What is it you ask? It is a multi-activity event where you can choose to walk/run, bike, or swim...or do all three, followed by a party with food and prizes! There is a registration fee of $30 and all of the proceeds go the Help Inc. (more details to come.)
A little bit about Help Inc: The Snake River Children's Advocacy Center, is founded and housed by Help Inc., and is a safe haven for victims of abuse and their non-offending caregivers. We have toured this facility as a HFA team and have found the area of greatest need to be their prevention services. With that, we have decided to start a 3 month journey of service, donation, and activities to help the children and families of our community.
Each month (September, October, November) has a specific "Help Inc. Focus" as well as a "Health & Fitness Academy Focus." This blog post is going to address our first month of fun!
SEPTEMBER: Throughout this month we will be collecting donations of new or gently used stuffed animals to be given to Help Inc. and used as gifts for each of the children. Along with this, the fitness focus for the month to help prepare for the big multi-activity event is BIKING!
That all being said...it's time to get you started on a bike to gear up for the event!
I understand that not all of you are big cyclists, heck, I'm not one myself! However, my personal goal for this month is to get back on a bike! Will you join me??
Here are some things you need to know about how to train the right muscles to get stronger and more stable on a bike.
Muscles used while biking: quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves, hip flexors, hip extensors, tibialis anterior, and your core muscles! In other words, you use several muscles in your legs and several in your core all to help you stay strong, balanced, and stable.
Here is an example of how these muscles are used in two phases of a pedal stroke that are called the "power phase" and the "recovery phase."
This nice circle chart here shows us what muscles are used during the full rotation of a pedal stroke or during the two phases.
Power Phase: from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock
Recovery Phase: from 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock
The colors of the muscles coordinate with the colors on the chart, indicating which muscle is activated at what time.
So, how do we exercise these muscle to increase STRENGTH and POWER??
Answer: low reps of high weight! You want to strength train, which is 5 sets of 5-8 reps. Since you are only pumping out 5-8 reps each set, you need to select a very challenging weight that allows you to ONLY get 5,or 6, or 7, or 8 reps. If your muscle is not exhausted by let's say 6 reps, then you need to select a higher weight.
Why would you do this? I thought you were supposed to do 15-100 reps??
Answer: we aren't looking for muscle tone, sculpting, etc. Biking is about get BETTER, FASTER, STRONGER. So, yes you need to increase your endurance, but you need to put in the right kind of work to get the results you want. We are looking to increase the strength in your actual muscle fibers so you can pedal faster, stronger, and harder.
Examples of exercises to strength train:
1.) Squats
2.) calf raises
3.) leg press
4.) glute kick backs
5.) hamstring curls
6.) Lunges
7.) ab and back exercises like back extension and crunches.
* The key is to add enough weight to each exercise for the proper amount of reps. Don't be afraid! Choose a weight that you KNOW you can do and feel comfortable with, then increase from there.
*** Please join us in giving back to our community through service, donation, and fun! You can drop off stuffed animals here at the Health & Fitness Academy. Give us a call with any questions you may have! 208-557-2823
Until next time! :)
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