Fitness questions and answers for June 19

Form & Fitness Q & A

Got a question about fitness, training, recovery from injury or a related subject? Drop us a line at fitness@cyclingnews.com. Please include as much information about yourself as possible, including your age, sex, and type of racing or riding. Due to the volume of questions we receive, we regret that we are unable to answer them all.

Carrie Cheadle, MA (www.carriecheadle.com) is a Sports Psychology consultant who has dedicated her career to helping athletes of all ages and abilities perform to their potential. Carrie specialises in working with cyclists, in disciplines ranging from track racing to mountain biking. She holds a bachelors degree in Psychology from Sonoma State University as well as a masters degree in Sport Psychology from John F. Kennedy University.

Kelby Bethards, MD received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University (1994) before obtaining an M.D. from the University of Iowa College of Medicine in 2000. Has been a racing cyclist 'on and off' for 20 years, and when time allows, he races Cat 3 and 35+. He is a team physician for two local Ft Collins, CO, teams, and currently works Family Practice in multiple settings: rural, urgent care, inpatient and the like.

Fiona Lockhart (www.trainright.com) is a USA Cycling Expert Coach, and holds certifications from USA Weightlifting (Sports Performance Coach), the National Strength and Conditioning Association (Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach), and the National Academy for Sports Nutrition (Primary Sports Nutritionist). She is the Sports Science Editor for Carmichael Training Systems, and has been working in the strength and conditioning and endurance sports fields for over 10 years; she's also a competitive mountain biker.

David Fleckenstein, MPT (www.physiopt.com) is a physical therapist practicing in Boise, ID. His clients have included World and U.S. champions, Olympic athletes and numerous professional athletes. He received his B.S. in Biology/Genetics from Penn State and his Master's degree in Physical Therapy from Emory University. He specializes in manual medicine treatment and specific retraining of spine and joint stabilization musculature. He is a former Cat I road racer and Expert mountain biker.

Since 1986 Steve Hogg (www.cyclefitcentre.com) has owned and operated Pedal Pushers, a cycle shop specialising in rider positioning and custom bicycles. In that time he has positioned riders from all cycling disciplines and of all levels of ability with every concievable cycling problem.They include World and National champions at one end of the performance spectrum to amputees and people with disabilities at the other end.

Pamela Hinton has a bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology and a doctoral degree in Nutritional Sciences, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She did postdoctoral training at Cornell University and is now an assistant professor of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia where she studies the effects of iron deficiency on adaptations to endurance training and the consequences of exercise-associated changes in menstrual function on bone health.

Steve Owens (www.coloradopremiertraining.com) is a USA Cycling certified coach, exercise physiologist and owner of Colorado Premier Training. Steve has worked with both the United States Olympic Committee and Guatemalan Olympic Committee as an Exercise Physiologist. He holds a B.S. in Exercise & Sports Science and currently works with multiple national champions, professionals and World Cup level cyclists.

Richard Stern (www.cyclecoach.com) is Head Coach of Richard Stern Training, a Level 3 Coach with the Association of British Cycling Coaches, a Sports Scientist, and a writer. He has been professionally coaching cyclists and triathletes since 1998 at all levels from professional to recreational. He is a leading expert in coaching with power output and all power meters. Richard has been a competitive cyclist for 20 years

Andy Bloomer (www.cyclecoach.com) is an Associate Coach and sport scientist with Richard Stern Training. He is a member of the Association of British Cycling Coaches (ABCC) and a member of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES). In his role as Exercise Physiologist at Staffordshire University Sports Performance Centre, he has conducted physiological testing and offered training and coaching advice to athletes from all sports for the past 4 years. Andy has been a competitive cyclist for many years.

I'm a randonneur, so I'm doing lots of long distance and hilly riding, but at maybe 13mph average speed. Reading your cleat-positioning article, I see that you recommend having the "ball" of the foot be about 1 cm ahead of the pedal-axle center (my feet are about 44.5). Measuring, I see the ball of my foot is almost 2 cm ahead of the pedal. This is because in attempting to deal with forefoot pain and numbness, I (gradually) moved my cleats back as far as possible. (In the end, this didn't help fit the forefoot pain and numbness, but after a visit to a podiatrist this problem has been completely resolved by taping my insoles to create a little valley for the middle metatarsals.) I've now been riding with the cleats in this position for nearly four thousand miles, about half of which is century-or-longer rides. But toe-overlap is an issue in tight turns, so I wouldn't mind trying to move the cleats forward again. Other than doing this gradually and moving seat height up slightly, do you have any recommendations? Will this tend to load up my calf muscles more?

HI I just finished reading the article about the heat treatment by Matt Vawter Boulder, CO., were Scott Saifer suggests ensuring your body is in a heat environment to help acclimatise. I was wondering if this method conducted in reverse can be used for a cold environment and if so how can it be done with out sub-coming to a cold. At present were I live (Orange NSW) we have had mornings as low as -4 at 7am with a max of between 4 and 10.

Acclimatization to cold is mostly tactical and psychological rather than physiological. There is a physiological component, but it should not be relevant for a racing cyclist. If your body temperature drops far enough, you shiver whether you are acclimatized to the cold or not, and shivering wastes glycogen and oxygen, impairing performance. However, the threshold skin and core temperatures at which shivering commences decrease with repeated exposure to cold. Thus regular exposure to cold could improve exercise capacity. However, getting to the shivering threshold temperature means getting well below the range of temperatures at which muscle operates most efficiently for other reasons related to muscle enzyme activities, so you should not be letting your skin or core get cold enough for this physiological aspect of cold acclimatization to be important. That is, you should not ever be getting cold enough to shiver while exercising.

I am 34 and have been riding and racing (cat 2) for about 5 years now. Last year towards the end of the racing season I started to notice some pretty sever pain in my lower back and right glute. It started out gradually but increased in intensity over about 2 months period. I eventually had to stop riding and decided it was time to see a specialist. After an MRI I was diagnosed with a herniated disc at the L5-S1. I went through physical therapy and had 2 steroid epidurals which helped a lot. Now I started to ride and I am still having pains which are not as sever but still annoying. I decided to really look at my bike position since this had to have something to do with my back problem. After video taping while on a trainer I noticed these things while riding.

1. Looking from behind I can definitely see that my right hip is lower than my left.
2. My left heel moves to the inside (towards the crank arm) on the down stroke.
3. My right knee moves in an elliptical motion. Outside at the top of the pedal stroke and then moves toward the top tube on the down stroke. (My left knee moves relatively straight.)
4. My hips are turned toward the right while seated.
5 I believe my right side has a forefoot varus.

Everything that you say about how you sit on a bike tallies. The left heel movement is almost certainly a result of the right side twist / drop as is the oscillation of the right knee motion. First things first. Get hold of a packet of Lemond wedges and experiment with what number feels best under the right shoe. Add one at a time and keep adding while ever the addition of another wedge gives a feeling of enhanced stability under foot on the right side. Judge the correct amount by how you feel on the pedal, not by the amount of oscillation of the right knee.

I was wondering if you could please tell me if there is a general rule for the angles/set up on bikes. By this I mean, where your knees should be in relation to your feet/hips etc when in the correct set up. The reason I ask is because I would like to check my overall set up, because I get a niggle in my left knee when riding my road bike, especially on the wind trainer. The other day, after doing a fairly hilly 30 km mountain bike race, the left knee was stiff/sore on the following day. That was the first time the pain had occurred on the moutain bike, but occurs more often on the road bike. A friend of mine who runs a bike shop says to adjust my cleats, and I think from reading past articles that my cleat should be about 7-8 mm in front of the axle. However, when I got on the bike this evening, I discovered that the cleats wont go any further foward. Perhaps my cheap shoes are the problem! The cleat and pedal are both Shimano SPD.

From what you have said, I suspect your problems probably are the result of cleat position or pelvic symmetry. The 7 - 8mm you mention. That means that the centre of the ball of your foot should be 7 - 8mm in front of the centre of the pedal axle. You imply that the cleat is forward meaning that there is not enough foot over the pedal (cleat too far forward) so it would pay to correct that before going further.

I seem to recall that back in the 80's there was a lot of focus on breathing techniques to increase endurance fitness. I specifically recall Greg LeMond touting the benefits of off-the-bike "Deep Breathing" exercises. I don't see these kinds of techniques mentioned anymore in popular training methods and was wondering if they are still valid? I've been focusing more on my own breathing lately and have noticed a dramatic improvement in my fitness. Has there been any more studies on the effects of breathing exercises or have these techniques simply fallen out of style?

Just my opinion, but breathing exercises, like many other valid types of training, are only effective if they help correct a deficiency or limiter. Anyone who has done a particular type of exercise and felt a benefit will likely encourage friends, neighbors and teammates to try the same exercise. I have definitely assigned deep breathing exercises to clients on occasion, and some of them have reported a perceived benefit. I would not assign deep breathing exercises to all my clients because I don't think they'd be beneficial for the majority.

I'm a PT/ATC who does some work with cyclists here at the University of Oregon. I also am a semi-serious rider myself. I've read and heard discussion of femoral and tibial length and how these relate to top tube length and fore/aft seat position. Many experts state that riders with long femurs and short tibias should have their seats set back further and have a longer top tube than riders with short femurs and long tibias.

Before answering your 2 questions, I have to get a few things off my chest. I think that the experts you mention are barking up not only the wrong tree, but a tree in the wrong forest. It is called the "Proportional Forest" and a product of the wish for simple answers to a complex problem. For too long, far too many people have tried to build edifices of reasoning built on the foundations of what can be described as " If you measure this way or are proportioned this way, then your bike position and ideal frame dimensions are a product of those proportions or measurements". Specious reasoning in my view.

Thanks for the detailed reply. I agree with you that you cannot use a "cookbook" method to fit people on bikes. It seems to me (and I am a neophyte when it comes to bike fitting, so maybe I'm way off) though that some basic measurements and ratios would be helpful in getting a cyclist "in the ballpark" as far as frame size is concerned. It seems like some basic measurements would be helpful for someone trying to decide between stock bikes, for instance, with a 54 cm frame/ 56.5 cm top tube and a 54 cm frame/ 54 cm top tube. After the most appropriate frame was selected further modification and "fine tuning" would be done with seat ht and fore/aft positioning, equipment selection involving stem length, etc.. Does this make sense?

Regarding torso length, this is something I've wondered about also. After I sent the email I wished I would have included a question about this. The same folks who talk about femur and tibial length will refer to torso and leg length in cyclists. What are the ratios for this? I know there are methods to measure these values (Colorado Cyclist has a detailed procedure, for instance). Do you know the best way to measure torso and also what constitutes a "long torso/short leg length" and vice versa. How is this type of thing determined? I know I may be in the wrong forest again but thought I'd ask anyway. Thanks in advance for your help.

I am a 37 yr. old male. I have been cycling for two years (training as hard as my body will allow, plus a little). I've lost forty pounds and am now down to a petite 197lbs! (5'11") I put in a good base over the winter (100-140 wk. mostly flat with some structured efforts and lots of wind). In the spring I ramped up to 150 per week with rolling hills and some fast pack rides with the local cat four crowd. A month ago we started doing some fairly hard hill rides once a week - 40 miles of big rollers ½ to ¾ mile length at 8% to 15%. This was my hard effort for the week. I seemed to be adjusting to this new load for the first three weeks then started to develop some pain in the medial soft tissue of the ankle.

I bowed out of the next hill ride and returned to the flatter course but the pain continued to grow. The pain was sharp like tight skin. It started at the top of my foot where the middle strap hits my foot and traced to the medial ankle (moderate swelling) and up to the medial knee, then a little further up into the hamstring. My Dr. friend said I strained/small tear of the Flexor hallus longus (plantar flexion) due to the increase hill loads. Back off, ice, stretch, ibuprofen, etc… My question is, are there some functional things that are being signaled by this injury? BTW, I do most of my climbing seated.

Both of your pairs of shoes have a relatively low heel lift last so that is unlikely to be the problem. Re your pedalling technique; leave it alone and be happy. The only implication is that if you still pedal relatively toe down under load, like when climbing hills, then the major force vector on the pedals is from front to rear. This in turn means that your pedalling technique tends to cause you to transfer weight to your upper body. The simple solution to that is to set your seat set back according to the balance test that is mentioned in the archives many times.

1) I definitely sit to one side. To remedy this I'd like to try an FSA seat post with the DATA head that you mentioned. However, looking at them with my boyfriend he noticed that there seems to be a difference in construction between the 2006 models and earlier versions. Just looking at photos of them on the internet, not in person, it looks like the 2006 models wouldn't have any way to accomplish any lateral adjustment, whereas older models seem to have a different construction which would allow for this. We are going to go to a LBS to see the seat posts in person. Do you know if the newer FSA posts can be modified so the seat can be adjusted laterally?

3) Checking my saddle position fore and aft by seeing if I could take my hands off the drops and not fall forward, I found that I could easily do this. With my boyfriend's help we actually moved my saddle forward from where it was positioned trying to see if we could find that point where I couldn't take my hands off the drops without falling forward. In fact we ran out of room on the saddle rails before I became unbalanced so we moved the saddle to a position about 1/2" forward of it's initial position for starters, thinking that my position might be too stretched out. From reading your thoughts on saddle positioning am I correct in saying that I eventually want to have my saddle at that point where I can just barely keep myself from falling forward when I take my hands off the drops while riding? Does this hold true for women with our in general lower center of gravity compared to men?

In summary, I've changed my cleat position and moved my saddle forward 1/2". I am aware that things feel different when riding. Not good or bad but just different. My labial swelling isn't as severe as it was but it is still definitely there. It seems that I've made some adjustments in the right direction. The next step is to find a seat post which allows me to adjust my saddle laterally. Thanks so much for your input and the excellent well written articles on your website!

I am 29 year old male from South Africa; I used to be an elite cyclist racing for a team in Belgium. I came down in a race, dislocating my right shoulder. The race doctor advised me that it was not too serious and that a biokinesis will be able to sort me out. I took it as not being so serious and carried on riding because it was the best form I ever had. The problem was that my shoulder kept dislocating and I only had the surgery a year after the crash.

If you are indeed hanging to the right, which would explain all or most of what you relate as problems, then ideally you need to straighten your self up. Yoga, Pilates or any kind of bodywork will help and you could do worse than find a good structural health professional to assess you and plan a regime of self improvement. Once that is all done, and if you still have the same problems then have a look at "The Problem of Pelvic Symmetry".