Ultraslide Training for Cycling

Looking for ways to continue cycling training through cold winter months or those hot, humid days? Early season workouts tend to be a base building type of affair with long, slow bike rides and easy aerobic runs. The problem is that without proper pre-base conditioning, injuries often occur at this crucial point in the training year. Some common injuries seen in cyclists early in the training cycle are low back pain and various issues with hip stabilizer muscle groups. Runners tend to discover similar problems in the hip area due to small imbalances through forces created by form, equipment or relative weakness in hip muscles.

Endurance athletes such as cyclists train their "forward moving" muscles: quads, hamstrings, gluteal muscles and calves (which are all muscles targeted through training on the Ultraslide.) Little attention is paid to the lateral motion and control muscles because, well, we don't move side to side when we bike. But those are exactly the muscles that need to be strengthened to prevent injury associated with our forward motion and make us a stronger, faster, more efficient athlete.

We can divide the muscles of the body into two main groups, the prime movers and the stabilizers. Obviously the movers make things happen. They are the muscles that drive us forward. The stabilizers work to reduce unnecessary, inefficient motion in our joints and maintain our balance. Wasted motion due to weakness in stabilizing muscles can cause injuries. In our hip the stabilizers are the three gluteus muscles, the piriformis, and several small muscles deep in the pelvis. It is difficult to strengthen them with traditional weight training. The Ultraslide slideboard training provides the opportunity to work both the forward moving muscles as well as those that control lateral motion, which allows for both strengthening and injury prevention.

For more information read the full article at Rehab To Racing.