If you sat at your computer in a poor ergonomic position for six hours straight, bending and straightening your elbows 300,000 times or more, you’d expect a repetitive strain injury, right?
Cycling is similar in that it too is a poor ergonomic position with repetitive motions. During a six-hour ride your knees, hips, and ankles will bend and straighten approximately 300,000 times. Your neck and back will be in a constant forward position. So if you want to prevent aches in these areas, learn the “5 F’s of injury prevention.”
1) Bike Fit: Andy Pruitt once said changing the seat height by a mere inch changes the mechanics and muscle actions of every joint in the lower extremity.
For example, if you decrease the seat height, you increase the forces on the front of the knee, but if your saddle is too high, forces increase in your hamstrings, lower back and hands.
What to do:
-Educate yourself on bike fits and make the appropriate changes. You can also get a professional bike fit.
2) Flexibility / Fatigue ability: Muscular Balance - Think Yin and Yang of muscles and joints
Muscles need to be both strong and flexible to allow proper movement and support of the joints in your body. As mentioned above, this is especially important for cyclists because our joints are either stuck in a static position as with the upper extremity, or in repetitive motion as in the lower extremity. If joints are not flexible AND strong, then you're asking for trouble. What’s more, muscles on either side of the joint need to be balanced. For example, many cyclists have very strong quadriceps muscles (front of the thigh) and relatively weak hamstring muscles (back of the thigh). This is similar to the unequal guide wires on a tent causing the tent to tip.
What to do:
-Static positions need to be reversed. This means occasionally bending backward when you get off your bike.
-Strengthen and stretch both sides of the body joints. Incorporate pulling and pushing exercises to strengthen the upper body and hamstring, and quadriceps exercises for the lower body.
-Use proper pedal mechanics (discussed below).
- Do STATIC CORE (abdominal / back work) for endurance. Ie hold positions during these exercises.
3) Foundation thru properly progressed and timed training
You might expect an injury if, in one week, you increased weights in the gym by 60 percent. However, many people think nothing of increasing their longest ride from a 40-mile ride to a 65-miler in one week--the same 60 percent increase. Our bodies can tolerate gradual increases of no greater than 5-10 percent per week of mileage or time increases. Frequent high-intensity rides for strength training sessions will also lead to injury.
What to do:
- Intense rides (greater than 75 percent of max heart rate) should be limited to one to three days a week.
- Gradually progress time spent on the bike and/or mileage in 5 to 10 percent increments per week.
- every 4-6th week should be a rest and recovery week where you decrease your total exercise time by 30-60% and your intensity all together
4) Cycling Form Counts
Pushing hard gears is analogous to walking up a flight of stairs two or three steps at a time when you only need to take them one at a time. By selecting easier gears, you break up the same amount of work over more pedal strokes, taking a great deal of stress off of your knees. Improper pedal form will also cause pain.
What to do:
-You should aim for a cadence (pedal revolutions per minute) of 85 to 95 on a flat road and no less than 70 on a hill. You can achieve this by selecting the proper gear for your ability. However, on a significant hill, this can present a challenge without a triple chain ring on your front gears.
-Use all your muscles to propel yourself forward. With proper pedal strokes, both your quadriceps and hamstrings play a part. Imagine your pedal going through a full circle: as your foot moves to the bottom position of the stroke, imagine scraping bubble gum off the bottom of your shoe; then, pull your knees toward your handlebars as you bring your foot to the top of the stroke. This will take pressure off of the front of your knee and give those tired quadriceps a rest.
- Make sure your knees are tracking a straight line – up and down, not moving inside and outside coming closer to and further away from your top tube (the tube on your bike frame closest to your knees) .
5) Food and Hydration
Proper food and electrolytes will fuel those muscular engines.
Imagine trying to run an unleaded car on leaded gas. This is what happens when we do not fill a body with what it needs to carry out those long or intense rides.
What to do:
-For cyclists and other endurance athletes, 55 to 65 percent of our fuels should be in the form of carbohydrates, mostly complex. Fifteen to thirty percent of our foods should be fats, and 10 to 20 percent protein.
-Your food or drink should contain sodium and potassium (approximately 1000 milligrams / hour). These nutrients allow those nerves and muscles to work properly. Sport dinks, pretzels, and bananas are good sources.
- You burn 200-400 calories for every hour of riding. So if you don’t want to bonk--run out of fuel--you better replace it!
Fluid loss as little as 2 percent (3 lbs. for a 150 lb. person) can lead to a decrease in performance. Six percent can send you to the hospital with an IV in your arm.
What to do:
-Weigh yourself undressed before and after exercise. It should be the same! It is easy to drop 2-4 pounds of water on a hot or hard ride. This is enough to make you slower, and another day like it could put you in the ER! For every 1 pound lost you should drink one liter. That is approximately one large water bottle
- Watch your urine: It should be almost clear and without smell. If it is changing then you are dehydrating.
-Depending on the temperature, your exertion, and your body, you should drink a large water bottle every 30-45 minutes. Said another way, that’s 3-4 glasses for every hour that you workout
