HOW EVERY CYCLIST CAN BENEFIT FROM YOGA
My love of cycling began in my teens when I would disappear all day on my bike exploring the surrounding countryside and has continued and evolved over the following decades. I am currently an age-group triathlete competing in both on and off-road triathlons. My passions are also my work as a Cycle Coach, Triathlon Coach, and Sports Specialist Yoga Teacher. I coach alongside my husband, also a coach, delivering bespoke online coaching plans for cyclists and triathletes, and running small training camps at our venue in Portugal.
Yoga has something to offer everybody. Whilst people often think of yoga as primarily for stretching, there can be so many more benefits. It can improve joint mobility, functional movement patterns, balance/proprioception, strength, breath control, and relaxation in addition to flexibility.
Mobility - We tend to take on the postural form and mobility of our daily life activities. Ideally, we are active and move in all possible planes of movement throughout each day. In reality, we spend much of our time in limited ranges of movement and repetitive actions. There are many small yoga movements that can improve or maintain the mobility of all the joints of the body. I use them often also as an assessment of a person’s mobility. Those which are found to be most diffcult or restricted are then prioritised for working on.
Functional movement - Combining a range of three-dimensional, multi-joint movements in a variety of ways will give you a good value training return. On the bike, we need to be able to deal with forces from difference directions according to the demands of the terrain we are cycling on. By introducing movements in all planes (sagittal, frontal, and transverse) in your training, your body will be conditioned to deal with the sometimes chaotic forces on the bike. Working with the whole body in a sequence of postures means that every part of the body will be involved in some way; some muscles working to stabilise joints whilst others work to create the required movement. By working with awareness of alignment and movement patterns, your proprioception will develop and positive habits created on the yoga mat will become part of your movement and awareness on the bike. Any postures can be linked to create functional movement but you may wish to use a particular sequence such as Salute To The Sun as a starting point to help you develop a regular practice.
Balance - Balance is the ability to stay upright or stay in control of body movement. Amongst the factors contributing to balance are proprioception (perception or awareness of the position and movement or stability of the body) and core stability (the ability to stabilise the position of the spine and pelvis whilst moving limbs). Asymmetrical balance
postures can be used to develop proprioception whilst also developing strength in the working muscles as one side of the body has to work hard to stabilise both sides of the body.
Strength - Working with your body weight is a very effective means of building strength. There are postures that are overtly strength building but there are also lots of ‘stealth’ strengthbuilding postures that involve some of the smaller stabilising muscles. By working on strength in a variety of ways you will build strength throughout the length of muscles and work muscles eccentrically, concentrically, and isometrically. It is also very easy to regress and progress
postures so that you decrease or increase the demand on the body to meet your fitness where it is now. This allows you to continually develop your strength in a way that allows you to do so whilst maintaining optimal alignment and movement patterns.
Flexibility - How many times have I heard the words “I should stretch more” when hearing that I teach yoga? The answer may be yes … but not necessarily. Flexibility is the ability of a joint or series of joints to move through an unrestricted, pain-free range of motion. We are all very individual in our flexibility. If your movements are comfortable and you move freely in all the ways you need to then this is likely to be easy to maintain in the long-term simply through the dynamic stretches which occur in the functional movements of the yoga sequences. Many people associate yoga with very extreme ranges of movement and yoga attracts some who are hyper-mobile. These people should actually focus on developing strength around joints to
make their joints more stable. Stability is associated with more power on the bike.
Static stretching to improve flexibility is a useful addition to your training if you are aware of a reduced range of movement in any part of your body. Stretching doesn’t actually make a muscle longer but works on neuromuscular reflexes, making it more tolerant to length before responding by contracting to protect itself. As well as increasing the tolerated length of a muscle, regular stretching will improve muscle function.
When discussing flexibility, probably the most referred to group of muscles is the hamstrings. Tight hamstrings will reduce the amount of flexion of the hips and the position of the lumbar spine, factors that contribute to your position on the bike. For this reason, I would include at least one forward bending posture in a practice, ensuring that it is done in a way that does truly lengthen hamstrings rather than simply flexion of the lumbar spine.
- Many people find that one of the benefits they gain from yoga is awareness of breathing effectively. This can be a result of learning how to use the diaphragm effectively or because they learn how to regulate the length of their in-breath and out-breath.
Breathing, whilst being a natural and automatic function, is often affected by responses to stress, periods of inactivity, and muscle tension in the thoracic area. All of this can be improved over time either by directly working with breathing practices or simply as a result of working with yoga in other ways.
- There are psychological benefits to be gained from yoga. Reducing stress responses in the body can help to protect you from injury. Amongst the many effects of stress is increased muscle tension and reduced peripheral vision which are both associated with an increased risk of injury. Learning some strategies to reduce your stress will help you reduce stress daily as well as manage your responses in a competitive situation.
I include yoga sessions in the training plans for all our coached cyclists and triathletes. I tend to do so in short sessions which are focused on a particular aspect of fitness needed that day. Working in this way it is easy to fit yoga into even the busiest life and training plan. You can find some sequences on my website as well as on my Youtube channel. Yoga is most effective when it is individualised to the individual and postures or movements regressed or progressed to meet your needs.