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Updated December 14, 2009

Flight Check Symmetry and Function

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NOTE:  Before beginning the following exercises please have somebody test your basic functional movement, or at least test yourself using the procedures from:

Cook, Gray. 2003. "Athletic Body in Balance." 1965. Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics.
ISBN: 0-7360-4228-8 

If you have any pain at all, anywhere at all, attend to that first.

3x each right/left, re-pace with seated spin between each exercise
 basic process is to go from simple > engaged; conservative > extravagant; single > continuous
these should be done cold, because warming up can hide problems as compensating muscles take over

A) Wiggles and Rolls (quick extra light spin)          
  1. Wiggles (alternate between wiggling bottom and perched at rest on seat)
  2. Spin and check computer functions
  3. Ankle Rolls (perched alt: heels up at bottom to down at top; heels up at top to down at bottom)
  4. Wiggles and Rolls
          
B) Simple Stand          
  1. Inline
  2. Saddle Over (conservative, two step process)
  3. Saddle Out (extravagant, two step process)
          
C) Rollovers (seated)          
  1. Zero G Three Over Easy (three short psoas hints, over top very slow, no pedal pressure)
  2. Continuous
  3. Stressed Three Over Easy
  4. Continuous
          
D) Engaged Stand          
  1. repeat Simple Stand (once only R/L)
  2. Inline
  3. Saddle Over (conservative, one step process)
  4. Saddle Out (extravagant, one step process)
          
E) Two Legged Stand/Sit          
  1. 3/9 o'clock right forward
  2. left forward
  3. End with continuous engaged extravagant stand moving through conservative to inline
          
F) Turns (pick target center(s), begin large radius and progress to small)          
  1. Left
  2. Right
  3. Figure 8
          

Move to trail: repeat A-E with single repeats then proceed below
 		          
G) Solo Watts Test (slow cadence)          
  1. repeat Zero G Three Over Easy (once only R/L)
  2. Stressed Continuous Turnovers at 100,  120, 130, 140, 150, 160 watts
          
H) Standing Engaged Continuous Turnovers (start right, start left)          
  1. conservative
  2. extravagant
  3. conservative
  4. inline
          

Seated Meditation Spin to Goshen with final left/right turnover test before turn-around
 		          
I) Cadence Tests with Wiggles and Rolls          
  1. 2x Cadence test (30 sec each 90, 100, 110, 120 rpm, spin out)
  2. Cadence interval 30 sec 130 rpm (current)
          
J) Pop-watts (partner watches watts, hit on first display is Ace, second excellent, if 3x success go next)          
  1. Pop 200 (200-250 in three bumps success, if 3x success, move to next)
  2. Pop 300 (300-350 in three bumps success, if 3x success, move to next)
  3. Pop 400 (400-450 in three bumps success, if 3x success, move to next)
  4. Pop 500 (500-550 in three bumps success, if 3x success, move to next)

  * Be sure to use a quick three phase wiggle/rest buildup to each Pop.
 

          

 

 

Note: these exercises will be explained in context of how they finally revealed Mary's death grip on her right hood and the impact it had on a number of form breaks—such as almost falling off the trail when standing.

The discussion will trace the progression from my first observation that her left foot was falling off her pedal (soon after she started riding 6 years ago) on through to all the things we have done in the process of fixing it... bike fit due knee pain, orthotics 1, more expensive orthotics 2, maintenance attempts during Florida long intervals (12 min) through standing and resting at intervals, how all that worked together to help us figure out the lack of motion issue after group rides finally caused her left leg to fail on returning to NY, then the association of that leg failure with the sciatic problem which was apparently due to the piriformis (possibly due to Photoshop injury), and on through the insertion of a cotton wad under the ball of her left foot to improve functioning of her current left shoe orthosis, then the final breaking down of the problem into its component parts, addressing each, and reassembling them back to correct functioning through the finalizing of the exercise routine above.

Now that the death grip is gone (or at least understood), we can see that it impacted almost everything from sprints to turns to standing to back pressure on her pedals to her left butt forward posture error which may be causal, causative, or a result of the death grip.  It is likely all three.

None of this would have become so apparent, so quickly, without moving to tracking her performance using an on-bike power meter beginning in February of 2008 and using the reliably repeatable objective data it provides.

Note2: The three times repeat of exercises here is specifically different from the three times repeat used during workouts when "learning" movements which are deemed correct enough to move on to the next exercise if three times perfect shows the movements are sublimated sufficiently to proprioceptic control.

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this page last updated: 12/14/2009 06:35:18 AM
 

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