Yoga or similar for racing?

danlikesbikes

Was wondering if any racers out there use yoga, pilates, circuit training at home in a bid to help with their racing & if so what their experiences have been.

Looking at getting back to circuit racing this year - after a pretty disastrous year for me last year. I don't have gym access anymore & used to do quite a bit strength specific & stretching work which helped in both cycle & multi sport disciplines hence me asking the question.


FYI I currently get plenty of base miles in, am pretty adept at group riding though you can always learn more, sprint & interval training underway on the road and on the rollers/turbo. Seeing things go the right way on that front so am happy with the work so far.

Would really appreciate any input and racers have.

Froomes Edgar

Input? Don't be such an idiot. If you want to get better at riding your bike, ride your bike.

Pilates FFS

DHTT

I think getting regular stretching in each day helps, I try to do about 20 minutes of stretching each day , if I've done a hard or cold ride it really helps.

There was a piece from Charly Wegelius in Cycling Weekly from his final years of a pro, in which he said cafe rides were wasted time and you're better off getting a pilates/yoga session in.

I was told a bit of good advice yesterday, which is to try and keep the upper body as supple as possibly as a calorie wasted up there is a calorie which could of gone to your legs :-)

Froomes Edgar

Forget it, do what this guy says, he seems to have a good handle on things

danlikesbikes

Froomes Edgar wrote:

Input? Don't be such an idiot. If you want to get better at riding your bike, ride your bike.

Pilates FFS

Thanks for the constructive input there, most enlightening - as my training days are currently packed with all the training specific riding I can do hence me adding it to the bottom of my post.

danlikesbikes

DHTT wrote:

I think getting regular stretching in each day helps, I try to do about 20 minutes of stretching each day , if I've done a hard or cold ride it really helps.

There was a piece from Charly Wegelius in Cycling Weekly from his final years of a pro, in which he said cafe rides were wasted time and you're better off getting a pilates/yoga session in.

I was told a bit of good advice yesterday, which is to try and keep the upper body as supple as possibly as a calorie wasted up there is a calorie which could have gone to your legs :-)

Not sure if I read that piece or was someone else talking about core training for longer stints on the bike. To be honest I am not the most supple if people & do some basic foam roller stuff at home to sort out any minor niggles.

Cheers for the feedback on your experience though.

imposter2.0

Danlikesbikes wrote:

Would really appreciate any input and racers have.

Input ? I don't do any (yoga or pilates, that is). I don't see increasing one's strength as being necessary, and my core works itself out while I am riding.

kevin69

i don't race but did find that i was getting tight in my lower back and calves after riding.
i started stretching daily (4 mins in the mornings) and before and after riding and running (about 8 mins each)
and it helped me stay limber and has increased my flexibility.

Note that stretching is nothing to do with strength, but will help you reach and comfortably keep a low position
in the drops. I enjoyed the stretching book by bob anderson.

danlikesbikes

Cheers imposter I have spoken to a few Cat 2 & 3 racers who do & don't do no specific bike work and seems to work for some and not others. Was just wondering what most tend to do as am a Cat 4 and last raced in 2009 and only did a few races & am determined too give it a proper go this year and want to try to and do everything (legal) I can to get better and faster. Still got a bit of winter timber to shift first but seem to moving in the right direction on that and the speed is coming.

I noticed from a few threads though that most people suggest that its more about pack riding and tactics at the lower end of Cat racing so am looking to try and get a few sessions in at my local as early season they do weekly sessions.

Kevin69 - cheers mate, have to say my flexibility is pretty poor for someone with average fitness might give it a go!

TakeTurns

Flexibility is important and so is core strength. If you want to be able to get into that bent arm position and maintain it, you need both. Poor core will also mean you'll be wasting wattage; as your upper body rocks side to side.

Flexibility training especially helps to gain better coordination, control and balance, according to Yoga. Practicing Pilates, yoga or tai chi can particularly help build flexibility and strength in core muscles, which ultimately help control and move the entire body.

I have 3 x 30min stretching and core body strength sessions per week. I know of a few riders on here who take part in yoga.

Example of what good flexibility and core strength can achieve:

imposter2.0

TakeTurns wrote:

Example of what good flexibility and core strength can achieve:

I don't understand - that's just a pic of a bloke riding a bike. I can ride in that position already, without doing yoga, pilates or even tai chi...

porker33

I do about 20-30 mins of yoga/stretching and rope jumping/skipping everyday....Good for the core, lower back and coordination.

mattshrops

Yoga is good for the mind and body(flexibility)

Not sure it will give you any real help with your cycling tho'

If you have time on top of normal training(and cant do anymore bike time) then why not?

Not sure why people feel it necessary to be arrogant and unpleasant.

FWIW i do yoga OCCASIONALLY on a rest day.But more importantly i stretch every day without fail.

Herbsman

Imposter wrote:

TakeTurns wrote:

Example of what good flexibility and core strength can achieve:

I don't understand - that's just a pic of a bloke riding a bike. I can ride in that position already, without doing yoga, pilates or even tai chi...

Exactly... and his position in that picture doesn't look particularly low. In fact my position is much lower than that!

danlikesbikes

Take Turns, porker33 & mattshrops - cheers for the guidance. Have to say coming from a multi-sport, yes I have in the past done tri, duathlon & the odd mountain marathon racing, am used to doing core workouts and a little flexibility more for comfort & injury prevention.

My question without being rude to anyone & please don't take this the wrong way as I genuinely mean no offence. I was watching the Road to Glory documentary about Sky Pro cycling. Was struck by a few comments raised when they were talking about training regarding thats the way we have always done it approach & how they have now moved on and considered aspects from other sports.

As I said though no offence to those that don't partake in none cycling fitness as the phrase if its not broke why mess with it sums it up.

Imopster & Herbsman - cheers for the input too without which there would be no balance.

Guess in summary some do & feel its helps. Others do not and question why you would. As for me well ask me in 8 months time if I'm still a Cat 4 racer then I guess I have done something really wrong indeed.

imposter2.0

Danlikesbikes wrote:

As for me well ask me in 8 months time if I'm still a Cat 4 racer then I guess I have done something really wrong indeed.

The only reason you will still be 4th cat in 8 months is if you haven't racked up 10 points to move up to 3rd. I honestly don't think that pilates or yoga will make any difference to your aerobic capacity, your sustainable power or your VO2 max - which is, in reality, what will get you the points

danlikesbikes

Imposter wrote:

Danlikesbikes wrote:

As for me well ask me in 8 months time if I'm still a Cat 4 racer then I guess I have done something really wrong indeed.

The only reason you will still be 4th cat in 8 months is if you haven't racked up 10 points to move up to 3rd. I honestly don't think that pilates or yoga will make any difference to your aerobic capacity, your sustainable power or your VO2 max - which is, in reality, what will get you the points

Sorry did mean my last line as a bit of a joke never very good with jokes keep forgetting the.... whats it called

Wrath Rob

There's a 16 part series of yoga moves for cyclists over on road.cc at the moment. That might be worth checking out.

Tom Butcher

If it means you can hold a more aerodynamic position on the bike without losing power or that you can ride longer without pain or discomfort then there are gains to be had from yoga. These are potential gains though aren't they - for some people it's probably useful - for others not.

If you feel that you could do with a more aggressive position or you suffer say back ache while riding then maybe it's for you.

I suspect that the main reason to do yoga is not to do with increasing performance on the bike but maintaining flexibility and some strength for general health - and maybe as a counter to the affects of spending hours and hours on a bike.

danlikesbikes

Wrath Rob wrote:

There's a 16 part series of yoga moves for cyclists over on road.cc at the moment. That might be worth checking out.

Cheers will give it a look over.

Froomes Edgar

I love this thread. Its everything thats wrong with BikeRadar. The OP wasn't asking for advice, he was asking for a few people to agree with him. Luckily, BR has a wide selection of ill-informed people, so it doesn't take long.

jgsi

Imposter wrote:

TakeTurns wrote:

Example of what good flexibility and core strength can achieve:

I don't understand - that's just a pic of a bloke riding a bike. I can ride in that position already, without doing yoga, pilates or even tai chi...

I can't handle 2 bottles though


I am a well knackered vet who has gone thru life without one iota of yoga.
I recommmend pedaling harder.. as I should have done on that day.

danlikesbikes

Froomes Edgar wrote:

I love this thread. Its everything thats wrong with BikeRadar. The OP wasn't asking for advice, he was asking for a few people to agree with him. Luckily, BR has a wide selection of ill-informed people, so it doesn't take long.

Cheers for the input but as the OP I think I can say that I was after advice hence posting a question in the training forum "Was wondering if any racers out there use yoga, pilates, circuit training at home in a bid to help with their racing & if so what their experiences have been."

If you don't like the question you don't have to answer & if you don't like BR then you are free to leave at any time

Froomes Edgar

I do like the question, as I clearly stated. I love watching people fall for utter bolleaux time and time again.

ShutUpLegs

I'd post this in 'Amateur Race', loads will agree in there.

danlikesbikes

ShutUpLegs wrote:

I'd post this in 'Amateur Race', loads will agree in there.

Its a fair comment I did consider putting this in amateur race section. However I meant it as a genuine training question and figured I would post it the training section as it seemed more relevant to the question.

I'm sorry if I have offended or upset people by posting this question as I thought it was genuine training question & I have no idea it was going to polarise opinion to such a degree.

I'm sorry if people feel offended that its in the wrong section, if a Moderator is reviewing the I will be happy for this to be moved it you feel its better suited to another section.

Froomes Edgar

Don't worry, no-one is offended. If anyone got offended by someone posting a thread in the wrong forum (not that this is BTW) then, according to my calculations, they'd last 0.000000000000000083 seconds on the internet.

danlikesbikes

Froomes Edgar wrote:

Don't worry, no-one is offended. If anyone got offended by someone posting a thread in the wrong forum (not that this is BTW) then, according to my calculations, they'd last 0.000000000000000083 seconds on the internet.

Cheers mate just spat my coffee over the screen

Still getting used to the Amateur Race & Training sections but had a good look today and think I get the feel of it now!

Herbsman

Danlikesbikes wrote:

Imopster & Herbsman - cheers for the input too without which there would be no balance.

I was only commenting on the photo, in which the rider looks to be in a relatively upright position compared to what I'm used to seeing.

I have done yoga myself for a while but only because I felt I needed to, to try and relieve the back pain I have suffered since long before I started cycling. I can't say whether it's helped or not as there are too many variables.

Ideally I would do yoga three or four times a week. Not just for the supposed physical benefits but just to relax. I just can't seem to find a spare half an hour a day to properly relax, step away from everything and get it done. Besides, I don't actually enjoy doing it so unless my back is hurting (which, most of the time, it's not) it's very hard to find the motivation to do what seems like a chore...

If you want to give it a go then do it. Check out Esther Ekhart's Yogatic videos on Youtube. I think there are three Yoga For Beginners videos that you could start with.

Courage Monsieur

I've done quite a lot of yoga and have tried a bit of pilates (ten classes or so). I don't race the bike.

In short, yoga might help with flexibility and a stronger core, but assuming you've no real probs in these departments it won't have a big impact on your cycling and, I reckon, you could get more out of doing similar abs exercises in the gym or at home. So - don't bother.

If you're after the flexibility then just stretch off more. You could go to a few yoga classes, get a few basic moves ('downward dog' etc) and just do them at home. Save yourself some cash and time. Yoga ain't cheap but at least sometimes you get to gawp at some hot birds...

Pilates on the other hand drops the spiritual and mindfulness stuff and is largely about abs and core strength. Some interesting moves but, again, just do some plank and crunches at home.

I did quite a bit of yoga and pilates recently and it seemed to help with my cycling and stability on the bike. But then again, the time might've been better spent training on the bike.

Hope that helps.

tomstickland

I've been doing yoga and pilates for about a year. It's made a massive difference for me. Core strength has really improved. The back ache issues have gone. I've still got loads to do on hip flexibility - a common problem if you ride a lot and don't stretch.

I'm really deep into yoga now; do some every day. It's brought about significant lifestyle changes - I don't drink any more, rarely eat meat, feel really calm and energised. Great for focus and general happiness. It's made riding feel a lot easier, though my lap times aren't better than a friend who is still drinking and stuffing his face with meat.