Add this 5-minute Foam Roller Exercises for Cyclists program to your post-ride routine to revitalize your muscle recovery.
Foam rolling is a self-massage stretching technique that provides multiple benefits with a minimal investment in time and money. Foam rolling improves flexibility, muscle recovery, relaxes overworked muscles, and modulates pain in a few minutes a day with these Foam Roller Exercises for Cyclists .
Poor posture, repetitive motion, dysfunctional movement patterns, and muscle imbalance negatively affect the neural and fascial systems of the body. The cumulative stress creates a cycle of inflammation, muscle spasms, and soft tissue adhesions.
The adhesions interfere with muscle and soft tissue elasticity and, when untreated, may cause lasting adverse effects. Performing foam roll techniques to the adhesions, commonly called “trigger points” or “knots, ” restores optimal elasticity, flexibility, and performance.
Foam Roller Exercises for Cyclists is an effective way to warm up your muscles before training or an event. Take five to ten minutes rolling the major muscles groups that feel tight or sore to prepare your body to perform. Or you can roll after training to accentuate the recovery process. You can even do both! Either way, consistency is key if you want to see lasting benefits.
When you sustain your body’s pressure against the foam roller on the trigger point, it inhibits or turns off the increased nervous input causing the knot, allowing the muscle fibers to relax and stretch. Slowly roll your muscles until you find a tender trigger point. Hold on that spot for 30 to 90-seconds while relaxing, and the pain melts away.
Make The ZOM Foam Roller Exercises for Cyclists program an essential part of your post-ride stretching and recovery routine. Here’s the routine I use!
Glutes and Piriformis
Start by sitting on a foam roll and cross your affected leg on top of your other knee as shown. Lean slightly towards your affected side. Next, using your arms and unaffected leg, roll forward and back across your buttock area.
Hamstring
Start by sitting with a foam roll under your target thigh. Next, using your arms, roll forward and back across your hamstring area.
Calves
Start by sitting with the foam roll under your target calf and cross your other leg on top.
Next, lift your body up with your arms and roll forward and back across your calf area.
Spine
Start by lying on your back with a foam roll under your back. Place your hands on your stomach and then slowly roll forward and back across your back using your legs as shown.
Iliotibial Band
Start on your side with a foam roll under your bottom thigh. Next, using your arms and unaffected leg, roll up and down on the foam roll along your lateral thigh.
Quadricep
Start by lying face down with a foam roll under the top of your target thigh. Cross your other leg over the top of your target leg as shown. Next, using your arms propped on your elbows, roll forward and back across this area.
Groin
Lie face down with a foam roll diagonally under your targeted inner thigh. Use your arms to roll up and down your leg.
Click here for a written description of The ZOM Foam Roller Exercises for Cyclists post-ride comprehensive stretching program.
For more ways to actively treat your cycling-related aches and pains check out the Virtual Case Studies page of The ZOM!
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Semi-retired as owner and director of his private Orthopedic Physical Therapy practice after over 20 years, Chris is blessed with the freedom to pursue his passion for virtual cycling and writing. On a continual quest to give back to his bike for all the rewarding experiences and relationships it has provided him, he created a non-profit. Chris is committed to helping others with his bike through its work and the pages of his site.
In the summer of 2022, he rode 3,900 miles from San Francisco to New York to support the charity he founded, TheDIRTDadFund. His “Gain Cave” resides on the North Fork of Long Island, where he lives with his beautiful wife and is proud of his two independent children.
You will read him promoting his passion on the pages of Cycling Weekly, Cycling News, road.cc, Zwift Insider, Endurance.biz, and Bicycling. Chris is co-host of The Virtual Velo Podcast, too!
