Welcome to the ADAM COPLEY: PERSONAL TRAINING blog. Each week we will be discussing topics within cycling fitness and nutrition. Giving you all the tools, you need to become fitter, faster and stronger on the bike. I love covering these topics and am always open to your suggestions so if you have anything you want to ask, get in touch (details at the bottom) and ask your questions.
With that being said, let's get into it!
This week I want to talk to you about stability. A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog about strength and conditioning and how it doesn’t just have to be about lifting big weights and getting #massive. In this week’s blog we will cover the basics of bodyweight movement, and move onto more advanced exercises next week.
Basics:
The basics of strength and conditioning are relatively simple to get right:
Just train in a way that makes the body more mobile and moves with better quality. This would comprise of mainly bodyweight exercises and for someone starting out would simply be a mix of press-ups, bodyweight squats and jumping movements.
Why? Getting these movements right is key to advancing any strength programme, but it is also key to building performance and comfort on the bike. A stronger upper body from press ups makes it more comfortable to be in the forward position, especially when on the drop bars. The lower body movement here is included to develop basic knee stability and prepare the body for the single leg advanced movements.
The jumping movements adds a level of power in the body as well as impact resistance. This is important for cyclists as it reduces the risk of repetitive strain injuries from constantly pedalling (similar to tennis elbow). And if you ride off road too it can also help when you decide to point your bike in the way of a tree.
All of these exercises would be done as part of a structured plan, but to keep this blog relatively short, I have just labelled the exercises I would suggest and why:
Box jumps: You can also do these at home by jumping onto stairs, decking etc. Develop lower body power and impact resistance.
Step downs: Again something you can do at home, simply step down and land with your knees hard (45 degree angle) and not into a squat.
Bodyweight squat: Really slow the movement down, think 5s down and up, and then 10s down and up when you have got used to it and it gets easier.
Bodyweight lunge: Keeping a good posture of the torso, lunge forwards on one leg and repeat with the other.
Press ups: The standard press up, on your knees if you need to at first and then develop to feet on the floor. To make this harder slow them down.
Pull ups: If you have somewhere to do them, this is in my opinion THE BEST back exercise out there. You can work into it by jumping up, and controlling your body on the way back down. This will add some real strength and resilience to your body.
Adding these exercises into you routine a couple of times a week will really help improve your riding.
It will make it more comfortable, more efficient, more fluid and above all, more enjoyable. And in my eyes, anything that makes riding more enjoyable is worth giving a shot right?
Next week I want to go deeper into this and cover the more advanced movements that are associated with body weight conditioning. So have a practice at these movements and get ready to up your game 😉
I hope you found this blog useful and as always. Feel free to comment and get in touch with content ideas and questions you want answered.
Ride well,
Adam.
Instagram: @acopleypt
Website: adamcopleypt.com
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