Sport Insights
5 Core Exercises That Improve Cycling Performance
Enhance your cycling performance with better bike control and stability, with these 5 core exercises.
6 Ways to Improve Your Squatting Technique
Love it or hate it, the squat is one of the most effective exercises to...
How to Increase Power Output in Your Legs for Longer Bike Rides
A step by step guide on what you can do to increase your cycling distances...
How to Increase Your Running Distance From 5k to 10k
A detailed guide of what you need to know when making the jump from a...
Top 3 Ways to Prevent Injuries While Running During Winter
Make sure you approach winter training with caution and make it through the season injury...
The Definitive Guide To Increase Speed And Distance For Runners During Winter
Winter is a great time to establish a solid foundation for increasing running speed and...
How to Train for Longer Slope Time While Skiing This Winter
With winter approaching, it’s time to get fit and enjoy longer slope time while skiing....
3 Ways to Improve Your Performance for Endurance Sports
With the barrage of obstacle course events; half, full and ultra-marathons and growth in cycling and triathlons in the UK and around the globe; it is no surprise that people want to improve their endurance and mental fortitude. Events can vary from “short” sprint distances through to herculean courses that will test the toughest of athletes. When training for these events, a lot of people will focus solely on cardio routines like cycling or running. This shouldn’t be the case though, building in some power based routines will help build your lactate threshold, tolerance and mental fortitude as well. These 3 attributes are the keys to improving your endurance alongside your normal cardio routine: 1: Combine Strength Training Days with Cardio The more muscle tissue you get working, the more it will test your cardiovascular system and your heart. Rather than developing cardio-only workout routines make sure you integrate training days incorporating power based exercise as well. Most people will have one day for power based training, and another for endurance based cardio. Why not combine the two? You can start a routine with a bench press exercise, quickly linking with pull-ups and straight into a 1km run as hard as you can. Alternatively, you could try using a skipping rope for 60 seconds, followed immediately by leg squats, into an overhead press and finally sit-ups. Keep repeating the routine until the point of failure. Intense exercise takes a lot of energy and is a good test of your strength, endurance and mental fortitude. The more intense exercise you build into your routines, the quicker you’ll see improvements in your performance. 2: Try Fast-Paced, High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) Interval training can be done in the gym or outside. The harder you train and the more muscle groups you activate, the more it will raise your heart rate and work the cardiac muscle tissue, which will help your endurance. A great general interval training session is a fartlek training. Fartlek is Swedish for “speed play” and as the name suggests; you intermix a long run with preset periods of flat out sprinting and then a slower paced recovery zones. For a gentler fartlek route, you can use pre-set distances to define where you sprint and where you rest. To make things harder, you can work with times (i.e sprint for 30 seconds every 1 km) as this will ensure that you are always working harder each session. Similar sessions can also be done on a bike or in a pool. To target specific muscle groups, you are better off basing your interval training in a gym. Combine routines to make a hybrid workout, intermixing different exercises to meet your goals. For example, combining an overhead press (“thruster”), bouncing pull-ups, and bicep curls are excellent hybrids. HIIT training is also excellent at boosting your metabolism where as a cardio-endurance only routine can actually reduce it as your body will try to conserve energy. *statement about why a boosted metabolism is good for endurance* To achieve this, you will still need to make sure that you are consuming enough energy and meeting your nutritional needs. We suggest reading our "article how to improve your running with HIIT", this can be used in any sport. 3: Cut Down the Break Between Sets When training with predefined rest periods, in the gym between sets for example, you will often see rest periods prescribed of 30 – 60 seconds, longer if doing a longer set of exercise like a 1km row. As you get stronger and your endurance improves you can look to reduce these rest times instead of just increasing the weights. At the end of a session you should be exhausted, you should be sweating and out of breath. If you aren’t then you need to look at your routine. Reducing your rest periods is one thing that can be done to make the workout harder again to push your body further. Add these three elements to your training routine and you will find your performance improving with the work that you put in. Subscribe Today!
Eating Right to Increase Your Cycling Distance
When you are looking to increase your cycling distance it is important to make sure...
Improve Your Running Goals with HIIT
Want to improve your running goals, well, have you considered how HIIT training can help...
Machine Café Review: Where Cycling and Coffee Blended Together
Charming and Quirky: KYMIRA Sport’s Grace reviews the Machine cycling workshop and Café in London
5 of the World’s Toughest Races: Are You Up to It
You may have run a half marathon, a full marathon and maybe even an ultra-marathon....
Cycling and Coffee blended together: Soho Bikes Café Review
"A cool, edgy and boyish feel", Tim and I tried out the coffee and cake...
Cycle Touring: Possibly the Most Epic Way to See the World
Taking the world by bike; Eerika shares her extraordinary story, cycling across 25 countries from...
5 Bike Friendly Cities to Visit Around the World
Discover cites that welcome cyclist with open arms and offer a great opportunity to see...
Cycling from Beijing to London: How Charlotte Roach got back on her bike after life changing injuries
Be inspired by an incredible journey from Beijing to London to raise money for the Derbyshire, Leicestershire...
5 Mesmerising Cycling Routes Across the World
For those who want to adventure further, 5 cycle routes every cyclist should put on their...
5 Beautiful UK cycling routes over 100 miles!
Are you looking to go further on your bike rides? Do you want to see more of the UK countryside? Well, we have 5 incredible cycling routes for anyone who is addicted to cycling and just wants to push themselves a bit harder, while also having the pleasure of seeing beautiful, historic landmarks and stunning scenery! 1: Yorkshire Wolds Cycle Route The Yorkshire Wolds cycle route is a beautiful 146 miles that takes you pass some wonderful towns, peaceful villages and fantastic coast lines. A great stop off point to absorb some culture and history is the small medieval town of Beverly. It’s Wednesday and Saturday markets date back to the 12th century. The Beverly Minister parish church is viewed as one of the best example of English gothic architecture and the town has several art galleries and museums. The Beverly Art gallery is in the heart of the town and is a purpose built Edwardian Art Gallery. The award-winning town of Malton, has been named the food capital of Yorkshire. With several restaurants and cafes, a monthly food market, and a yearly food festival, it is an idyllic destination to spend the night and have a delicious, well-earned meal. The Bempton White Cliffs, are home to many different seabirds including Puffins, Razorbirds and Guillemots, which can be enjoyed at the RSPB'sSeabird Centre. The cliffs also provide spectacular views that make this cycling route even more beautiful. 2: The Way of the Roses A coast to coast route that covers 170 miles of the Lune Valley, Yorkshire Dales, Nidderdale, and the Yorkshire Wolds. Though it is a challenging trail, it is very rewarding as it has some fantastic tourist attractions and beautiful scenery. Lancaster Castle offers both private and open guided tours. It has a long history that goes back to the roman times and includes the Lancaster Witch Trials and over 200 executions, making it a fascinating part of the route. The Great Stone of Fourstones is a boulder, that was deposited at the end of the ice age. It sits on the moorland of Tatham Fells. There is a local myth that the devil dropped it while traveling to create Devil's Bridge nearby Kirkby Lonsdale. Carved steps into the boulder, allow you to climb to the top, where the view reaches as far as Inglebourgh. More destinations you could visit include, the Flamborough Head Lighthouse, the Richard the III museum or the Bondville Model Village. 3: The Cornish way The Cornish Way is 180 miles, it starts at the very bottom of the beautiful county of Cornwall in Land’s End and finishes at the top in Bude. This cycle route has two options once you reach Truro. The first is the scenic coastal route that passes through Mevagissey and St Austell. Mevagissy is a fishing village with a twin harbour, the nearby and enigmatic Lost Gardens of Heligan makes a great resting point along your route. The Eden Project, just outside St Austell, is an ecological project, that has two biomes that act as a greenhouse for the world’s largest indoor rainforest, and a Mediterranean garden. The second route goes inland across Cornwall to its Northern side. It goes to Newquay which is one of Britain’s most popular towns for surfing, then to St Columb Major, and Padstow, Padstow is a fishing village with a picturesque harbour that is home to Rick Steins very popular seafood restaurant. 4: Coast & Castles South This trail from Newcastle to Edinburgh is 200 miles, and lives up to its name. It passes by the coast to the North Sea and many historic castles. Take a pause to see the medieval ruins of Warkworth Castle. Built in the 12th century, it was home to the Percy family, who were one of the most powerful families in Medieval England. Lindisfarne Castle is world famous and accessible by a cause way when the tide is low. The Castle sits on Holy Island, and is a very striking and breath-taking sight. When entering Edinburgh, you reach Holyrood Park which has the highest point in Edinburgh called Arthurs Seat. The old volcano provides spectacular views of the city and at the top it has one of the parks four ancient forts. Near Holyrood Park there is also the Royal Mile, this is the most visited street in Edinburgh and has many shops, museum’s, historic attractions and restaurants. This street is a part of the historical area of Scotland’s capital city, it is a wonderful place to end the ride. 5: Lon Las Cymru Trail, This is a very challenging route, with great mountains and a nice, long distance to cycle. The trail goes from North wales to South wales and the full 250 miles may take a few days to complete. However, the views, scenery and natural attractions are stunning making it a very satisfying cycle. Within Snowdonia national park, the route goes through the wonderful Coed-y-Brenin Forest, which has a café that offers tea, coffee, cake and some respite for cyclists. You will also cycle past Talybont Reservoir, which leads to the Blaen-y-Glyn waterfalls, which is a cluster of several waterfalls which are very atmospheric and picturesque. There are also plenty of fascinating historical and significant sights along this cycle route including Cardiff castle, St Cybi's Well and Bryn Celli Ddu Burial Chamber. This is a stunning and very rewarding route to cycle. Think we have missed your favourite route? Let us know in the comments below! Written by Grace Perryman If you are, after reading this blog, intrigued to cycle all the routes you should start making plans for the right preparation. A start might be to invest into appropriate clothing. KYMIRA® Infrared Sportswear will allow your body to accelerate its recovery processes by delivering more oxygen and nutrient rich blood to your muscle cells which also affects your performance levels. No matter if you're interested in performance-specific cycling kit or simply recovery-specific sportswear, KYMIRA® Sport's product ranges will support you in cycling the UK!
Hitting the Wall: It’s Really No Fun
During my first marathon I hit the wall after about 22 miles... it was not fun!...
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Any reference to pain relief, in any update does not apply to the U.S. market