There’s more to strong cycling than outdoor saddle time: Strength training, cross-training, using an indoor trainer, and foam rolling all play a part in keeping you fit, especially during the winter.
But many of us don’t have access to all the equipment we need at home; it can seem like a better investment to shell out monthly for a gym membership than acquire dozens of machines on our own. Thing is, you don’t really need all that shiny equipment to stay in shape, and joining a gym in the US costs on average $58 per month, which translates to $700 per year—and that’s not counting the initial joining fee.
World Cup Medalist and Olympian Lea Davison doesn’t have a gym membership—she strength-trains exclusively in her basement home gym.
WORKOUT: Become a Stronger Cyclist, No Gym Membership Required
“When I bought my townhouse, it was the first room I set up,” says Davison. “It’s great, because I don’t have to go anywhere—I just walk down the stairs."
Proximity isn’t the only thing her home gym has going for it. You can easily set up your own strength-training sweatshop for less. (Make your indoor training count by tracking and analyzing your gains in the Bicycling Ride Journal.)
Here, Davison walks us through the essentials of a home gym that’s budget-friendly. Note: If you have a home gym, you also have a traveling gym. Many of these items are small and light enough to be tossed in your suitcase the next time you head out of town.
Wrap TRX suspension cords around a pole or tree, and you’re set up for squats, one-legged squats, side lunges, and more.
“I love TRX because it pulls me while I am doing familiar moves. That works my balance, and complements weighted strength moves,” Davison says.
She uses TRX and resistance cords to work on her upper body and core.
“Cyclists need to work on upper-body strength to balance being hunched over the handlebar, which compounds being hunched over a desk,” said Davison. “It’s the only thing to keep you from turning into Quasimodo.”
Try pushups, core rollouts, and bus drivers with the TRX. The further you lean from standing, the harder it is.
These giant rubber bands fit around your ankles and knees and help you build glute strength by increasing resistance.
“Cyclists need to strengthen the posterior chain—hamstrings, glutes, etc.—to balance overdeveloped quads and tight hip flexors, and keep the hip joint balanced,” says Davison. “Tight hip flexors and dominant quads pull your femur too far forward.”
Davison uses mini bands (also called fitness bands, fitness loops, exercise bands, and more) to warm up. Her regular routine includes things like side steps, bent-knee side steps, and speed skaters.
“You don’t need an Olympic lifting bar and plates,” says Davison. “You can do everything with free weights. With free weights, you’re not only building strength, but you’re also forced to balance.”
Davison uses the full range of weights in her set. Her routine: lunges, lunges with one foot on a bench or chair, Russian deadlifts, one-legged deadlifts, and three-pointed lunges.
More: Walmart.com
“When you’re doing TRX you need traction, and when you’re lifting free weights you need a surface that you can drop them on without causing damage,” says Davison. Instead of dedicated gym flooring, she recommends horse stall mats ($42). “They’re so solid—not flimsy like a lot of gym flooring, and you won’t slip.”
Pair this half fitness ball with weights to engage small stabilizing muscles and add challenge to your moves. Try one-legged balance moves with 10-pound freeweights in each hand, one legged lunging, and hang cleans.
“People forget that when you’re biking you’re actually balancing on your pedals,” says Davison. “So everything I do is about combining strength and balance.”
Check your form with a mirror, Davison says: “You don’t need a huge one. Mount a door mirror so that you can check your body position as you increase weight and get deeper into your reps."
Bike trainer: “I have the simplest one you can buy,” says Davison, who uses her bike trainer (similar to this trainer available from Amazon) exclusively for warm-up and cool-down sessions. “I have a hard time being on a trainer for more than 30 minutes,” she confesses.
If you are planning to do serious on-bike training indoors, consider investing in a smart trainer, like Wahoo’s Kickr Snap, that lets you plug into online cycling training communities like Zwift. (Learn more about how to buy the right trainer for you with this trainer guide.)
“Ball slams are great for core training,” says Davison. She also uses her medicine ball while standing on the Bosu ball.
More: FleetFarm.com
“The rope offers a great arm workout, and gives you some cardio with strength," Davison says. Do it one-legged and two-legged, 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off. In addition to giving you excellent arm strength for bike handling, it’ll improve your Nordic skiing game.
More: Walmart.com
Using Your New Gym
If you purchase these products from the suggested sites, your home gym tab will run $695.17—and last through multiple training seasons. (We'd also suggest investing in a foam roller, like the Manduka beLONG curated in our online store's strength and recovery section, for optimizing your strength gains.)
Once your setup's dialed, though, you have to use it to make it worth your investment. Davison advises creating some goal reminders to keep you motivated.
“If you’re not clear on your goals, you won’t do the work,” she says.
Davison’s gym features the Olympic rings made from hula hoops and a 2001 magazine cover with World Champion Alison Dunlap.
“Alison’s win was completely inspirational to me,” she says. “When I saw her win, I wanted to be her and I decided right then that I wanted to win World Champs one day.”
As far as working out, Davison says, “Keep it fresh… and write everything down so that you have an arsenal of exercises to choose from. Then turn on the music and go."
No comments:
Post a Comment