A picture like in a doctor's surgery: as soon as the bikers get off their bikes at the BIKE-Transalp, many of them grab their lumbar vertebrae and contort their faces as if there was a knife in their backs. This is when the athletes realise that biking, especially uphill, is not just about the legs. Due to the deeply bent posture when cycling uphill, the rounded spine and the low cadence, the back muscles have to work hard.
"The main problem with the cycling posture is that the muscles can't work as well in the stretched position. If you are already weak by nature, you often complain more about back pain than leg pain during an Alpine race," explains physiotherapist Olaf Jenewein. For the bike expert, proper strength training is as much a part of cycling as the chain is to the bike.
"If you don't stabilise your torso, you have strong joint movements in your back. And if you strain your back for a long time on one stage, you'll develop tension more quickly if you don't build up adequate stability through strength training."
The physiotherapist recommends back and strength training for at least 20 minutes at least twice a week. "Even with such short training times, you can achieve real improvements. If you pack the whole thing into a circuit training programme, you also get a good endurance stimulus and kill two birds with one stone."
THE WEAK POINTS
Back The lower back area causes problems for many bikers due to a lack of muscle tension. Remedy: more strength training
Knee
Cycling is one of the sports that is gentle on the joints, but misalignments and one-sided strain
can damage the joint. Strength training and bike fitting can help.
Flexibility
In addition to weak muscles, many complaints are also caused by a lack of flexibility. Those who are more mobile tend to have fewer problems.
