Cross Training - Part 1: Stronger, Healthier, Happier
Cross training is always preached, but rarely executed. The short-term perspective of an athlete doesn’t allow for distraction from immediate goals. Cross Training is not a reference to cyclo-cross, but doing sports other than your main focus for training benefit. The excuse is getting injured skiing, or hiking ruins your legs, or even that mountain biking is bad. There are problems with the single sport mentality. Being an all-around athlete is the path to being stronger, healthier, and happier.
Any sport becomes hazardous at a certain stress load. What do runners do to recover from an injury? Cycle, because it is low impact. Why do cyclists run? Because of the impact. Doing a huge amount of one activity develops imbalances. We lose the balance of tension that holds our bodies together and develop problem. Potential issues can fester for years before becoming any injury. Your body has a number of wear cycles, don’t burn through them at an accelerated rate.
The classic perception of a cyclist is a lanky man hunched over a bike, with the brake hoods waaay down the handlebars. Wool jersey, grimacing face, chiseled body. From a perspective of safe bio-mechanics they were breaking many rules. In the professional peloton today, many riders are not balanced and healthy athletes and still perform at a high level. It doesn’t mean that these riders aren’t experiencing pain, but that they have a lot of resources to manage it. They are receiving massage daily as well as attention from a chiropractor or physical therapist at every important race or training camp. (100+ days per year).
Cross training expands the training potential of an athlete in a number of ways:
Mentally refreshing
Limits injury potential long term
Comparable or improved training benefit long term
Since it is winter, here is the most ideal form of cross training for cyclists: Nordic skiing. This isn’t just my Norwegian heritage talking.
If you have ever watched nordic skiing, skate technique is with the skis in a V-shape and classic technique is when the skis are parallel. Skate skis have no traction on the base, but classic skis do. Here is why:
Posture: the poling action is naturally chest opening and the perfect strengthener for the upper back muscles. Open chest and shoulders back (not rolled forward) is a corrective for cyclists.
Single Leg Balance: Stepping back and forth on a ski that is <2” wide with no metal edges takes a special touch. This adds stability to the hips and core.
Lateral Strength: Working in a different plane of motion. Cyclists have much to benefit from lateral strength from the glut.
Metabolically similar to cycling
Besides the added physical benefits, nordic skiing has kept me fresh. With skiing throughout the winter, hopping on the bike feels fresh all winter long. And stronger, healthier, happier as well. The Next Cross Training blog will discuss how to cross train closer in proximity to A and B level races and throughout the year.
