Understanding Cycling Biometrics & Yoga
The Cobra/ Sphinx Pose for cyclists
Diane Vilarem
With cycling, and especially E-bikes and gravel bikes increasing in participation all the time, our bodies need to be ready for the extra work that we plan to put them through. Many cyclists, new and old, now have a specialist bike fit for the cycling, to try and ensure that their bike is unique to them, and that it helps them with their biomechanics. However, this is only one aspect of cycling fitness; and, there are many other ways that cyclists can maximise their performance and comfort on the bike. Yoga is an activity that works many different muscle groups, helps you with flexibility and core strength, is low impact with high results – voila! This of course makes Yoga the ideal accompaniment for cycling.
Yoga will help you in 3 main ways when cycling:
– Core strength: whether it is now or as we age, having a strong core is vital. Most cyclists have (some) back muscles but (definitively) weak abdominals.
– Breathing: yoga enhances cardiovascular and respiratory systems for higher endurance. Translation: Yoga helps your internal system function better.
– Flexibility and posture: improve position on the bike to be able to ride with a straighter back, leading to less neck pain, a better general mobility for better performance and reduced risk of injury.
The interconnection of our bodies
When we ride our bikes – which we do a lot here in France – we use three main contact points, and a professional bike fit will deal with each of these. It will also educate you that these parts of the body are all inter-connected. If you get one contact point badly aligned to your own unique, natural movements, then you will feel pain or discomfort in other areas of the body: the back, the shoulders, and even the butt, can all be affected by not having your bike contact points properly aligned. What Yoga can do, is to add that extra layer of comfort and performance, by strengthening these areas and increasing your natural flexibility, so that when you move your body to pedal, you do so efficiently.
I want you to think about the cycling posture itself. To make the bike move forward, you need to move the leg in a full rotation on the cranks. This is also a constant and repetitive motion, and this cycling posture can create an imbalance for the cyclist. Your knees, your hips, your glutes, and your quads are all in motion – and your core also needs to be strong, to help to control these varied cycling movements. Ankles, hamstrings and hip flexors all come into play, and it can cause pain and discomfort while riding and also afterwards. Yoga however, can and will help you and your body to cope with these movements while cycling, supporting the upper body on the handlebars.
Yoga to help with the handlebar contact point
I wrote previously about a few Yoga exercises to help you with your cycling strength and flexibility. Now, I’d like to take things on a stage, with lots more Yoga exercises for you to learn over the next few months. AS with all exercises, the key thing is to start slowly and to progress at your own pace. Do not push things to hard, but listen to your body, relax your mind and enjoy the exercise. This first Pose will help you with the handlebar stresses on the body, and increase your upper body flexibility.
Baby Cobra/Sphinx
As I mentioned already, cyclists will spend a lot of time with their bodies hunched over the handlebars – one of those 3 points of contact. The ‘Baby Cobra’ pose will help you with this, and create a more flexible frame.
As cycling can shorten the abdominal muscles and work against the spine, this exercise and Yoga pose will help to lengthen the abdominal muscles and strengthen the spine, along with the muscles in your shoulders. Once you’ve mastered it, it will help to reduce that common lower back pain that cyclists often suffer from.
Let’s start the Cobra pose then.
Here’s how you do it in a few simple steps
Start by lying face down on the mat and in a quiet area, where you will be uninterrupted.
Bring your hand up and have them below the shoulders.
Press down with your feet into the matt as you slowly lift your chest away from the floor. Try not to use your hands on the floor, as we are trying to strengthen your back muscles.
Keeping your elbows neatly drawn into the side of your body, now draw your shoulders away from your head whilst you keep your neckline long.
If necessary, rest and try instead to come down to your forearms, so that you keep your elbows below your shoulders. Then, press your elbows down into the mat, and then move then downwards towards your hips in a slow sliding movement.
Hold these poses above for 5 to 10 seconds, relaxing in between poses. You will begin to feel the movements in your body and how this will benefit you with your cycling – especially the all-important upper body posture and the handlebar contact.
Next time, we will look at a Yoga pose to help with the hip flexors and back, dealing with that second contact point – the saddle. For now, though, build the Baby Cobra/ Sphinx Pose into your normal Yoga and cycling stretch regime, and you will soon feel the benefits on the bike – voila! Time now to get out cycling!
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Diane 🙂
