- Morning, motivators!
So let's say you are a new
or even a current advanced cyclist,
but you haven't done a lot of strength training.
Well, you should be.
Strength training is one of the biggest
performance enhancers you can do.
Even if you replace some of your current training,
like not increase the amount of hours you spend working out,
but you actually replace
some of your cycling with strength training,
it's gonna be a massive performance enhancer.
I'm a big believer in kettlebells,
because you can spend
maybe just 200 to $300 on kettlebells
and have enough kettlebells to keep you busy for two years.
You don't have to spend
thousands of dollars on a home gym setup.
But then you might be wondering,
"What kettlebell movement
should I be doing to improve my cycling?"
We're gonna go through the five exercises
I really like for improving your cycling
and how to structure a workout
to really improve your cycling.
So the movements in cycling
are different than the movements in running,
because the movements that you do in running
are designed so that they activate muscles
while not beating up your legs.
I'm a big believer in running with fresh legs,
not really tired legs, from strength training.
But in cycling, because you're not pounding
into the ground the same way that you are running,
you can go a little bit more explosive
in the cycling training.
So the movements we're going to do in cycling
are a lot more explosive, powerful movements,
whereas in running, I think it's more stability focused.
So let's get into those five movements.
First movement we're gonna do
is one of my most favorite movements ever,
it's the double deadlift.
The deadlift is one of the best movements
for strengthening your total body.
I really like it because you can go heavyish
and be nice and explosive
without having to go super, super heavy.
So a way to add additional weight
to a deadlift with kettlebells is to have two.
And if you have two different weights, that's totally fine,
just switch them around as you're doing all the sets.
How we're gonna do this is wider legs,
lean down, nice, straight back,
you always wanna a straight back,
and hinge at the waist.
So think of it like karate chop, hinge, straight back,
and that's gonna put the load on your glutes
and your stabilizer muscles on the side.
So how we're gonna do this is lean down, straight back.
Think of it like a karate chop
at the hips to bend you over,
and then a straight back,
and that's gonna make sure that the load is placed
into the glutes and the stabilizer muscles,
the hips, and the hamstrings.
So bend down, and this is where we can get explosive here.
Don't make it herking-jerking,
but just be smooth and strong.
All you're doing is lifting up
with most of the work being done
by the legs and the hips, not the upper body.
That's where you start getting back issues,
and the upper body isn't what is going to translate
into cycling performance.
It's going to be that nice, strong, lower body.
Next movement we're gonna do, again,
nice and explosive,
but we're going to create a little bit of stability.
Because as you're putting power into the pedals,
it's going to torque your body.
And you wanna be able to have stability in the core
so that you can transfer all of that power
without it leaking out the side of your body.
So how we're gonna do that is with a racked squat.
To get into the racked position
you wanna be kind like you're punching your chin
with your palm facing your chest.
So that way,
palm is kind of at like a 45-degree angle from your chest,
but more at your chest than up to the sky.
You're also going to curl the back of your wrist over,
and that puts all the load on the outside of your body.
Having that unstable kettlebell,
trying to pull your body over,
it's going to force you to stabilize the core.
We're gonna do a deep squat as deep as he can,
nice and forceful up.
Deep squat, nice and forceful up.
It's that explosion
that is going to create that power,
and the ability to put lots of power into the pedals
and doing so in a stable way.
Okay, the next movement we're going to do
is the press
of a squat press.
And we're not just going to do it like a static press
that's all in the shoulders,
we want to be a little bit of a hop.
That little bit of a hop is the powerful movement.
That explosive movement,
that building a lot of power and strength
across the entire body.
Taking power from the ground, being stable,
and being able to transfer it into a powerful movement.
The weight isn't being pushed up by the shoulders,
it's being pushed up by a powerful body.
So get a couple of kettlebells
into the racked position here,
a little squat,
and up.
Start this movement with lightweights.
This is very dynamic
and you wanna make sure you're confident
doing the movements before you increase the weight.
Okay, this next movement
is a snatch with a twist.
It's a modified snatch.
So you're going to learn how to do the snatch first.
And you can look online,
develop the ability to do the snatch.
But I like this modified snatch
because it isn't just the power of the snatch.
It is the power of the snatch
with then having to be stable
across the body.
That's what we wanna be able to do.
Transfer power and stability
from the ground across the body.
So once you've learned how to do the snatch,
you are going to get that up,
and then twist towards the kettlebell.
Do the snatch again,
twist towards the kettlebell.
This is creating strength and stability
at the ends of your range of motion.
You don't just wanna be mobile,
you wanna be strong at the ends of your range of motion.
Last movement, really simple, less explosive,
but more about creating total body strength.
You're gonna get the kettlebell
up into this racked position again,
upper cut the chin,
palm sort of at a 45-degree angle
facing the opposite shoulder
and with that rolled over wrist.
Then you're just gonna walk.
This is called a racked carry.
What the purpose of this is,
the hard part is that you're gonna wanna lean away
from the kettlebell pulling you that way.
The work is to just try to stay upright, perfectly upright.
You're going to walk
staying perfectly upright.
Walk trying to stay perfectly upright,
and that is really
going to turn on all the stabilizer muscles.
It's a lot harder than it seems
just to walk and not do this thing.
Just.
Every now and again, as you're doing this,
because you're going to naturally
be pulling yourself that way,
just remind yourself to be stable, perfectly upright.
Those five movements are really going to help you
transfer all that nice power
that you've built up in the core and the legs
into the pedal, because you're nice and stable.
You're not going to have energy leaking out to the side.
If you want 25 hours of guided kettlebell workouts
to put into your cycling training,
at the right times of year,
so that you're not training too hard leading into a race,
but you can also build a ton of strength
when you're outside of race training
and you want a cycling plan,
you can go to: app.mymottiv.com,
where we have cycling plans, triathlon plans,
duathlon plans, swim/run plans, running plans,
all with strength training included in the right way.
So check that out at: app.mymottiv.com.
You can try it for free for 14 days,
and then it's just 57 bucks a month
for an unlimited amount of strength training.
Later, motivators.