Bike Fit Blog Part Deux

Finally I am getting round to the second part of this bike fit blog, and it’s all about the hamstrings.  If there’s one stretch I give almost EVERY TIME I do a bike fit or exercise program it’s a hamstring stretch, and there are two main reasons.  1.  If you have short/tight hamstrings the impact on your cycling is often significant.  And, 2.  I rarely see a rider who is stretching their hamstrings in the right way to make a real impact.

Tight hamstrings could be causing you…

BACK PAIN, REFERRED LEG PAIN, DISCOMFORT, POOR POSITION, POOR AERODYNAMICS, and NECK PAIN

So read on…!

‘FUNCTIONAL ANATOMY’

Understanding where your hamstrings are and what they do when you are on the bike can help you get to grips with looking after them.  The hamstring muscles at the back of the thigh originate at the base of your pelvis and then run down the back of your leg to cross the knee joint.  They are extensors at the hip (meaning that they contribute to straightening your leg on the down stroke), and they are flexors at the knee (meaning that they bend your knee on the upstroke).

Imagine you are on your bike and think about these muscles and what they are doing.  The pelvis end is constantly being stretched as you bend forwards to reach for the bars.  The knee end on the other hand, is never stretched while you are sat in the saddle as your knee is constantly bent and circling.  This combination can lead to tightness in the ‘lower hamstring’ at the knee, but actually good flexibility but often weakness in the ‘upper’ hamstring at the hip.  Effectively in terms of how the muscle functions, the ‘upper’ hamstrings work with the gluts, and the ‘lower’ hamstrings work with the calves.

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN???

So what? – you might think.  Well, the important point is that wherever your hamstrings are short, upper or lower, you will encounter problems.  As you reach for the pedal shortened hamstrings will pull down on the back of your pelvis and round your lower back, tucking your tail under and at the very least giving you a rather ugly position.  This can have knock on effects up the whole of your spine leading to a more ‘rounded’ upper back (and moving you away from the more desirable ‘flat back’), and maybe even giving you a pain in the neck pain by way of compensation.  The tighter your hamstrings, the greater the impact and the more likely you are to have a problem.

TIGHT HAMSTRINGS AND THEIR EFFECT ON SADDLE HEIGHT

The place where all of us start when setting up a bike is the saddle.  Most riders experiment with saddle height and there is a lot of debate as to what the ‘right’ height should be.  All these discussions are healthy and as with any debate there is no absolute answer.  The same can be said about exercise.  Debates come and go about ‘good’ ‘bad’ and ‘dangerous’ exercises, but the truth is that the answer is always relative to the person, their goal and the condition of their body.  The same is true of saddle height.

The height of the saddle in a sense is just a reference to take an objective measure of the bike.  The angle at the knee when the rider is sat and pedalling is the more important element.  In regards to this I would say that an optimal ‘range’ would be from 145 to 155 degrees.  This 10 degree band of variation represents a significant difference in saddle height and would feel radically different to the rider.  In general more traditional road positions will be more towards the 145 end and a time trial or triathlon position would be more towards the 155 end.

The reason for this difference is largely due to the trade-off between comfort and power.  At the lower end (145) there is less stretch and the position may feel more comfortable – especially for longer rides.  A lower position will also tend to support a shallower pelvic angle or more ‘sat back’ position which is more appropriate for longer duration, lower intensity riding too.

At the higher end (150-155) the greater knee extension (leg stretch) facilitates more power giving more range on the down and up stroke.  This higher saddle encourages a more forward position on the saddle and an increased pelvic tilt too – more appropriate for higher intensities and recruiting those important gluteal muscles (see previous bike fit blog).  This position is probably less comfortable (certainly until you really work at it), and especially at lower intensities.  Theoretically it will add to power at higher intensities where is may feel more productive – provided of course you have the flexibility!

SADDLE UP –POWER UP?

When I meet clients who have already had a bike fit it is far more common that their original saddle position has been raised as a result.  Higher saddle set ups are more fashionable at the moment, and I think one of the reasons is because of the boom in power measuring devices that are being widely used as training tools.  If a saddle is too low your power may be limited and moving it up in theory can help you get into a more powerful pelvic position to generate more force.

The only problem with this theory is that in practice this increased height may take your hamstrings beyond their comfortable range of movement.  The length of the hamstrings and your flexibility should be factored in when setting up your position.  You want to be sure that your hamstrings at the knee have a range of 150 degrees.  This will mean you can happily pedal away without any problems or tension being transferred to the pelvis, back and neck with a saddle height that correlates to a 150 degree knee bend.  If you are riding a higher saddle you need to be even more flexible. This is why I set this range as a minimum ‘ideal’ for any cyclist, and will recommend stretching for any rider with less flexibility than this.

TESTING YOUR OWN HAMSTRINGS AND LEARNING TO STRETCH THEM CORRECTLY

Then to use this same movement as a stretch, focus on arching your lower back and maintaining the gap underneath you as you straighten your leg upwards.  Stop at the point just before your back begins to flatten down onto your hand.  Once you have got the hang of maintaining an arch under your lower back against the pull of your hamstrings you can use a strap to add a little more ‘pull’ to the stretch (see below), but DON’T ALLOW YOUR LOWER BACK TO FLATTEN or you will no longer be targeting the key tight spot.  This stretch targets the ‘lower hamstrings’, the tightest part for many cyclists and can start to improve your flexibility and riding position.

COMMON MISTAKES

I am not saying that all other hamstring stretches are ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’, but most that I see do not effectively target the shortest end at the knee, and are not isolated stretches but ‘combinations’.  Any stretch where the lower back is rounded can be considered a ‘combination stretch’ and will not hit the tightest part of the muscle group or change the length of the hamstrings effectively.  Here are some common examples:

SEATED STRETCHES:

NOT ISOLATED ENOUGH

In contrast here is the isolated ‘lower’ hamstring stretch performed with a strap…

So there it is…simple but effective.  If the news on this test was bad, don’t panic!  With the correct, targeted stretch big improvements can come quite quickly and you will really feel the difference.  I have had numerous examples where this stretch alone has eliminated back pain completely.  If you would like to learn more about Stretching for Cyclists then I have a workshop coming up in September at le Beau velo in Shoreditch.  Places are limited so get in touch to book if you are keen.  Go to the workshops page of this website for more information…

Bike Fit Part 1

It's all in the hips! Having worked with dozens of riders I am constantly reviewing and revising the biomechanical aspects influencing performance, pain issues, and style.   In this first of several blogs on key ‘body’ elements of bike fitting I thought I would discuss one important measure that can affect your power and your back:  Pelvic tilt.

Pelvic tilt:  What is it?

I measure pelvic tilt both on and off the bike, as a key indicator of posture, possible problems and potential for movement.  The position of the pelvis tells me about the tension and balance of the muscles around it, most notably those acting on the front of the pelvis and those on the back – the hip flexors and quads at the front, and the hamstrings and gluts at the back.  I measure the length of these muscles too to identify any tightness/shortness that may be influencing the angle, and the potential for a rider to get into the ‘optimal’ riding position.  Importantly, if the muscles at the back of your pelvis – the gluts and hamstrings – are short, they will affect your ability to bend forwards and get into a comfortable or aerodynamic position on the bike.

These measures are precise to avoid guesswork, measured by my CHEK inclinometer specially designed for the purpose.  The great thing about taking this measurement on the bike is that we can change a bike position, either on your own bike or by using the bike fitting jig, and assess the impact of any changes on this all important angle.  It’s good to eliminate the guesswork because sometimes you expect one thing to happen and something quite different is the result!

What does it all mean??!!

As with so many things, there is no such thing as a right or wrong angle of the pelvis per se, but there are optimal ranges for certain disciplines and types of riding.  In essence, the harder you ride, the steeper the angle needs to be, and the more forward (or anterior) pelvic tilt you want. Traditionally, you would achieve this naturally by going onto the drops when you want to go hard, increasing the tilt on the pelvis by shifting forwards and down.  Sometimes though a poor bike set up, or poorly fitting bike can make this impossible, and equally sometimes the muscles at the back of the pelvis are so tight they will not allow for this natural movement.  Sometimes the bike is the limiting factor, sometimes it’s the body, and sometimes it is a bit of both.

In time trial terms, this innate understanding has been taken to the extreme and a lower, more forwards position is well known to be more effective for threshold type time trial efforts.  This is not only about aerodynamics, but also about getting into a more powerful position.  Top TT and triathlon frame manufacturers facilitate this with steep seat tube angles of up to 78 degrees, and forward sliding seat posts that can take a position even further.  On the bike steeper seat tube angles facilitate increased forward (or anterior) pelvic tilt and more power.

Tech talk

The UCI 5cm rule (which stipulates that the tip of the saddle must fall 5 cm behind the bottom bracket) limits this for some cycling events, but not CTT events (which are not governed by the UCI), or triathlon events.

The Adamo saddle has become popular amongst riders not only because it takes the pressure off your private bits, but the truncated front end makes it possible to get more forwards without breaking this rule.

For smaller riders, this becomes even more important as a steeper seat tube angle is essential for the bike to fit.  Emma Pooley (one of our smallest riders) has used the Adamo to get into the best position she can to essentially fit a bike which is always going to be less than ideal (More on bikes for the tall and small later on!)

Triathletes – Horses for courses

Many a cyclist or cycling bike fitter would look at a triathlon position and say – “what on earth is going on there?!!  That’s far too aggressive!” But aggressive angles and high and forward saddle positions are taken to their absolute extreme by age group triathletes (who are not involved in drafting on the bike leg of their event).  When you time trial and then have to get off the bike and run, an increased pelvic tilt and higher saddle keep the hip and knee angle as open as possible, making it more comfortable and less of a shock to the body.  Contrary to what you might think looking at this as a cyclist, if you have the flexibility and are in good enough shape, this extreme looking position really is optimal for triathletes.  But there is quite a big if in there….

A go faster position on a road or track bike

Putting the time trial/triathlon thing to one side, any rider wanting to go faster at times, whether that be racing, or just out on the road needs to get lower and push harder for all the same reasons.  So the same elements apply for simply getting down onto the drops and going for it.  If you have raced at all you will know that feeling of being on the tip of your saddle and biting the handlebars.  This is not just about trying to reduce your drag, but is how your body can generate the most power, and your power centre is your pelvis.  The difference on a road bike in particular is that the position needs to be more dynamic.  At times you need to be able to go hard, and at other times you need to be more relaxed and working in an endurance position.  This is naturally more ‘sat back’ with a shallower pelvic tilt to allow the more endurance orientated muscles to take over and save the power house that is your butt for when you really need it!

So why does an increased pelvis tilt help produce more power?

1. Critically it facilitates the glut muscles on the down stroke as you extend your hips.  Some of the most powerful muscles in the body and with more ‘fast twitch’ fibres, the gluts want to contribute more at higher intensities
2. Biomechanically it reduces the distance between your pelvis and the bottom bracket by shifting your centre of gravity forwards, meaning less power is lost
3. It helps you to get lower and achieve a ‘flatter’ back, reducing your frontal area and improving your aerodynamics

Next time…More about saddle height, knee angles, and what might be stopping you getting into your that faster position, and what you can do about it.  You must be on the edge of your seat

More from ‘The Feed Zone’

In case you are on tender hooks, here is my post-mortem on my diary free experiment.  Ten days on from my moratorium I have been dipping my toe back in the diary pond to compare notes on my bodily functions and how I feel about all things ‘cow’ – now.  But first some observations:

FOOD CONSCIOUSNESS

The first task if you want to change your diet is to raise your level of consciousness.  Food is habitual and ‘diet’ literally means ‘the food you eat’, so if you want to change what you eat you need to engage the brain a little as well as your will power.

So for the first week of my dairy free plan my main task was remembering NOT to eat dairy, and having got over this hurdle I have to say that I genuinely felt instantly better in myself.  My energy was a little better and my digestion seemed improved.  I was feeling smug and to be honest didn’t even find it that hard (except for the remembering part).

WHAT’S MISSING?

In preparing for this experiment I knew that this challenge would mean me getting plenty of alternative sources of fat in my diet.  I love fat.  I need fat.  Don’t ever ask me to go on a low-fat diet.  I would have to kill you, and eat you – for your fat.

So, in the knowledge that cutting diary would mean cutting a lot of fat, I prepared myself by getting other sorts of fat in the kitchen, such as a wide variety of nut butters, coconut oil, and Udo’s essential oil.  Coconut oil in particular is a fat I have wanted to include more often for a long time, but don’t seem to have managed it.  It is made up of Medium Chain Fatty Acids and is easy to digest – not requiring any bile, and also has anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties, helping to keep the bad guys in the gut at bay.  One reason I haven’t managed to get a lot of this lovely fat in my diet up until now is that I don’t really like the taste and smell of the oil for cooking, but I found that spreading coconut oil on gluten free toast turned out to be rather tasty, so this was at least a short-term and instant solution.

Another handy replacement for milk was coconut milk, which I gradually managed to manipulate into a new and improved pancake recipe.  My desire for a pancake breakfast was so persistent that I developed a coconut version using rice flour instead of buckwheat flour with eggs.  This lighter pancake was just as tasty, and of course – dairy free.

THE BLENDER VS DISC WHEEL DEBATE

In looking at other milk alternatives I entered into a debate in my household over a blender.  I had been speaking to a Nutritionalist colleague of mine about non-meat sources of protein and she suggested that a high quality blender is a great kitchen tool because you can make your own nut ‘milks’ fresh, as well as nut flours and all sorts of lovely soups etc.

This seemed like a cracking idea to me and already with a juicer now in the kitchen and with my hand blender having just died a death, I was keen to purchase said food saviour in spite of its heady price around the £500 mark.

My partner Kevin on the other hand put the argument that with this money, he could buy a disc wheel (which is not actually true when you check the price tags), an argument I naturally opposed due to my favouritism for the body over bike approach.  Short term the disc might make you faster, but think of all the extra training you could do and muscle you could build with all those lovely nutrients.  The debate goes on, but I did not get the blender.

CAUTION SUBSTITUTES

This brings me on to a warning about some ‘substitute’ foods that can be as bad as or worse than the food you are looking to eliminate or reduce.  Almond, soy and rice milk are some of these alternatives that are fairly widely available on supermarket shelves these days, but soy in particular is something I do not want to include in my diet.  Even the almond and rice milks on offer often contain a load of sugars and preservatives that I do not want, so I was mindful not to fall into this trap.

UNEXPECTED BENEFITS

And speaking of soy, one of the surprising benefits of eliminating dairy was that I instantly eliminated all traces of soy from my diet.  Probably the only soy that I would have in my diet ‘normally’ is that which is in most chocolate or ‘gluten free foods’ in the form of the emulsifier ‘soy lecithin’.  Since I am gluten intolerant and therefore likely soy intolerant I had removed these traces in one foul swoop, something that perhaps was a factor in my tummy feeling better.

I also instantly eliminated a lot of sugar, by removing deserts and chocolate from the menu, and I definitely felt the benefits without too many cravings or problems.  I made sure I had some dark chocolate in the fridge for a couple of squares after dinner, or tried to use fruit to satisfy any sweet cravings.

SO WHAT DID I MISS THE MOST?

To my surprise the thing that I missed the most through the whole process was a nice cuppa.  I tried to like tea black, I tried different sorts of tea, but nothing came close to your straight forward English builders tea with milk.  Although I don’t drink a lot of tea, this will be one to watch and work on for me.

So overall I have learnt a lot and won’t be rushing to re-introduce all those old habits which I have so successfully knocked on the head over the last month and a half.  I won’t completely eliminate dairy from my diet, but I am much more mindful of its effects and am still experimenting with alternatives that work better for me.

THE FEEDZONE COOKBOOK

So one final plug (before I stop my ramblings about diet for a while) is for a new book on the market called ‘The Feed Zone Cookbook’, the first food/cook book FOR CYCLISTS I have found prioritising ‘real food’ ideas and practical suggestions over ‘sports nutrition’ products.  Several of my clients (and their wives!) have been experimenting with in the pocket ‘real food’ for on the bike.  As well as a great common sense introduction to this book the recipes on ‘hand helds’ for your back pocket are particularly interesting.  Thanks to Christoph for sniffing out this excellent book.

Fellow fitness foodie…

In my experience, it is not often you come across health and fitness professionals who walk the walk as much as they talk the talk, so meeting Felicity Cole on an F12 triathlon training camp last week was a breath of fresh air.  Still in the midst of my ‘dairy free lent’, and gluten free as usual, the prospect of travel and a change of food was a little daunting, but both Felicity and the surprisingly food conscious nutritional approach of the F12 camp reassured me that the tide is beginning to turn for ‘sports nutrition’.

We are grinning because top triathlon coach Ralph Hydes who is taking the picture is about to get run over by a slow moving Spaniard in a van.  The gesture he gave as he passed was slightly different to the French one I am more familiar with but in a similar vain.

The short trip to La Manga on the Med in Southern Spain gave me a chance to sample what F12 have to offer cyclists, triathletes and fitness enthusiasts.  Felicity was our escort and guide for the few days while we were out there, and an elite duathlete and triathlete to boot.  Felicity is also a fellow fitness professional working as a personal trainer in London, allowing her just enough time to fit in her full training schedule around her work.

Felicity’s hard earned body turned heads from the airport to the treadmill in the gym at the La Manga resort.  She puts in two or three training sessions most days in each of the triathlon disciplines, as well as maintaining a strong body in the gym with strength and conditioning work.  She doesn’t rely on heavy carbohydrate stodge, gels, or ‘sport nutrition’, but eats clean, properly prepared natural food.

I mention Felicity in this blog because she too has smelt a rat with much of the marketing around ‘fitness food’ and has found her own way of eating in a more healthy and holistic way, whilst still performing to the highest standards.  It was great to be able to compare notes on our experiences and research, and to see another professional doing such a fabulous job of being a role model for other endurance athletes trying to eat healthily.

In the meantime my diary free lent is almost coming to an end, and I am looking forward to a big fat chocolate egg….or am I?  The results are almost in and I will share them with you very soon…

Food For Thought

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:   ‘Quick and easy’ foods can be ‘displacing foods’, meaning they take the place of a more nutritionally sound option.  Cyclists often include these with a view to squeezing in more training instead of prioritising eating well.  I see nutrition not just as calories or carbs, but vitamins, minerals, co-factors, enzymes and anti-oxidants.Pancakes. Buckwheat pancakes have been a breakfast favourite for me for a while, especially before riding.  I get through quite a bit of milk this way, and generally melt butter on the top and add a sprinkle of sugar or squeeze of honey.  When cereal and toast are out of the equation for breakfast (as they are on a gluten free diet) you have to get a bit creative with the options.  Like many people I find it difficult to eat meat and fish first thing in the morning unless I am really hungry.  I try not to get too attached to gluten free bread so my pancake discovery was a real winner for getting my day off to a cheerful start, especially when I am exercising in the morning.  Breakfast is the meal of the day where it’s hardest to include some variety and avoid the ‘easy’ options, so getting to grips with some alternatives will be tricky.FOOD FOR THOUGHT:    Most people eat a lot of the same foods, especially for breakfast, and sometimes even having the same lunch every day.  Gluten (wheat) and dairy are the two most common food intolerances in the West, partly because we tend to eat so much of them (bread, cereal, pasta, cake, biscuits, milk, cheese).  Though these foods are ‘convenient’, many people (including some top cyclists such as Bradley Wiggins) do better without them.  For cyclists these foods can become ‘displacing’, getting in the way of including more vegetables, and meat and fish, richer in vitamins, mineral and anti-oxidants.

Custard and cream.  I’m coming clean with the ‘pudding’ factor here.  Like many cyclists I like thesweet stuff and especially after hard riding or in the winter.  Cyclo-cross in particular seems to call for a roast dinner followed by a hot pudding.  Home-made apple crumble is a favourite, and what better to pour all over it than custard or cream    In fact aside from the dairy itself, I’ve noticed cream is often poured over the sugary stuff.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:  Anyone else have a pudding problem or is it just me?  Most puddings also include both dairy and gluten.  If you know any that don’t include either – get in touch!  I’m all ears.

Tea.  I drink coffee black in the morning, but like one or two cups of tea in the afternoon with milk.  I monitor my caffeine intake and coach my clients to avoid caffeinated beverages after 2pm.  Including caffeine after this time can affect your sleep.  I’m never tempted by coffee in the afternoon but I sometimes sneak in a cup of tea around 4 or 5pm.  Cutting out dairy means losing the afternoon tea.  No bad thing.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:  A cup of coffee (or tea) is never far from a cyclist but caffeine after 2pm can impair your sleep quality and recovery from training.  My record breaker for coffee consumption was a rugby player who was drinking 20 cups of instant every day.  At least if he was a cyclist it would have been decent coffee

Chocolate.  And last but not least, there is the queen of all dairy foods – chocolate.  I am not a chocoholic by any means, but I bet if I wrote down what I ate for a whole month, there would be fair few chocolate bars in there.  In fact if I get stuck for food out on a ride I have found that a Snickers bar hits the spot for me preventing ‘le bonk’ without causing too much digestive distress.  The Cyclists favourite of cake is out of the question out on the road or at races (because of the gluten) and most ‘performance bars’ are gluten based too.  The nuts in a snickers bar seem to slow down the sugar just enough to make it manageable.  See this is what happens.  You start to justify dodgy food choices because you are an ‘athlete’.