So you love cycling, you love the feelings of exertion and freedom that cycling brings, along with its many challenges and many rewards, such as reaching the top of a small mountain in Wales on a sunny day and getting a glimpse of the ocean in the distance. You feel truly alive when you're in the saddle - you love life and live life to the full. Body, mind and soul are united and you're at peace. Awesome!!
So how does yoga fit into cycling?
Well it works on a good many levels. First take the body, cycling is great for keeping fit and keeping the heart healthy and working and toning certain muscles. As with all sports, certain muscles work hard, and others don't. This invariably means that we suffer from muscular imbalances which then have an impact on our skeleton and other muscles. So for example, tight hamstrings caused by cycling can cause lower back pain. Cycling keeps our hips flexible in one direction, but cyclists who try and sit with their feet together and bring the knees to the floor soon notice how tight the hip flexors are in the other direction, which may lead to all sorts of hip problems later in life. Being hunched forward over the bars causes the chest to close and tension in the shoulders, leading to poor posture which also has a knock on effect on our breathing.
Yoga - preventing injuries
|
Practising yoga regularly helps make you aware of where the tight muscles are and teaches you how to relax that area as well as to improve flexibility and core strength. More flexibility in the muscles equals greater rage of motion around the joints and reduces the severity or impact of injury when you fall. In short yoga helps you be even healthier, so you can enjoy your cycling and get the maximum out of life for longer.
On the level of the spirit, think about those moments when you feel truly happy. You feel so alive, that nothing matters, you don't have thoughts of the past or the future. You're totally engaged in the moment and truly at one with the universe. Wow - that's yoga!!
Karen's next yoga article will be explaining how breathing and relaxation techniques used in Yoga can help you cycle better.
Karen Burt is a professional yoga teacher who writes a regular column in Cycling Plus magazine. As an ex-mtb racer she know a few things about injury and prevention, she came second in the UK Downhill NPS Sport Series and won the regional SAMS DH series in 2000. Since then she has ran a marathon, done a triathlon and several duathlons, rode in the womens single speed championship, tried adventure racing, rode in several 24 hour races as well as learning to surf. Karen no longer competes seriously but enjoys regular cycling on and off-road.
Her web-site is www.time2be.org
