Cycling

There's no doubt that pro-cyclists should practice strength training by combining cycling and weight training. Strength training for cyclists comes with its own host of benefits such as increased muscle and better performance, increased core strength for more stability and greater endurance, overall improvements of posture while cycling and the correction of muscle imbalances. (i)   Want to know more? Learn more about how Spryng can help you! Subscribe for the latest updates and get 10% OFF. What Is Strength Training?   Do you often find yourself asking how to increase leg power for cycling? Strength training, also known as weight or resistance training, entails performing physical activities designed to increase muscular strength and fitness. Strength training involves exercising a specific muscle or muscle group against external resistance, including free-weights, weight machines, or your own body weight. Cycling is primarily an aerobic sport and necessitates the production of repeated force. Cycling also requires you to have a strong core in order to have better control of your bike, climb, and maintain overall endurance. When it comes to strength training for cyclists, the main goal is to train in a motion comparable to riding with the lower and upper body, while also strengthening you core and improving muscular endurance (i). The fundamental purpose of strength training on the bike is to build a stronger support system for your prime movers. The more aerobically strong your assistance muscles and core are, the less tired you'll feel late in a race, and the more power you'll be able to generate during your ride.  Functional Strength Training For Cyclists  We understand how daunting the gym's weight room might be. You may go in with the best of intentions, but when you're standing in front of the mirror with a set of weights, you're completely stumped. That's why we've put up a list of essential exercises to be a better cyclist. These exercises develop the muscles that support your body on and off the bike by focusing on your primary movers and are a good form of cycling workouts without a bike.  Core Based Strength Training  Plank Shoulder Taps: Planks with shoulder taps are fantastic because all you need is your own body weight. Your core, glutes, arms, and shoulders will all benefit from the plank with shoulder taps. This exercise aids in the reduction of lower back pain, the improvement of posture, and the tightening of the stomach.  Single Leg Glute Bridges: The single leg bridge is an excellent core exercise that helps to support your spine.   Russian Twist : Russian twists are primarily a strength-training exercise that focuses on increasing muscle strength and endurance. Extra muscle is not only good for your health in a variety of ways, but it is also considered attractive.  Plank Knee Crosses: Not just the abdominals, but also the obliques and hip flexors are worked in this exercise. The abdominals provide movement and support to your core and back, and the obliques are responsible for side bending and waist twisting, which helps to provide stability to the hips and low back.   Leg Based Strength Training  Dumbbell Deadlift: The dumbbell deadlift is an excellent workout for developing hamstring and glute strength. This exercise will not only improve your lower-body strength, but it will also help build stronger legs for cycling.  Bulgarian Split Squat : This exercise strengthens thequads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. Additionally, because this is a single-leg exercise, your core is forced to work overtime to keep you balanced thus maming it one of the best exercises for cycling power.  Walking Lunges: Walking lunges can help you enhance your range of motion by loosening up your hips and hamstrings and increasing your flexibility. This can help you improve your posture and balance, which will help with your cycling endurance training.   Leg press: A good cycling leg workout is the leg press. The leg press targets the key lower body muscles such as the quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteal muscles, and calves, promoting lower body growth. During the workout, the leg press isolates the lower body from the upper body making it one of the best leg exercises for cycling as it promotes leg strength giving you that extra push while cycling.   Calf Raise : The calf muscles of professional cyclists are generally the focus of attention. This is due to the fact that during cycling, you use your calf muscles more frequently.t. Calf raises strengthen the calf and improves lower-body performance.  Shoulder Based Strength Training  Dumbbell Shoulder Press: Dumbbell shoulder presses are an excellent approach to boost muscular activation and hypertrophy.  The exercise works to recruit new muscle fibers and improve movement coordination, comparable to the benefits of other unilateral exercises.  Dumbbell Front Raise: Dumbbell front raises are an excellent way to increase upper-body strength, enhance shoulder mobility and stability and thus, avoid injury. It's fine to begin with lighter weights while you work on perfecting your form. As you build strength, you can gradually increase the weight.  Dumbbell Lateral Raise: Your rear deltoid is isolated with the rear lateral rise. This muscle aids in the strengthening, toning, and stabilization of your shoulders and upper body. Pressing, pulling, and overhead actions are all aided by strong deltoids. This makes it easy to finish your cycling workout while also lowering your chance of injury.  Cycling Interval Training For Endurance  When you first begin cycling, simply pedaling on a regular basis can help you become fitter and faster, However, f you work at too high an effort for too long, you will be unable to recuperate adequately before your next ride. It's advisable to ride mostly in your Endurance zone until you can perform the number of training hours that you intend to form your typical training.  The Endurance Zone or Training Zone 2 is a great way to reinforce movement patterns and add training stress without adding too much fatigue to a training plan. Most long rides are built around this, and you'll spend a lot of time here while sitting in the pack during any mass-start event.(iii)  Stretching Exercises For Cyclists  Cycling is a terrific low-impact workout, but it's also very repetitious, which might result in limited range of motion. To prevent tightness and soreness, cyclists should stick to a consistent stretching program that focuses on the muscle groups that contract concentrically during cycling, limiting joint mobility. To increase your flexibility and prevent frequent cycling injuries, try these stretches.  Downward Facing Dog: As cycling generates power from the core and lower back, these muscles can get weary and tight. While stretching the calf and hamstring muscles, this stretch reduces tension across the spine and opens the hips.  Doorway Stretch: The hamstrings are always contracted during the pedaling motion because you never reach complete leg extension. Lower back soreness and hamstring flexibility are common side effects. Work on hamstring flexibility, especially within 10–15 minutes of your ride, to alleviate these typical symptoms.   Lunge & Reach: Aggressive riding patterns and the upstroke during the pedaling motion might cause the iliopsoas to become tight. This stretch will help to release tension in your hips' front side.  Upper Trap Stretch: Due to the general continual contraction required to hold up the head in the bent-over position common in road cycling, the upper trapezius might become exhausted. This stretch will release the muscles that go from the base of the skull to the upper shoulders.  How To Recover From Cycle Training  A cyclist's timetable must include time for post bike ride recovery. When you train, you stress your body and tear down muscles, and it's during recuperation that these muscles rebuild, adapt, and develop stronger so that the next workout seems easier. You won't progress if you don't give yourself time to rest and mend after a ride, and you'll also put yourself at danger of illness, injury, and overtraining. Muscle recovery after cycling is absolutely necessary.  Take Time To Cool Down: Although a cool-down takes longer, finishing each bike ride with at least 10 minutes of easy cycling allows the body to recover to its pre-exercise state. Spinning the legs improves circulation throughout the body and aids the recovery process by removing metabolic waste products from the muscles.  Hydration: Dehydration is likely after a hard or lengthy training session particularly in warmer conditions. This makes it more difficult for your heart to circulate blood and oxygen throughout your body, reducing your recovery. If you've had a short, easy ride, drinking water should suffice, but if you've had a long day in the saddle, you'll want to replenish some of the electrolytes you've lost.  Try Active Recovery: Active recovery, may be useful in specific circumstances, like as the days following a major race. Compression wraps, such as Spryng, are an excellent calf muscle recovery therapy to try at home. Spryng can be used to aid in the rehabilitation of painful calf muscles by improving blood circulation. It can dramatically improve the recovery from leg discomfort and sore muscles that you may suffer after cycling or leg training if you use it for only 15 minutes after your workout.      Get Some Quality Sleep: Human growth hormone is produced during deep sleep and increases muscle development and repair. Sleep deprivation can make you irritable, inattentive, raise the production of the stress hormone cortisol, and increase your rate of perceived exertion, making exercise feel much more difficult. In other words, if you want to recover and exercise at your best, you'll need a good night's sleep.  References:  https://www.issaonline.com/blog/index.cfm/2020/cycling-strength-training-how-important-is-it-to-do-both   The Best Strength Exercises for Cyclists | TrainingPeaks  https://www.bicycling.com/training/a20036554/10-essential-strength-exercises-for-cyclists/  Cycling Power Zones: Training Zones Explained - TrainerRoad Blog  https://veloforte.com/blogs/fuel-better/10-cycling-recovery-tips   

A well-trained cyclist's seemingly smooth pedaling style, honed over countless miles and millions of pedal revolutions, can contribute to increased endurance, pedaling efficiency, and power production. However, it is also critical to lower the risk of injury through post cycling recovery.  Although there is no quick fix for increasing your cycling efficiency, there are a few things you can do to get more power out of your pedal stroke, such as ensuring bike fit, maintaining optimal cycling cadence, and an improvement in technique.   Want to know more? Learn more about how Spryng can help you! Subscribe for the latest updates and get 10% OFF. Tips To Improve Cycling Performance  Cadence (Cycling Power)  Practicing and applying optimal cadence cycling will provide you with a deadly two-edged sword. The higher your cadence, the less force you exert on the pedals to produce the same amount of power. Less effort on the pedals equals less stress on your leg muscles, leaving you with greater reserves for the ride. Of course, you may obtain a higher speed by applying the same force with a higher cadence. Next, the faster your feet move during a pedal cycle, the shorter the time interval during which you must exert this force. An ideal cycling cadence is one that achieves the balance between speed and comfort to push you the extra mile without the risk of injury   Pedaling Technique  A smooth pedaling style can improve your efficiency by increasing the number of Rotations Per Minute (RPM) while also reducing the risk of injury to joints and muscles. It also has the ability to extend the life of your bike because it puts a lot less stress on your equipment. If you happen to be cycling everyday, it is critical to have your bike setup properly. This ensures that you're comfortable and injury-free, but also boosts performance and provides cycling comfort.  Spokes' Co-Founder and Performance Director, as well as BikesEtc Magazines' Cycling Guru, Pav Bryan,  explains, "Pedaling efficiency is vital to ensure that you receive the greatest power out of each revolution." “Getting it right implies you'll be able to produce more power while using the same or less energy.” (i)  Aerodynamics  While cycling, the cyclists body accounts for 70 to 80 percent of drag, with the bike, clothing, and helmet accounting for the rest. As a result, achieving aero on the bike will significantly increase efficiency. Aerodynamics also involves the correct angle in terms of degree knee bend cycling. The angle of your knee could also affect aerodynamics and determine the speed at which you ride. However, a rider must also consider comfort. A position that is uncomfortable and causes back, shoulder, or neck pain is unsustainable and potentially dangerous.  Strength Training  Strength training can help to improve force capacity, motor patterns, stability, bend cycling, and correct balance. Enhanced force capacity allows you to recruit more muscle fibers, resulting in increased efficiency. Better balance and motor patterns can lead to better coordination, which can help you avoid wasting movement.   For a more detailed read on strength training and the benefits of strength training, be sure to check out our article Strengthening Leg Muscles for Cyclists by clicking here (https://spryngme.com/blogs/cycling/guide-to-strengthening-leg-muscles-for-cyclists)  Cycling Training Program To Increase Power  Many cycling programs, especially during the base stage, include optional cadence intervals (ii).   Ericsson Program: Ericsson consists of 4 sets of 8-minute spin-up intervals between 88 and 94 percent FTP, with riders starting with a slightly faster-than-usual spin for the first 4 minutes, increasing their pedal speed for the next 3 minutes, and then spinning all-out for the final minute. These activities are designed to improve leg speed over time and fine-tune pedaling efficiency to improve cycling performance.  Fartlek Training Program: The Fartlek training method is named after the Swedish word "Fartlek," which means "speed play." It aims to improve your cycling speed and endurance by raising your lactate threshold, which is thought to have a direct impact on your speed. When it comes to cycling, Fartlek determines the intensity of your workout. You can gauge your effort and alternate between your highest and lowest speed thresholds in this less structured form of interval training. It can not only help you improve your cycling endurance and stamina, but it can also help you push yourself to new limits while training on your bike.  How To Increase Cycling Power  If you want to boost your power, you need to consider three factors: your base fitness, aerobic fitness, and race power.  Base Fitness  Base fitness refers to your capacity to comfortably cruise at a reasonable power output while using fat as a major fuel source for harder exertion. Improving base fitness entails staying in your base training zone and gradually increasing the speed and power you can maintain while staying there. Improving your base fitness answers the question of how to increase leg power for cycling.  Aerobic Fitness  If you’ve wondered how to improve your cycling speed along with your base fitness levels, you require good power production at mid-range exertion. The key to becoming a good long-distance athlete is developing aerobic fitness. This allows you to maintain a higher proportion of your maximum power for longer periods of time without becoming fatigued. For the training results to be maximized, it's critical that the training stays within the appropriate zones, just like with base training.  Race Power  When planning to compete in a race you would wonder how to increase speed cycling with power. Short-distance racing is usually done at 85 percent of maximum power or more. Increasing power at this stage is crucial for a quick bike leg. Top-end training, when combined with a strong aerobic base, will result in significant power gains for the amount of time spent exercising.   Recovery After Cycling  There's no arguing that the time spent off the bike is just as important to an athlete as the time spent training. You may be left with more than just painful legs if you lose the opportunity to repair muscle damage.   “It's the most crucial aspect of training,” professional cyclist Liam Holohan explains. So many guys go beyond with their training and never recover — their form deteriorates, and it's a terrible cycle. They believe they aren't performing well, so they train even harder, which just makes things worse.” (iii)  Foam Rolling  The easiest and most effective way for recovering after cycling is to use a foam roller. Foam rolling is thought to help relieve muscle fatigue and soreness while also improving muscular performance. It also helps avoid stiffness which, in turn reduces the chance of injury, improves joint mobility, and helps your muscles relax. As a result, this makes foam rolling an important aspect  cycling leg recovery.  Hydration  If you don't drink enough water after a long day on the bike, you may become dehydrated. While cycling, it is recommended that you drink at least one 500 ml bottle per hour. However, just drinking water is not enough in most cases. We lose electrolytes when we sweat. The main salts lost are sodium and chloride [potassium, magnesium, and calcium are electrolytes lost in low concentrations]. We can even see it crystallize when we're sweating a lot, which is all the salt we're losing. Therefore, it is important that we replenish the lost electrolytes by consuming various forms of Isotonic drinks or coconut water.   Ice Baths  An ice bath is a great way to reduce inflammation that has reached dangerously high levels all over your body.  It also constricts blood vessels, drains waste products from the body, reduces edema and tissue disintegration.  Active Compression  Spryng compression wraps are an excellent at-home calf muscle recovery solution. Spryng will help you heal faster by improving blood circulation in your strained calf muscles. It can dramatically improve the leg recovery after cycling even if you use it for just 15 minutes after your workout.  For more information on how SPRYNG works and its benefits, click here (https://spryngme.com/pages/the-science-of-spryng)    A strong cyclist is an efficient cyclist, according to people in the field of cycling and training. With the tips and methods we've offered, you can be confident that your next training session or race will be one that you will not only breeze through, but also one that you will thoroughly enjoy!     References: https://blog.mapmyrun.com/top-10-technique-tips-to-improve-your-cycling-efficiency/  https://www.trainerroad.com/blog/whats-the-most-efficient-cycling-cadence-and-how-cadence-drills-can-make-you-faster/  https://www.cyclingweekly.com/fitness/tips-effective-rest-recovery-after-cycling-147012 

High-Intensity Interval Training, also known as HIIT, has taken the fitness world by storm in recent years. Recognized as an intense workout that can help burn a lot of calories in a short period of time, HIIT has become a favorite form of training for gym-goers. But interval training shouldn’t be limited to weight training. Cyclists can benefit greatly from this exercise regimen and should incorporate interval training into their workout routine without a doubt. What is interval training? Interval training involves short bursts of high-intensity activity interspersed with periods of shorter, lower-intensity activities[i], which creates an interplay between the aerobic and anaerobic systems in your body. This is essential for increasing endurance and vivacity when training for an activity such as cycling, where both endurance and pedal power is critical for fast movement. Cycling interval training is also one of the simplest and least expensive forms of exercise you can do. No gym or special equipment is necessary. Just a bike and some appropriate clothes are all you need. Suppose you already do strength training on your bike. In that case, you can integrate interval training into a workout by contracting and expanding each muscle group a set number of times during each interval. Want to know more? Learn more about how Spryng can help you! Subscribe for the latest updates and get 10% OFF. What are the benefits of cycling interval training? Most pro athletes use cycling interval training for endurance and to improve overall fitness. The benefits of this type of exercise are myriad: It improves your balance and coordination, and it helps enhance your speed. As more of a goal-specific exercise routine, regular interval training can give you fast and noticeable improvements to your performance. Another key beneficial factor of this type of workout is its time efficiency. Most busy folks out there that want to engage in cycling simply cannot find 20 to 30 hours each week they can dedicate to riding. This makes interval training a more viable option for cyclists. Additionally, it can help increase the maximum volume of oxygen your body can absorb, otherwise known as VO2 max[ii], improve your cardiac response and strengthen your core leading to highly effective performance improvements in the short term. Overall, interval training is a great strength workout for cyclists as it can help build lean and strong muscles[iii], which helps protect against injuries, enabling you to reach optimal performance levels in cycling. Interval training workout tips for cyclists Interval training generally involves a 30 to 90-second duration of fast and difficult pacing followed by a rest period for double that time. You may increase the intensity level as you further along in your fitness. Warm up - First and foremost, ensure you spend sufficient time warming up thoroughly before starting your interval training session. This will make certain that you achieve a true high-intensity interval set without cutting into the training time for warming up. Due to the short duration of the set, it is essential to run its full course. Commit your fullest effort - The effectiveness of the exercise is dependent upon you reaching the highest power output by pushing your cardiovascular system. So, if you want to do this, do it right, or it would be a lost cause. Do not overdo it- If the intensity training is done right, it would not be possible to do it daily. Two or three times a week of cycling interval training for beginners would be sufficient. Always make certain you give yourself enough time to rest and recuperate. Be focused - The repetition of sets requires your fullest efforts to get right. Give it a disciplined approach to achieve your targets. Hydrate - Due to its high intensity, you tend to sweat out a lot. Ensure to stay well hydrated to avoid cramping and dehydration. How to recover from interval training? As a high-intensity workout, any form of interval training can lead to muscle soreness and fatigue. As such, pay close attention to recovery after HIIT workouts. Here are some of the best ways to recover from a workout:  Keep moving - A few minutes of walking between your rest periods would help your body keep the blood circulating to deliver nutrition and oxygen to your sore muscles. Massage therapy - What better way to relax after a strenuous workout than to have a full body massage that can target all those cramped up and strained muscles. Compression devices - SPRYNG Active Compression  can be used for fast muscle recovery as it helps relieve pain in your strained muscles within 15 minutes of use post-workout. By aiding blood circulation and oxygenation, Spryng can help your muscles recover from the micro-tears that take place during your workout. If you are uncertain about recovery after cycling checkout our article on "Why It Is Important For Cyclists To Recover After A Ride? And How To Improve It?"   References [i] https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/a-z/high-intensity-interval-training-hiit   [ii] https://pezcyclingnews.com/toolbox/toolbox-building-vo2max-capacity/   [iii] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/benefits-of-hiit