UAE Team Emirates invests mega-bucks, ensuring Tadej Pogacar and his teammates remain in top form throughout the season. However, there’s one crucial piece of kit that Pog uses before every race that’s so inexpensive it’s accessible to all of us – the humble resistance band, now available for next to nothing this Amazon Prime Day.
Many of us will have been entertained by this clip, posted on UAE Team Emirates’ Instagram feed, of Pogacar working through his pre-race muscle activation routine using nothing more sophisticated than a handful of resistance bands. So, why is it critical to his success, how does the process work, and should we all be doing something similar before every ride?
Essentially, this is a pre-ride warm-up for Pog, but it has been refined to target specific muscle groups. Why warm up at all? Firstly, injury prevention. Preparing the body for exercise increases blood flow, elevates muscle temperature, and improves flexibility, all of which can minimise injury. This is particularly important for pros, who may be required to ride full gas from the get-go, but I recommend it for enthusiasts too.
Secondly, Pog is firing up one crucial muscle group that, frankly, would rather remain dormant, causing other muscles less suited to the work to take up the heavy lifting. The glutes, vital for pedal stroke power generation, are notoriously lazy, so with these exercises, Pog is giving them a thorough wake-up call. The glutes are also responsible for stabilising the hips and knees, so it’s impossible to overstate just how important this muscle group is for cyclists.
Although primarily targeting his glutes and quads with these exercises, Pog is also working his core and upper body, enhancing strength, stability and balance.
As a Yoga teacher, these exercises are familiar to me – the Bridge and Bulgarian Split Lunge in particular, less so the Monster Walk! By introducing resistance bands, Pog is supercharging his activation regime, but in a safe manner that’s unlikely to cause injury. Because resistance bands provide a gentler, more controlled workout than free weights, they’re less likely to negatively impact your joints, muscles and tendons. They’re also cheap, versatile, incredibly portable, and don’t hurt when you drop one on your toes!
Unfortunately, many of us with desk-based jobs suffer from ‘dead butt syndrome’, a condition where, despite our best efforts on the bike, our glutes refuse to respond, leading to muscle wastage that exacerbates hip, knee and hamstring issues. This is where a decent set of resistance bands, in a variety of strengths, can really help.
What’s really impressive about Pogacar’s workout is that he’s doing it with minimal equipment, in a car park from the back of a van. It just goes to show that a $9.99 set of resistance bands will probably improve your cycling performance more than a fancy gym membership or a $2,500 set of wheels ever will!
Want to train like Pog? Grab some inexpensive resistance bands on Amazon while you still can.
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