“First and foremost, having a tight hip flexor usually results in a rider holding that hip higher throughout the entire pedal stroke. In turn this results in the hips being tilted, with one side higher than the other. For riders with a tight left hip this means that the right hip is lower and therefore the right leg doesn’t extend as far on the down-stoke as the left one does. Conversely with the left hip being higher the left leg must extend further than the right one. This variance in leg extension (between the left and right side) leads to an unbalanced pedalling stroke and a range of other problems”
I know from physio and podiatrist that I have no leg length discrepancy. I noticed when setting saddle height for new shoes that it felt like the left leg was having to extend noticeably more than the right
I’m such an idiot sometimes. It’s been bugging me that despite clearly having much better cardio fitness I wasn’t managing to match the best times on my lunchtime walk loop.
I came close, but not quite, today. I checked the fastest time and there were 4 running intervals… Fanny.
Frog I can pretty much do like the second picture.
Butterfly I can get quite far down. My jeans became the limiting factor.
I think it’s more an imbalance, in the context of my bike fit…rather than poor flexibility.
I seem to be getting leaner (and my measurements are going down) but stuck at 10.5 stone. Feels like I’ve been stuck at that weight for about 2 months!
HR below 50 for first time in a couple of weeks this morning.
Here’s a good example of “hidden” calories. I never count cups of tea (I only have with milk in the morning) and presumed the amount of milk was insignificant- but I measured the milk in my 3rd cup this morning and I’ve had 150 calories worth of tea this morning!
Yep you have to log everything if you’re going to use tracking as a weight loss weapon. Also i tend to discount the additional calorie allowance that exercise gives you on apps like MyFitnessPal - if I swim and run on the same day this can be 1000-1200 calories it suggests I’ve burned (which I don’t believe), and it automatically adds it to your calories left in that day. I won’t use that allowance except for maybe 100-200 cals of extra protein.
You have an ideal opportunity next week to kick start your next spurt of fitness and weight loss. Your body gets used to a level of intensity and in some cases starts to try to protect itself by not letting go of fat and using cortisol to wear you down (this also slows muscle protein absorption and directs fat storage around your organs). Having a lay off allows you to reset and go again. It also means you can ramp up the intensity a bit more which will help with fat metabolism.
Basically this is a great time to start doing HIIT / tabata, or incorporating KB swings into your press up/ pull up circuit. Refer to the circuits I suggested further back up the thread - start with a 15 minute session and build up to 30 mins. These will add functional strength, be low impact and complement rather than interfere with your cycling. Give yourself a target of 6 weeks to do this as a cycle and measure your results at the end. I’d do it 3 times a week for the first 3 weeks and 4 times for the second 3 weeks.
If you’re not leaner and stronger after this I’ll eat my hat!
Thanks. I think adding that on top of the cycling I have planned would be a bit much though. I’m sure if I keep on top of the diet then I will lose weight just from the cycling volume I have scheduled.
I’m going to keep up the stretching/ mobilisation and work on my squats and chin ups.
After the club weekend away I was thinking of focusing on speed for a block or two- just the long ride at the weekend and a short fast session midweek. I’ll use that time to work on strength as you suggest I think.
Plan long term is to steadily build a strength/flexibility base and then after Sept I’ll focus on strength in a bigger way over winter.
RHR 42bpm this morning so all good for a quality but easy run today preceeded by a short session with weights, and a morning swim tomorrow ahead of a longer run. And of course I’ve a big Mexican Easter meal planned for Sunday so will need to compensate for the mega cals I plan to ingest
Yesterday’s run was okay but left knee is now playing up somewhat. Bit of stretching to try to relax everything and reassess only confirmed it’s not going to let me run out today and do 5 miles. See how it feels tomorrow.
