LUNA Chix Cycling Efficiency and Form Clinic With Balanced Physical Therapy and Balanced Movement Studio

Today my LUNA Chix team hosted a clinic to help people become more efficient cyclists and also prevent injuries while cycling.  The teacher of the clinic, Brian Beatty really focused on tuning in with your body and knowing your body.  He gave us a brief explanation of the anatomy of our body that is used in cycling.  

We then did different exercises so we could focus on which muscles were used when and how to focus on using our hips (a very powerful and stable joint) to power our stroke rather than the knees (weaker joint) as many people use.

He also explained that the term ‘core’ as many people like to say is not a concrete definition.  Your ‘core’ depends on what you are doing.  He defined core as that which needs to have stability for you to have mobility.  For example, on the bike, the mobile things are your hips, knees, and ankles.  Your hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck, and pelvis should be stable.  If all of those things are stable, you will be in the best position to produce efficient movement.  Everything from your hands to your pelvis then, is your ‘bike core’. 

We then got on our bikes and did some drills on trainers to practice efficient stroke.  The main lesson that I got out of this clinic was what Victor from Bicyclelab (the guy I intern for) taught me already: focus less on pushing down and more on pulling your foot backwards on the backstroke, then back and up, then sliding your foot forward along the top of your stroke.  The back of the stroke is the weakest part of the stroke but by improving your efficiency there, you can increase your overall power on the bike.  Also important is having a high cadence as long as you maintain good form.  High cadence will do very little for you if you have bad form.

Afterwards me and a teammate led a few women on a short ride to practice what they learned.  It was an easy 14.5 mile ride.  

So far great day :)