening your glutes, low back, upper back, arms and hands have undergone during the days, weeks and even months they have been compensating for that original injury.
That is precisely what structural integration therapy is designed to do.
During the course of 5 - 10 treatment sessions, I will slowly unwrap the layers of pain, stiffness and subcutaneous scarring that have accumulated in your body.
I will align the pieces of your body (each with the other) to recapture that single, flowing, contiguous design that enables the human form to work hard and create maximal force.
Your body will be perfectly balanced, beginning at your core and continuing through each arm, leg, finger and toe.
You will feel a lightness, an ease, and a strength you may not recognize at first (because it has been missing for so long).
But the impact on your biking ability may just amaze you.
Upper back and shoulders will feel longer and stronger, enabling you to lean low and hold tight for greater aerodynamics and control.
Increased hip flexion and balance in lower body will streamline the ability of glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves to work together and drive peddles harder for greater force production.
In sum, your body will be healthy, strong and optimized for speed and power.
That's an exaggeration, of course.
But spills and falls come with cycling of any kind, whether you're an extreme mountain biker or a high-speed road warrior.
Raw elbows, raspberry rashes under your ZOICs, aches, pains and assorted bumps are all just proof that you're pushing hard.
But if you really want to get better, if you really want to be able to climb faster, negotiate turns quicker, and still have strength in your legs after 2, 3, 6+ hours on the trail, there is no substitute for long, challenging rides.
And provided you do it smartly, a little gym time to help develop strength endurance and explosive power -- two elements you must have if you're going to compete against top bikers.
But training can take its toll on your body..
..
and if you're not careful, it can actually hamper your performance.
Here's how.
Hour after hour on the back of a bike puts pressure on your glutes, hips and low back.
It can create muscle fatigue and strain that weakens your body instead of strengthening it.
Continual forward lean on handlebars tires shoulders, and strains and torques rotator cuff, upper back and elbows.
Grip strength needed to grasp handlebars during long rides not only draws on hands for holding, but also uses forearms, biceps and triceps.
If not stretched and strengthened properly, they can let you down just when you need biting strength and split-second reaction to negotiate rock-n-boulder terrain and hair-pin turns.
And, as if you haven't heard this a hundred times already, everything begins with your core.
Your core, which includes erector, spine, abs, and the many small-but-important muscles that encircle the middle of your body, is where strength and balance begin.
If it is weak or strained or out of balance, the rest of your body will follow.
Upper back will clinch up, arm strength will dissipate and explosive force from your legs will desert you.
Ice, Rest or Weight Room? So the question is how do you build strength, endurance and power without injuring yourself or creating dangerous muscle fatigue, in the process? The answer is to take care of your body.
Even if your chosen sport didn't include falling into jagged rocks or hurtling into brush that tears at your legs and arms, the repetition of training torques your body in unnatural ways.
And whether you rest, "ice-and-go", or use weights to strengthen weaker muscles --routine strains, injury, fatigue and stiffness add up.
The result can be growing pain and recurring injury, that can hamper your performance (or worse).
Not Just a Collection of Loose Parts You see, your body is not a loose collection of interchangeable parts.
It is one, single entity.
When you injure one shoulder, your body compensates by putting more pressure on the other, healthy shoulder.
To move that added workload to the healthy shoulder, your back turns itself just a millimeter or two one way or the other.
Left to its own devices (meaning continuing to train without treating the source of the problem), your body changes the way you sit, the way you ride and ultimately affects the force with which you can turn the peddles.
The answer, then, is to treat the source of the problem, right? To do that, though, you'll need to undo all the twisting, turning and tightening your glutes, low back, upper back, arms and hands have undergone during the days, weeks and even months they have been compensating for that original injury.
That is precisely what structural integration therapy is designed to do.
During the course of 5 - 10 treatment sessions, I will slowly unwrap the layers of pain, stiffness and subcutaneous scarring that have accumulated in your body.
I will align the pieces of your body (each with the other) to recapture that single, flowing, contiguous design that enables the human form to work hard and create maximal force.
Your body will be perfectly balanced, beginning at your core and continuing through each arm, leg, finger and toe.
You will feel a lightness, an ease, and a strength you may not recognize at first (because it has been missing for so long).
But the impact on your biking ability may just amaze you.
Upper back and shoulders will feel longer and stronger, enabling you to lean low and hold tight for greater aerodynamics and control.
Increased hip flexion and balance in lower body will streamline the ability of glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves to work together and drive peddles harder for greater force production.
In sum, your body will be healthy, strong and optimized for speed and power.
