Cycling Fitness / Training Advice

Cheers man!

Does anyone have the BC gold discount code for training peaks for 2023?

Any thoughts on leg imbalance? I've got a left-knee injury (torn meniscus, so not going to heal) and my L-R balance has gone from something like at worst, 48-52 to, at best, 45-55.

Is it just "a thing" or something I should look to remedy and if so, how?

Oh I think I remember that ride

Either train the weak leg or de train the strong leg.
I think you could work it out by doing weights and split squats or something.

Does your mortgage depend on your bike riding?

Nah, which is why I'm not sure whether it's worth making a fuss about it. There's a couple of local physios who handle the small group of pro riders here but for a middle aged IT bloke, that might just be overkill.

In a similar situation I would probably try to do some weights/running/stretching, see how that went. See if it’s still bothering you, go and see a physio. Then if you were me, you’d probably not keep up the exercises because of something or other.

I wouldn't worry about it. The only thing I'd do is work to strengthen and protect both knees with pre-hab re-hab exercises.

I had a torn meniscus on my right due to a different sport which was fixed with keyhole surgery.

I did the left one (though not as severe) and the physio recommendation was lots of cycling for low impact and to polish the joint so that the lifted bit of meniscus would wear away.

That’s actually the reason I started cycling as more than just a mode of transport.

I’d recommend strengthening the knees, all the muscles around them, single leg stuff and instability training.
I would avoid running, as the road impact is awful if your meniscus is not in good condition.

@skinny @Acliff @Chalfie

Thanks all. Seems the ignoring imbalance but working on the knee a bit is the way to go then. I found last year that without riding I get a lot of knee pain in terms of day to day life so riding is the foremost method I use for managing it. I'll add in some stretching and instability work to keep the knee strong.

If, like me, you sit at a desk all day you probably want to fix your hips and your knees.

Personally I'd pay to go see a really good physio to get a good assessment and get some good exercises to take away and do at home a bit.

Before I got surgery on mine, it would feel ok for a while and then sometimes after some sport, it would get really sore and be difficult to bend for a couple of days. Sports like football were the worst for it, pretty much immediate pain due to rotation in the knee joint.
At its worst, occasionally my knee would lock going down stairs, so after an MRI, surgery was recommended.

I found one leg squats, single leg dumbell/kettlebell deadlifts and single leg hops helped with muscle strength around the knee.

I still avoid much football because the combination of running, grippy grass/studs and extension of the leg when kicking makes my knees sore.
Weirdly martial arts kicking doesn't hurt at all, maybe because all the muscles are contracting together and keeping everything in line.

Nearing end of Zwift's "Back to fitness" 12 week programme. Started to feel easier around week 8 so I bumped up the bias to 106% and then to 110% for the most recent 2 weeks. That certainly leaves me sweating buckets onto the floor after 20 minutes of each workout.

Hopefully I'll keep my power level roughly the same as I lose weight, which means free W/kg, and then once I'm near my weight goal I'll up the cycle training (alongside running and swimming) and aim for higher W/kg.

3 weeks to get 'beach fit', I know what I would do, what would you do? Go...

sunbed

Conor Benns omelette recipe 💪

I've got hideous tan lines from 7 Serpents already.

Back, sack and crack

"Clomifene can be used to boost testosterone levels in men and is banned inside and outside competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada)."

Hmm... maybe not

I have those things. What should I be doing with them? Squats probably, yeah?

Dunno. I've never got further than that

My goto would be heroin and not eating for 3 weeks but I'm not sure of the longer term impact...

Going low carb would leave me fucked for the 600k this weekend.

Fasting would have a similar impact.

Starting a lifting regime wouldn't do much in 3 weeks.

So, drugs it is!

Turns out Wada have banned Heroin now too the party poppers

FML talk about 'fun police'