To be a proficient biker, you need to have the right amount of practice. This involves fine-tuning your biking skills, and even your speed and fitness level. You’ve also got to ensure that your hands and fingers are well capable of withstanding long-distance driving and gripping. Fortunately, you can learn these things at home. You only need to have the right stationary bike.
That said, here are some tips and tricks you can apply to improve your biking skills at home:
1. Choose a time that works best for you
Every person is different. Some can exercise better in the morning, while others are more like night owls. Whatever your preference is, choose to bike at home during the time of day that’s most comfortable. You need the help of a stationary bike to do this. To start with, choose from some of the best exercise bikes that will be suitable for your setup.
Just remember, however, that if you choose to exercise at night, you should do it at least three hours before you go to bed. Anything less than this timeframe may disrupt your sleep.
Here are some ways to make stationary biking more fun while at home:
- Let your bike face a TV screen, where videos of expert bikers are playing. That way, you’re also learning from their examples as you bike.
- Download 5D or Virtual Reality bike training videos that you can do even while you’re just at home.
- Have music play to keep your energy pumped up.
2. Do balance exercises
Balance is critical in biking. Especially if you’re going to do trails, you never know what you’re going to encounter on the road. Of all the skills that you can and should master, balance is one of the most important as this helps ensure that you’ll have a smooth and enjoyable ride.
Examples of balance exercises that you can do at home includes:
- Standing with your weight on one leg for extended periods
- Doing yoga
- Closing your eyes during an exercise
- Putting your heel right in front of your toe while walking on a narrow straight line
In essence, the point of balance exercises is for you to strengthen your muscles and your core. When you’ve got good strength along this line, you’ll also be able to improve your stability, thus preventing accidents.
As a great addition to these exercises, you can also supplement your routine with protein powders for protein meals or shakes. This helps you gain all the nutrients you need in order to withstand high-intensity balance, strength training, and cycling.
3. Don’t forget the stairs
Another aspect of biking that you also have to enhance involves your stamina. This is something that you’ll develop with better strength over time, and there are numerous exercises that you can do at home.
For biking, one of the best stamina exercises that you can do at home is to run up and down the stairs repeatedly. Doing this allows your body to get used to the elevation of the climb you have to do. Trail riding training isn’t just about going downhill, and your balance exercises already cover this. When it comes to going uphill, it’s your stamina that needs to be well-developed.
4. Pedal stroke
Pedalling is what gets you far in biking—literally. If you can’t pedal well, you’ll be overworking your legs. This means you’ll likely feel tired early on in your training. While pedalling is a fundamental element of biking, it’s often also one of the most neglected. You may not be aware of it, but you may have been pedalling the wrong way and developed a bad habit.
Here are some of the exercises that you can do at home to help improve your pedal stroke:
- Strengthening your glutes through lunges and squats
- Giving your legs the best base to push against through core exercises
- Practice single-pedalling on your stationary bike, one minute per leg at a time
One of the best pieces of equipment you can use to track the power you exert when you pedal is a power meter. A pedal power meter will tell you how much force you are generating when you cycle. This device is very helpful in telling you if you need to do more power training or if you are already doing well!
5. Stay on the seat for a longer period
One of the most significant discomforts of biking involves your seat. When you’re at home, have a setup in place where you can cycle on the bike on a stationary position. Then, sit on the bike for at least fifteen minutes. You can do this while reading a book, or even while watching TV.
The point of this exercise is for your butt to get used to the bike’s seat. This is very important, especially if you’ve got a new bike, and if you’re going on long trails. As simple as this exercise may be, it’s one of the best ways you can get used to sitting on your bike’s seat. This eases out any discomfort that you may feel while riding through your trail.
Conclusion
Skills refer to your ability to do something well and achieve the desired results. Practice does make perfect, and you can’t go wrong with practising and learning as much as you can even while you’re at home. You might fail at times, but the important thing is to learn from your mistakes and persevere. While it can be a challenge to learn and enhance your biking skills, the right attitude and training can help you achieve success and this begins at home.
Featured image: Shutterstock
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