Recovery

Todays focus for coaches corner is all about recovery.

Recovery‘ for most athletes can be seen as a dirty word, a sign of weakness that you can’t cope mentally or physically with the demands of the sport & training. However recovery is key to progression and success. Rest can be more benefical to an athlete than training on through which can cause more harm than good. If you are needing that rest / recovery and try to train hard, the failure of the session could affect the mind set and this is simply avoidable by listening to the body.

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Core development & stretching

The legend of Yoga that is Lexie Williamson asked today’s coaches corner question. What core exercises should cyclist do to improve their core & what stretches.

Cycling can over time put stress on our lower backs due to the lack of strength and or fatigue towards the end of a long ride. Sitting in the saddle up hills also strains the lumber region as we look to use out legs to cycle up the hill. As a result the hamstrings pull on the pelvis and over time this gets tired. Having a strong core will reduce the aches and pains we get and help improve efficiency in the bike.

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Recovery & Racing

Hannah has posed today’s Coaches Corner question. She wanted to know about training & racing and how much rest & when.

Why rest?
Rest allows the body to repair muscle cells that have been stressed during exercise. The body needs time to adapt to the demands placed upon it during prolonged periods of training. If the body is not given regular periods of reduced intensity, then it will become fatigued and weak. This will then naturally effect the body’s ability to train and perform.

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Recovery

Thanks to Rob Crouch for todays Coaches Corner question. Rob wanted to know the best way to recover post exercise.

When you exercise depending on the level of intensity and or duration, you will put stress upon your muscular system. As a result of this, you might suffer from a number of symptoms. These could be sore muscles the following day. This is known as D.O.M.S – Delayed Onset of Muscular Soreness and not due to lactic acid within the muscles. Or you might be light headed during the course of the day when you get up quickly for example. This is due in part to blood pooling – which is where blood is still left in the working muscles and because you didn’t have time to cool down, blood is trapped in part in the muscles so as you get up, blood pressure levels will be lower than normal. If this is common it would be advisable to see your local GP.

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