Training & Nutrition - Yoga for cycling....looking for recomendations

I've recently developed a sore outer right knee after racking up about 4 hours a week on the trainer due to the weather changes here in the Great White north

I noticed the my knee is pretty sore so I initially thought it was a fit issue since I've used this bike very little and only on short rides.

but multiple people have told me it might be the IT band which makes sense since I'm very unflexiable

I've decided to cut back the volume and work my way up and start stretching but also thought yoga would be a good improvement.

I did some searching and yoga for cyclists is 20 dollar's and at yogadownloads.com they have 2 cycling programs for less than 5.00 each

does anyone have any recommendations for either of theses or recommend another option

I recommend you go to a yoga studio with a teacher and a class instead of downloading and doing your own. I do Bikram yoga 5 times a week. I find it a far better workout than going to the gym.

If your set on doing it at home, there are lots of sites to get info from without spending a dollar. Google is your friend.

I recommend you go to a yoga studio with a teacher and a class instead of downloading and doing your own. I do Bikram yoga 5 times a week. I find it a far better workout than going to the gym.

If your set on doing it at home, there are lots of sites to get info from without spending a dollar. Google is your friend.

I do not know of any yoga studio's in my area.

the closest is an hour away

I'm gonna go see my family doc for a referral to pt or a sports medicine doc

...I've decided to cut back the volume and work my way up and start stretching but also thought yoga would be a good improvement.

I did some searching and yoga for cyclists is 20 dollar's and at yogadownloads.com they have 2 cycling programs for less than 5.00 each

does anyone have any recommendations for either of theses or recommend another option

I'm self taught via Richard Hittleman's Yoga 28 Day Plan . In 28 days you learn a series of positions repeated in a three-day cycle; I've kept it up pretty much daily for two years. I even learned how to do a headstand. I think the yoga and cycling are synergistic, though I think the cycling benefits the yoga practice more than vice versa.

See: http://www.amazon.com/Richard-Hittlemans-Yoga-Exercise-Plan/dp/0911104216

including reviews.

I've recently developed a sore outer right knee after racking up about 4 hours a week on the trainer due to the weather changes here in the Great White north
I noticed the my knee is pretty sore so I initially thought it was a fit issue since I've used this bike very little and only on short rides.
but multiple people have told me it might be the IT band which makes sense since I'm very unflexiable
I've decided to cut back the volume and work my way up and start stretching but also thought yoga would be a good improvement.
I did some searching and yoga for cyclists is 20 dollar's and at yogadownloads.com they have 2 cycling programs for less than 5.00 each
does anyone have any recommendations for either of theses or recommend another option

my thoughts - do yoga for the thought that it will benefit everything... meaning, its overall benefits, on many levels beyond just the immediate physical one, can be life-improving. But you don;t have to take it to any specific level. Yoga, if it does anything at all, will help you 'Be, here, now' and if approached with a basic tenet, is to appreciate and accept yourself as you happen to be, at the moment, without regrets or expectations. From that you can move through your practice in a fashion which informs you much more about yourself and that gradual changes bring lasting 'improvements'.
The fact that what might be an 'IT band' issue brought you to it, could be a 'starting' point for more personal awareness of 'you'. Yoga is all about 'you', and in this sense, its a great thing.

IT band - could be a issue, or it could be lots of things...
I would suggest a lot of research and reading and comparing with what you feel.
The 'common' cyclist home method to treat IT band, foam or hard roller run across the IT band and Quads, may often not address the issues and can cause more injury.
The IT band is a large tendon, as as such is not prone to 'stretching' treatments. It is anchored at the Gluteus Medius and Tensore Facae (SP?) and thats where some 'stretching' can be effected. But there's a lot that goes into patellar tracking which you might look into.
here's a couple of links for IT issues and as usual WikiPe is a good start point...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliotibial_Band_Syndrome
and an interesting abstract more specific for some IT band research (would be good to get the whole study...)
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17561930

Yoga - doing
doing with a good instructor is really the best way to start - well thoughtout yoga practices work to 'balancing' the poses within the context of the body structure as well as your mental outlook.
Barring that, a media lead program (disc or Videotape/file) with strong credentials from the teacher will be more important than 'price'.
I don;t really have any recommendations for a published 'practice' program since I'm really lucky to have lots of different yoga (and excellent) yoga teachers in the area. So I do a 'class' once or 2x a week and then have structured a few of my own personal practices (based on what I've experienced and 'learned' over the years) for doing them on my own another 3 or 4x a week.
You can ride/train and do yoga on the same day... if time allows

do follow up on yoga, its a really good thing, especially for cyclists - we all tend to be very 'tight' and become inflexible doing just tiny circles with our legs...
... just sayin

My experience is that IT is a fit issue, or some other similar sort of wrong.

Have you moved your cleats to the inside to get your feet further apart? Try it if you haven't. Are you bowlegged? How about pronation?

My experience is that IT is a fit issue, or some other similar sort of wrong.

Have you moved your cleats to the inside to get your feet further apart? Try it if you haven't. Are you bowlegged? How about pronation?


I have mtb shoes with spd pedals but I''ll try that if possiable

I did not have the bike fitted initially since there was no shop doing fittings....recently one shop has been trained in the FIST system and it's 80.00 for a fit on your existing bike

Look at the bottom of an old pair of sneakers or shoes. If they wear more on one side, that's a problem. I cut thin crescent wedges and tape them to the outside of the innersole on the bottom of the innersole. They are 2 or 3 inches long. If you wear the inside side of sneakers do the opposite.

You really should consider a pro fitting. There's a bunch of possiblities. For example, something as simple as your saddle being low can make enough of a different to kick of IT symptoms in some people. Your leg should be 80-90%
extended.

Another thing you can do is go back to old fashioned pedals, at least for a while. It's rare to have that without being clipped in.

Sounds like your pushing too hard, back off some and give it a break!Unless your a pro! maybe you just need some rest,give this a look, (http://www.fitnessanywhere.com/index.php) works for me, pick the ones you think you need for cycling, or do them all..good luck with your knee and your overall riding!

Sounds like your pushing too hard, back off some and give it a break!Unless your a pro! maybe you just need some rest,give this a look, (http://www.fitnessanywhere.com/index.php) works for me, pick the ones you think you need for cycling, or do them all..good luck with your knee and your overall riding!

I'm far from a pro... never raced but I'd suspect a cat 5 maybe a cat 4 if it was all downhill


I made cleat adjustments you said (late) and everything seems good... no pain in my IT band after the ride (I just finished)

I cut the ride 20 mins short so it was an hour cause my trainer was feeling clunky when pedaling so I suspected the resistance unit was not working correctly only to find out I flatted on the trainer....lol

I'm gonna leave the adjustments for now and try a few more sessions along with my increased stretching which I'll continue regardless

I'm thinking my saddle could come up a bit too.... I did move it up i 1 CM as suggested by the fitter locally via email.

They did say that do not have all the equipment they'd need to find my issue (Motion analysis) and said they use the Slowtwitch tri position setup Fitting system which I'm' not sure would translate well for me or not since I'm not riding Tri's

Go to a yoga studio.

An important part of the 'experience' of doing yoga (or becoming a yogi) is the interaction you have with others. Furthermore, it's really useful to have an instructor guiding you on your flaws and where you can improve.

With that said, I highly recommend taking up yoga as a complimentary exercise to cycling. In fact, I think they go hand-in-hand with each other, since attention and control of the breath is crucial to 'performing well' between both activities. Plus, it seriously does improve your flexibility, which in turn will help you achieve better form on the bike.

Good luck!

since attention and control of the breath is crucial to 'performing well' between both activities.

Back this statement up.

Go to a yoga studio.

An important part of the 'experience' of doing yoga (or becoming a yogi) is the interaction you have with others. Furthermore, it's really useful to have an instructor guiding you on your flaws and where you can improve.

With that said, I highly recommend taking up yoga as a complimentary exercise to cycling. In fact, I think they go hand-in-hand with each other, since attention and control of the breath is crucial to 'performing well' between both activities. Plus, it seriously does improve your flexibility, which in turn will help you achieve better form on the bike.

Good luck!


Back this statement up.

Ermmm...it's customary in a debate to identify WHY you disagree with a statement that you disagree with rather than just asking ordering him to supply references.

That said, point me to any activity that ISN'T improved through control of the breath. Increased oxygen supply to the muscles through correct, controlled breathing comes to mind. Yoga teaches diaphragmatic breathing, if I understand it correctly (not a yoga student here), a good practice in any aerobic activity.

Ermmm...it's customary in a debate to identify WHY you disagree with a statement that you disagree with rather than just asking ordering him to supply references.

That said, point me to any activity that ISN'T improved through control of the breath. Increased oxygen supply to the muscles through correct, controlled breathing comes to mind. Yoga teaches diaphragmatic breathing, if I understand it correctly (not a yoga student here), a good practice in any aerobic activity.

+1 on all fronts.

We belly-breathe unconsciously the whole time we're riding, unless we're blowing up in a state of elevated aerobic or anaerobic function.

btw - for IT band tightness, and general leg self massage, a foam roller is the best thing in the world. I picked up a 3' x 6"dia foam roller at the sporting goods store, and have no idea how i ran for the past two years without one. It has worked great for cycling, by keeping my leg muscles well massaged after a ride without me having to beg the wife to do it for me.

Back this statement up.

Controlling the breath properly is critical to everything.

Ermmm...it's customary in a debate to identify WHY you disagree with a statement that you disagree with rather than just asking ordering him to supply references.

That said, point me to any activity that ISN'T improved through control of the breath. Increased oxygen supply to the muscles through correct, controlled breathing comes to mind. Yoga teaches diaphragmatic breathing, if I understand it correctly (not a yoga student here), a good practice in any aerobic activity.

Which is why I suggested it highly.

That said, point me to any activity that ISN'T improved through control of the breath. Increased oxygen supply to the muscles through correct, controlled breathing comes to mind.

High intensity exercise.



unless we're blowing up in a state of elevated aerobic or anaerobic function.

Exactly. The body spontaneously adjusts breathing depth and frequency to optimize gas exchange. At low exercise intensities (like yoga) you have more room to play with breathing techniques, but as the intensity increases your body will take over.

Another thing that people fail to realize is that altered breathing can reduce the amount of oxygen absorbed via loss of CO2. The loss of CO2 alters the ability of the blood to carry oxygen. This is why people who are hyperventilating are told to breath into a paper bag. The CO2 recirculation increases oxygen absorption.

Short of asthma or COPD ventilation is not performance limiting.

Any notion that you know better than your body is laughable; and yoga is closer to religion than science. Namasté

Yoga might be metaphysical, but it has definitely worked for me and has improved my cycling ability as well, along with just about everything else in my life. Possibly a placebo affect, but I'm highly doubting it.

Yoga might be metaphysical, but it has definitely worked for me and has improved my cycling ability as well, along with just about everything else in my life. Possibly a placebo affect, but I'm highly doubting it.

I'm sure there are lots of benefits from yoga: relaxation, strength, flexibility, etc. My only point is that breathing techniques are generally not performance enhancing. There are a few exceptions -e.g. cadence based breathing in swimming and rowing- but as a general rule no.