General Fitness
David Kirkby: Fitness and Training Blog Chapter 2
by Admin
Cyclosport Blogger - David Kirkby Profile:
Age: 46
About: Professionally responsible for the funds management business with Valad Property Group. Just as happy riding a bike, road or mountain. Australian by nationality and now settled in Surrey, David is married with two teenage sons and rides when he can, occasionally commuting to the work. Having completed many long distance cycling event and various sports of the years, David is going back to basics this year with F.I.T The team at F.I.T are going to work with David on a fitness plan which riders will be able to follow via a blog by both David and the F.I.T professionals. The aim being to provide a guide to what riders need to consider in both being able to complete the event, but also their general fitness needs. David has also started a charity cycling event in Australia, covering 1000kms each year, called tour de Kids now in its tenth year.
Read blog number one: click here >>
From our blogger:
My first blog dealt with an assessment of my current fitness status, the key focus being an assessment of my current fitness status.
You may recall that Simon (my professional advisor) at F.I.T. had given me a set of exercises to reset my body after an analysis of my biomechanical set up. It does feel funny when someone tells you that your pelvis is out of alignment, your leg length is different, your quads and various interacting leg muscles are not firing as they should and, your painful lower back, tight shoulder muscles are actually relatively easy to remedy. It was a lot of information to digest!
If our car had a wonky wheel was sluggish up hills we would get it repaired, therefore it's about time to repair and rebuild my body. I guess after training for 20+ years you get used to way of doing things and your body adapts, question is, is there a better way? So we set up a plan and assessed the outcome.
Simon and his team gave me a series of exercises and movements to refine and retrain nerves and open up the muscles to enable them to work more effectively. The routine was simple and for once in my life I did what I was told to do, and, after a few weeks of a several sets a week, I achieved the desired outcome.
The routines are mainly anti spasm exercises which are really quite simple and I felt the difference in a few days. My back pain has gone. My arms feel really loose and relaxed, my shoulders feel opened up and guess what my pelvis is aligned and after a retest, my legs are the same length (they now both touch the ground, only joking).
It's an amazing outcome. The next area of work to do is to:
1. Start to strengthen my core for greater stability and power (I have never done any real core training)
2. Loosen/ or free up some areas of my spine (the team at F.I.T enjoy delivery of a little pain from time to time, all for a good outcome of course.)
3. Move to intervals and hills,
I have completed a retest this week on my metabolic targeted change, my nerves are firing again and muscles feel relaxed. I even use the same exercises after long aeroplane flights or after too much time behind the desk to relax my body.
Next goals for me are to build a core, work on more power and nutritional focus for improved recovery.
The Experts View
Leg length discrepancy of approx 1/4" (with a bilateral reduction in pelvic function), which means that the leg length discrepancy is likely to be coming from abnormal pelvic mechanics rather than being a true genetic discrepancy (rt). This can result in faulty loading patterns being placed on the other associated structures like the pelvis and spine, and could also increase load through the spinal facets causing abnormal loading on the discs.
There are levels of subclinical muscle spasms which are usually present trying to protect abnormally loaded areas. Nerve tensioning in the upper and lower body was also identified and is usually present as a typical part of the other biomechanical anomalies that we found, as they can all be linked.
Mild levels of scoliosis with pockets of stiffness being created through the spine especially, rather than share the load through all structures evenly.
Practical Applications
Due to the very nature or sport (cycling) you have the possibility of reduced efficiency due to your biomechanics which in turn could cause pain/injury.
With possible damage to the Lumbar facets/disc and faulty loading capacity seen in your biomechanics this will amplify areas of structural weakness.
Riding causes vibration and over a prolonged duration causes nerve tissue to tighten and, in turn this leads to a reduced motor control of the muscle tissue and overall performance of the muscle itself. Fine tuning the training and providing the right corrective exercises will improve the muscular performance and reduce the risk of injuries/pain.
Vibration will also cause the discs in the spine loose water therefore reducing the space between the discs and altering spinal mechanics, this leads to muscle spasm and makes it even harder to stay injury free. Improving the mechanics of the spine and pelvis will not change the vibration component, but it will improve the ability of the body to cope better.
Once we have addressed the above areas of concern, the load on the current injuries will be reduce and therefore minimise the need for additional treatment.
We will devise a programme that will take all the above into consideration. The ability to generate maximal power on a bike is imperative to your optimal performance. Through identifying your weaknesses, the program will strengthen your cycling specific core muscles while in turn developing drive phase power and:
Improve the drive phase of your cycling
work on the weak links of your muscular chains.
Increase the power in your quads
By mobilising your nerves.
Reduce the pressure on your back
Improve the flexibility of your muscles and nerves.
Improve your technique & stability in the saddle
Improving your core strength gives you a more energy efficient style.
Reduce recovery times after training sessions
Improve the biomechanical function of your pelvis.
A tight Sciatic Nerve can affect your power output by as much as 14%. Assessing your biomechanics can improve your performance
Goals and Objectives:
To normalise the pelvis and spine - achieved
To reduce nerve tension (upper and lower body) - achieved.
To reduce sub clinical muscle spasm - achieved.
To build a new core - work to do!
3 Comments
All above *problems", including age, appear to describe me, and no doubt many more. So, maybe there is "hope for the old dogs". I may well have missed it (age thing again), what are the exercises?
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