Cycling Performance (Part 2) – PHYSIOWERKZ

It has been a week now since I visited Physiowerkz for the first time and if you had read the story of my experience there, you would know that I did actually improvements in my cycling after being treated by their wonderful physiotherapist, Eva Tiong. This week is the follow up week and I couldn’t wait to see Eva to see what kind of progress I had made after receiving manual therapy the week before. I had also been carrying out those quick exercises that she instructed me to do at home, though perhaps not as diligently as I should have.

Once I got there, Eva asked me to carry out some movements so that she could evaluate how they might have changed. These movements that Eva asked me to perform included some actions where muscles are working together to create a movement, as well as some where certain muscles are isolated. To my surprise I can now touch my toes when I bend over from a standing position. I have never been able to do this before, even when I had carried out many stretches that I thought would help with this movement. 

Previously, there were a lot of movements that I did where the body would make a lot of snapping noises. To my surprise, these sounds were also gone. The flexibility that I gained has really helped me get into a better aero position on the bike, so I can ride comfortably for long periods of time. 

My body is a bit on the podgy side so to be able to sit in an aero position comfortably for long periods is a huge gain for me. I never thought I would be able to do this and all this time I thought it was my ‘Teh Tarik’ belly that was hindering me. Although the belly has something to do with it, Eva said that the issue was mostly the tightness or weakness of the muscles that prevented me from being in an aero position for long periods of time.

​Of course, some of you out there might say I could have achieved this by doing some yoga because yoga definitely has been proven to improve flexibility and increase muscle strength. Many of the movements do involve prolonged stretching and help tone the muscles quite nicely. 

However, the one thing that yoga cannot do is recognise my weak muscle areas and really help to target them or address the issue. The physios at Physiowerkz have been trained to understand your body well, and will help you do exactly that. In addition, they will also develop and provide a concentrated exercise regime and manual therapy that can help focus on improving these problem areas.

To find out more about what Eva or the other physios do when you walk in to Physiowerkz, read about my experience during the first appointment and what went down there.

And for those who are curious about how physiotherapy could improve your cycling performance, you can log on to www.physiowerkz.com for more information.