Yoga For Biking: Cross-Train Your Mind And Body For Better Performance
Cross-training in different complimentary sports improves performance and reduces the risk of injury.
It also keeps the mind fresh.
Cross-training in yoga for biking has many advantages.
That mental edge Yoga is especially good for developing the intense, almost meditative focus that the best bikers have and need to achieve that competitive edge.
Despite the fact that all athletes can benefit from working on their mental focus, yoga is the only sport that formally instructs athletes in how to develop and use mental focus to improve physical performance.
Yoga can teach the biker how to get "in the zone" on demand.
The body awareness that yoga teaches can also help with pacing- in a long bike ride, the biker needs to know how much energy can be expended in the early stages to keep speed up yet still have enough energy left to complete the ride.
Intense concentration and full body awareness are necessary to perform pacing well.
Yoga teaches the athlete to reach the edge and stay there, which is a good description of pacing done well.
Another oft-overlooked advantage of yoga for biking is its relaxing effect.
Many bikers get wired and jazzed up from biking and find they have difficulty resting well.
Practicing yoga after biking will relieve the stiff muscles (see below) and also relax the mind so the body can rest properly in-between workouts.
Stretching Most bikers find they get stiff and sore in their legs, hips, back and shoulders.
The static, canted-forward position of the biker causes muscles to tighten and joints to stiffen.
Performing a yoga routine after each ride that moves the joints through their full range of motion relieves the tight, stiff muscles.
In particular the back and neck should be flexed and stretched after each ride in order to avoid the slouched posture and lower back pain that afflict many bikers.
Stretching out the power muscles of the legs through yoga after each ride will not only prevent stiffening and pain, but will also speed up recovery time.
Improved aerodynamics Reducing wind-drag can make a big difference in a biker's time.
More than 90% of bike power output is used to break the air resistance.
In order to reduce wind-drag the biker needs to reduce the frontal surface area of the body.
Wind-tunnel experiments have shown that the most efficient biking position is with a completely flat back, the shoulders folded in and the hands close together- the biker has become smaller to the wind.
Most bikers are too inflexible to even get into this position, or if they can, they cannot hold the position for very long.
Yoga immediately springs to mind as the solution.
Yoga teaches athletes to put their bodies into specific positions and then hold them: exactly what the biker trying to "be small" needs to learn.
Special yoga classes are starting to spring up to teach bikers the concepts of body control, flexibility and "getting small" in order to facilitate biking.
After studying yoga the biker can optimize biomechanics, maintain comfort and simultaneously reduce wind drag.
It also keeps the mind fresh.
Cross-training in yoga for biking has many advantages.
That mental edge Yoga is especially good for developing the intense, almost meditative focus that the best bikers have and need to achieve that competitive edge.
Despite the fact that all athletes can benefit from working on their mental focus, yoga is the only sport that formally instructs athletes in how to develop and use mental focus to improve physical performance.
Yoga can teach the biker how to get "in the zone" on demand.
The body awareness that yoga teaches can also help with pacing- in a long bike ride, the biker needs to know how much energy can be expended in the early stages to keep speed up yet still have enough energy left to complete the ride.
Intense concentration and full body awareness are necessary to perform pacing well.
Yoga teaches the athlete to reach the edge and stay there, which is a good description of pacing done well.
Another oft-overlooked advantage of yoga for biking is its relaxing effect.
Many bikers get wired and jazzed up from biking and find they have difficulty resting well.
Practicing yoga after biking will relieve the stiff muscles (see below) and also relax the mind so the body can rest properly in-between workouts.
Stretching Most bikers find they get stiff and sore in their legs, hips, back and shoulders.
The static, canted-forward position of the biker causes muscles to tighten and joints to stiffen.
Performing a yoga routine after each ride that moves the joints through their full range of motion relieves the tight, stiff muscles.
In particular the back and neck should be flexed and stretched after each ride in order to avoid the slouched posture and lower back pain that afflict many bikers.
Stretching out the power muscles of the legs through yoga after each ride will not only prevent stiffening and pain, but will also speed up recovery time.
Improved aerodynamics Reducing wind-drag can make a big difference in a biker's time.
More than 90% of bike power output is used to break the air resistance.
In order to reduce wind-drag the biker needs to reduce the frontal surface area of the body.
Wind-tunnel experiments have shown that the most efficient biking position is with a completely flat back, the shoulders folded in and the hands close together- the biker has become smaller to the wind.
Most bikers are too inflexible to even get into this position, or if they can, they cannot hold the position for very long.
Yoga immediately springs to mind as the solution.
Yoga teaches athletes to put their bodies into specific positions and then hold them: exactly what the biker trying to "be small" needs to learn.
Special yoga classes are starting to spring up to teach bikers the concepts of body control, flexibility and "getting small" in order to facilitate biking.
After studying yoga the biker can optimize biomechanics, maintain comfort and simultaneously reduce wind drag.
