If you want pull a 1080 Japan air in the half pipe, launch yourself 100 yards on downhill skis, or accelerate a bobsled to peak speed before jumping in, science can help you do what you do, better.
NBC came by our lab for a little demo, you can check it out here. (updated with the video link)
Note: Just don’t ask me anything about curling…….
Happy NY! and with a new year, hopefully comes new stuff to put in your brain. Some of the knowledge below will help with your patients (talking to you MD’s and PT’s) , some will help your clients (hey coach!), and some is for you the athlete ( yup – come spoil yourself in a complete winter triathlon immersion camp here in Bend, OR). Together, we’ll discuss research and concepts that guide our thought process and training, do hands on assessments, drills, and interventions to help us all do what we do better.
Jan 16-17th
I’m headed back home to New Orleans to teach at the USA Triathlon Certification Course. If you are seeking to get certified as a Level 1 coach, or if you are a current USAT LEvel 1 coach and looking to get your Youth Coaching certification, follow this link for details. As a bonus, I’ll be offering a course on thursday the 16th on “Bike Fit for Performance” – of note, you can register for the Bike Fit talk even if you aren’t planning on going to the full Triathlon certification course. Click here for registration info on both.
Jan 25-26
Calling all Physicians, Therapists, and Athletic Trainers: Join us for the Health Running Course in beautiful and sunny Laguna Niguel, CA. Check out the link for an action packed weekend of peer-reviewed clinical knowledge and hands-on sessions designed to help you help your patients. At the end of the day, run along the cliffs and go for a surf. Not a bad place to be in January!
Jan 31st – Feb 2
Athletes, this one is for you. the REP Lab is hosting its first annual Winter Triathlon Skills Camp. We’ll talk shop, you’ll talk to professional triathletes, you’ll outline off-season conditioning plans and strength routines, do swimming form clinics, performance bike fits, and a 3D instrumented runing gait analysis. That’s right – a complete soup-to-nuts guided plan. Bring your 2014 goals, your gear, and a notepad, because we designed this camp to build a better you and a better season. NOW is the time of the year to make things better – don’t wait until 2 weeks before your first race! More info in the link.
March 7th -8th
Clinicians, this is not to be missed. Join us at the longest running, running-speciifc CME course out there: UVA Running Medicine. This 11th annual event will be a dual focus on foot and ankle mechanics as well as strength and power development for endurance runners, field athletes, and sprinters. We are very excited to have Dr. Brad DeWeese as our keynote presenter this year. As of today- there are a few spots left for the Saturday hands-on lab, so register soon if you’d like to join us (the lab will sell out). Note: this isn’t a simple link – click here, then click on “live conferences” and then scroll down until you see “UVA Running Medicine” – you can download the brochure and register from there.
A lot of time and energy goes into each of these events to ensure that you have the best experience possible – Hope to see you soon!
Success as an athletes depends on an intact joint, strong muscular support, and specific control from our brain to use the right amount of force for the job. But what happens when our joint is chronically damaged? Is your career over? Let’s take a detailed look at how the body adapts, and even improves with stability training.
Warning: I shot this quickly between patients…..there is some fast talking going on at times…….
A lot of hype concerning the difference between fitting a road bike and a cyclocross bike could be cleared up if we all agree on two simple things: put the engine in the right place, and then adjust for handling and comfort. Let’s break this down.
Your pedals are driven by large muscles surrounding the trunk, hips and knees. In fact, about 98.8% of the force you deliver to the pedals comes from your hips and knees. That’s right, the ankle only produces a very small percentage of your total power. So it makes sense to have the saddle height and setback (also called for-aft position) the same between your road and cross bikes to maximize power production. Why would you select a saddle position that compromises power output? Keep it simple. If you like your current saddle placement on your road bike, there is zero reason to change it on your ‘cross bike.
Good bar position allows you to move around while properly weighting the front end for corners and technical terrain | Photo © Jill Rosell Photography
Okay, now here’s where things are a bit different. Instead of rolling your slick tire down fresh asphalt, you’ve got to contend with dusty pumice, wet grass, rocks, roots, and the nutrient ‘crossers crave: mud! In short, it’s critical to have a good handling front end. This means that you want to have a little less weight on the front so that you can lift your front end over obstacles easier. Careful though, too little weight on the front end will bring your torso too upright make it hard for your front tire to bite and send you skittering wide towards the outside of the turn. Let’s see how this all plays out in fit.
It’s simple really; the goal is to get the bars a bit “closer” to you. And you can do this in three different ways. You can run a shorter stem to move the bars closer, you can run your bars higher (by putting a few spacers under the stem or by using a stem with more rise), or a combination of both. I typically recommend that riders start by raising their bars first (because this usually only means moving spacers or flipping a stem). Setting up the bars with some combination of “up and back” will allow you comfortable access to the drops for good grip and handling, and while still allowing you to have optimal engine placement so you don’t lose any precious watts.
Powerful, sketchy, and somewhat comfortable. Yeap; sounds just like ‘cross racing!
I work with many athletes – and to be honest, I get just as much personal satisfaction seeing a person complete their first 10K as I do helping an elite earn a spot on the podium. I’m always humbled and honored when athletes seek out my help, and even more humbled when they put out some nice footage such like this as a way of saying thanks. I’m really just trying to do my job!
Well, professional triathlete Linsey Corbin is also trying to do her job with a stellar performance in Kona 2 weeks from today. Check out Day 2 on linseylucky13.com to learn what Linsey and I have been working on together.
If there was ever a good topic for an episode of Mythbusters, it would be this: should you pedal circles or pedal squares? We’ve been told that “pedaling circles” is important so that we can apply a smooth even pedal stroke. And word on the street is that this uniform application of power around the cranks is more efficient and makes a better rider.
We’ll lets mock up our own episode of Mythbusters. Let’s pretend that you are doing your thesis on power production in cycling (I did). And let’s also pretend that you are trying to get good data on good cyclists (this was my goal). In my research, I tapped into the best client database I could think of (the US Olympic Training Center). And lastly, let’s pretend that you could examine the pedal cycle of the entire national team, and developmental athletes (I could). What would you find?
We’ll, this episode of Mythbusters would be pretty clear. World championship and Olympic medals have been won by riders who feature a smooth pedal cycle (circles) as well as cyclists who are mashers (squares). Uh oh. Don’t’ you hate it when real world data flies in the face of what you’ve been told. So where does this leave you?
Spin Scan Pedal Profile: Looking different doesn’t mean one is better
Its not to say that pedaling style is not important, because it is. In fact, research shows that elite cyclists have better pedaling mechanics than both recreationally competitive cyclists, and even elite triathletes. So if its not the “shape” of the application of power, what does better pedaling mean? Better cyclists have lots and lots of practice turning the pedals over. All this “practice” helps them produce the right amount of force from each muscle, without fighting, or co-contracting muscles during the pedaling cycle. They ride smoother and don’t fight their own pedal stroke. They also can change their pedaling cycle easily when they fatigue, in breaks, or up climbs. Having lots of “strategies” to tap into help as them adapt to the race conditions and terrain they are facing.
The take home:
▪ If you are a rider that has had success mashing your way along at 75 rpm, it doesn’t mean that you must learn to spin at 110 rpm just because someone else does.
▪ Pedaling technique is a variable that better cyclists adjust based on terrain, fatigue, and surface. It is still worthwhile to learn proper pedaling strategies. If you do want to improve your spin, the most beneficial cues are to “scrape mud” off the bottom of your shoe at the bottom of the stroke, and to “kick a ball” at the top of the pedal stroke.
▪ Traction matters. In general mountain bikers have a smoother pedal stroke to maintain traction. If they put all their power around a small part of the pedal cycle their tires spin out. If you spend time on dirt, emphasize smooth power to keep your tires hooking up – especially on the climbs.
▪ Better cyclists don’t necessarily pedal circles or squares. They just pedal better circles and better squares – stop reading and go for a ride!
Spin Scan Pedal Profile: Looking different doesn’t mean one is better
Cycling is a balance act – you want to produce as much power as possible to make your bike move forward, while maintaining comfort, aerodynamics, handling, and safety. But quite often, we loose sight of the big picture in search of the “fastest looking position.” The most common question I get from time trialists and triathletes is, “Can you make me more aero?” Let’s tackle this issue head on using an example, and some science.
Several years ago, I did a fit on a medical resident; we’ll call him Bill. He was three years into his cycling career and was doing quite well at the district and state level. He came and saw me for a bike fit on his time trial bike. His goals were to podium at state and place top 10 at nationals, and also to eliminate his low back pain on the bike. I’ll spare you the details, but after his fitting, his back pain was 100% gone, he won state, and placed 4th at nationals in the 40K time trial. The next year, he stood on the podium at nationals. Bill was very happy.
Right after nationals, Bill graduated and began making more income and sought out the advice of a wind tunnel to squeak out a performance advantage. The folks in the wind tunnel were able to produce a 28% improvement in his drag coefficiency. This is a very, very large improvement in aerodynamics! Bill left and was excited to see how this new position would play out over the season.
Well, things didn’t play out so well. Bill called after several months of riding in his new position. His back pain returned. He hadn’t made the podium in a single time trial all season. And he wasn’t able to hit the same power output on his new time trial position that he could easily hit on his road bike. Guess what we did? We adjusted his fit exactly back to where it was when we last worked together. Bill made the podium in his next race, and the next, and the next, and won nationals. Bill was happy again.
What happened? Bill hit the tipping point. Sure, he was more aerodynamic, but aerodynamics don’t make you ride fast; producing power does. Let’s back this up with some data:
To get aerodynamic, most riders opt for a low, forward position to get their trunk down and out of the wind. This creates two issues. First, it compromises power by shifting emphasis from muscles in your hips (very fatigue resistant) to your knees (fatigue quicker). Poor compromise. Second, I’ve personally been in the wind tunnel with athletes and it is possible to get excellent drag numbers while maintaining a very powerful pedal stroke. This gets complex and very individualized, but good bike fitters can not only help you look better to the wind, but look better to the clock
Bike fit is critical. Why? cycling is a pretty constrained motion, and you go through a LOT of repetitions. Even the forces on the body are much lower than running, the volume on the bike can still add up to a lot of wear and tear.
So can it make you faster? Optimizing the position of your engine (you!) over your machine (your bike) does in fact pay off. The research is pretty much all over the place on bike fit. Doing well controlled studies is pretty hard to do for cycling, because people are just different. But when you really nail down what’s different, and work to not just improve the “Fit” but also improve the rider on the bike, big things start happening. In light of this, I thought I’d offer some feedback from a few of my clients over the past year.
“after years of low back pain on the bike, nothing hurts! – thanks!”
Chris Eatough – Professional Mountain Biker, Six-time World 24hr Solo Mountain Bike Champion, Five time US 24hr Solo Champion
“wow – this is going to be fast! – thanks!”
Ben King – Professional Road Cyclist, US National Champion
“Thank man! Had a solid ride yesterday with the new position! Best power output so far by a ways”
Jesse Thomas – professional triathlete, multiple-time Wildflower champion
“Basically, I feel like a kid in Maine again: Lower seat, cleats further back, putting down the power, and trying to ruin corners. Its really fun”
Adam Craig – professional mountain biker: US Olympian, US Champion in XC, Super D, and Cyclocross, Single Speed World Champion
“Loving my bike fit – fast and comfy”
Carl Decker – professional mountain biker, multiple time Downieville All-mountain Champion, US Super D champion, US Road Champion, Single Speed World champion
“Loved, loved, LOVED it! Bike felt so good – Thank you!!!”
Serena Bishop Gordon – 2013 NUE Series Champion, 2nd place US Mountain Bike Marathon Nationals
“The juice is back – nothing hurts and feeling strong!”
Matt Lieto – professional triathlete, commentator, author, fastest bike split IM Whistler
I don’t work magic, but I do my best to help you achieve your goals. Give me a call if I can help you out with yours.
It seems the Brits have been busy. A few weeks ago, a new Royal baby greeted the world, and it seems my collection of bedtime stories to Prince George was released just in time!
Anatomy for Runners has made quite an impact. Since its release almost one year ago, its been one of the top selling running books, and achieved significant accolades with runners, coaches, clinicians, and the industry. In fact the book has done so well, that it was picked up by a UK-based Lotus Publishing Group. The overseas edition, re-titled “Run Like an Athlete” is available now to anyone on the other side of the pond. I’m quite happy with this title – its actually hat I wanted to call the US book in the first place. It features all the same excellent content, although its been translated from English to well, English……
Yes…..The Queen’s prose is quite different from our countrymen’s linguistics. Going through the editing process with the publisher, I’m shocked at how much it was altered for the european audience: “Soccer mom = football mum” are among thousands of edits.
Note: this version of the book is best utilized with hot tea, crumpets, ascots, and a Hugh Grant movie playing in the background.
my copy arrives by none other than the Royal Mail
Jay Dicharry's Website, An Athlete's Body 