How massage can benefit competitors of endurance cycling and road racing.
The five Rs of endurance cycling and cycling racing Readiness – Resilience – Rest/Recovery – Refuel
Readiness:
Any serious cyclist involved in racing and endurance cycling knows that readiness or preparation for any event is essential but do you know how much you can benefit from a pre or post-event massage?
As you know, being ready for any event includes having a high level of fitness, having put in adequate road miles and correct training. Of equal importance is being technically aware – all the fitness in the world can be undone by poor technique. Also it is essential to be equipped with all the right gear to ensure a comfortable ride and of course having a durable and lightweight fast bike. And then there is being fuelled up; having taken in the right nutritional intake prior to the event and carrying with you some nutrition and energy drink to boost your energy when needed. Finally there is being mentally prepared – if your mind is not prepared and focused, you will never improve or win.
Pre-event massage – why it will improve your endurance cycling and road racing performance.
One of the most important considerations for any athlete is muscle performance and muscular balance. When certain groups of muscles are used continually and repetitively they become stronger but other muscles, not so involved in the movement do not get as strong. The outcome of this is strong muscles and weaker muscles; which is why cross-training/taking part in other sports is important for all sportsmen and women. This situation of stronger and weaker muscles tends to create imbalances which can not only diminish performance but may well lead to injury.
Tension in muscles is also a great inhibitor to performance and tension is caused by stress. Stress can be induced in two ways – by mental stress or physical stress. Mental/emotional stress is brought about by day to day activities which put strains on our ability to solve situations – worries about work, money, family, health and relationships all create mental/emotional stresses, which in turn become physical stresses i.e. tension stored in the body. Physical stress is brought about by hard physical work or extreme activity and also environmental extremes, such as bad weather or difficult terrain for cyclists. These stresses cause muscular tensions within the body and muscular tension puts pressure of joints and weaker muscles. This will not only inhibit performance but can lead to injury.
Pre-event massage:
There are two types of pre-event massage; the prerace warm-up to loosen tight muscles and warm them up by friction and bringing extra blood to them. This is a vigorous light rub performed15-30 minutes before the race. The other type of pre-event massage is a much deeper sports massage around forty-eight hours before the race or event. Any less than this and the competitor might be too relaxed or too tired because sports or deep tissue massage releases lots of tension which can make the individual feel quite tired. Deep tissue massage has a number of major benefits. 1) It releases physical and emotional tension. 2) It stretches and relaxes tight muscles. 3) It breaks down fibrous tissue (knots) caused by long held tension. 4) It helps to rebalance muscles where tension exists. 5) It helps to
speed up healing after injury
and heal internal scarring caused by injury. Pre-event massage also has a positive emotional response for the recipient because it produces a feel good factor and feeling good is important for competitors, as it is for anyone.
Cycling Results
Performance fact:
Recently I was working with an amateur riding club and was massaging some of the guys during the week, generally a couple of days before a weekend race. On one occasion there was a hill climbing event and I had massaged three of the guys prior to the event. The following week, one of the guys told me with great pleasure that of the twenty-one riders, only he and two other riders had improved their time from previous climbs. It was the three I had been regularly massaging. Proof enough that massage does help improve performance.
Resilience:
Endurance cycling and cycling racing places great strains physically and mentally on the rider. Resilience is something which comes with experience. It is the mental ability to grit ones teeth when the going gets really tough and press on. Although a lot of physical strength and robustness is required to be resilient, it is the mental toughness which counts the most but there is also another side to resilience. Good riders need to cope equally with success and failure, and the ups and downs of riding and life in general; they learn from disappointment and setbacks, and improve because of it. Of all the riders, Lance Armstrong typifies resilience, beating devastating cancer to come back as a great champion.
Rest & Recovery:
Rest is crucial for people who participate in physically demanding sports like endurance cycling and road racing. The body needs time to recover and the muscles need time to rebuild, what is more injuries need time to heal. Many sports people however, don’t allow their body to fully recover before embarking on another training schedule and they will often train despite of injuries. Often they place great demands upon themselves because they are hooked on their sport and so ignore the signals given to them by their body saying ‘back off’. Professionals are better at taking care of their bodies; generally because they have trainers, coaches and physios to give them advice and treatment. Amateurs however, generally have to take care of themselves and may well pay less regard to rest and dealing with injuries. Many sports people feel that if they stop training even for a short period, they will fall back and lose momentum but the truth is that without adequate rest and recovery from injury, any improvement may well be negligible and the outcome could be physically detrimental.
Post-event massage - How it will shorten your recovery time
Post-event massage is so valuable for rest and recovery. It tends to be not as deep as pre-event massage and focuses on stretching tight muscles and reducing soreness. When muscles are depleted and in the process of rebuilding, massage brings fresh blood to the muscles and with it oxygen and nutrients - Blood feeds muscles - Post-event massage releases tension built up in the muscles after heavy exercise and helps excrete waste products produced when muscles are worked hard. It also helps decrease the swelling of muscles and relaxes and stretches sore muscles. Of vital importance, post-event massage
reduces recovery time
Research has shown that massage after exercise can reduce recovery time by around 10%. Decreasing recovery time is essential during the competition season when the training schedule and event cycle are intense.
Refuelling:
It is said that whatever you put into your body will have a direct bearing on your health and sporting performance, and I don’t see any reason to doubt this. Correct attention to diet is as important as any training regime but is often harder to persist with. Serious competitors know the benefits of refuelling correctly, providing the body with the essential nutrition it requires. It is important to be as well informed on the subject as possible and not follow the latest fad or diet fashion. There is now a vast array of sports nutrition food and supplements on the market but a
good healthy balanced diet
is most important of all.
Some suggestions for essential reading on fitness, training & technique, equipment, nutrition & diet and motivation.
For more in-depth information about endurance cycling visit
It can be an expensive business to pay for massage both pre and post event. However, there is no reason why you can’t learn massage and although you can do a great deal of
self massage for endurance cycling and road racing,
especially on the legs, it is better to receive an overall pre and post event massage. If you belong to a club, why not two or more of you
learn how to massage?
Then not only will you be able to massage your mates but also receive one too and who knows, it might even lead on to a new career opportunity?
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Rest is crucial for people who participate in physically demanding sports like endurance cycling and road racing. The body needs time to recover and the muscles need time to rebuild, what is more injuries need time to heal. Many sports people however, don’t allow their body to fully recover before embarking on another training schedule and they will often train despite of injuries. Often they place great demands upon themselves because they are hooked on their sport and so ignore the signals given to them by their body saying ‘back off’. Professionals are better at taking care of their bodies; generally because they have trainers, coaches and physios to give them advice and treatment. Amateurs however, generally have to take care of themselves and may well pay less regard to rest and dealing with injuries. Many sports people feel that if they stop training even for a short period, they will fall back and lose momentum but the truth is that without adequate rest and recovery from injury, any improvement may well be negligible and the outcome could be physically detrimental.
The range covers mountain biking, BMX, road cycling, commuting, folding bikes and kids bikes.
