The bike community is divided at the very idea, as with the 26- or 29-inch question of faith: roller training - blessing or curse? For professional bikers like Wolfram Kurschat, the answer is quickly clear: "Both," explains the man who gets in shape every year on his home trainer. "There is no training that prepares you more effectively for cycling." The uphill specialist points out that rollerblading is far from boring. "Rolling eats away at your mental and physical performance, but not because it's boring, but because it can be damn hard." Kurschat is referring to special programmes that he reels off in order to get the necessary racing power.
Strength training on the roller
For normal bikers, however, these workouts would be far from reasonable. That's why BIKE teamed up with strength training expert Olaf Jenewein to create a roller and strength training mix that many professional bikers use today. The work-outs focus on weak points that are common among bikers: lack of core muscles, one-sided training of the leg muscles, little explosiveness and mobility. "The work-outs are ideal for the winter to work on accumulated weaknesses," explains Jenewein. The highlight of the work-outs is that the designed programmes provide an effective load stimulus after less than an hour of training. Each training programme consists of three sections: Warm-up, main workout and cool-down.
All work-outs with special exercises for roller training can be found in the PDF download - now there's no excuse for the sofa.
