Cycling is a great sport to participate in whether your goal is to lose weight, build stamina, or seek adventure. Whether you’re new to cycling or have been doing it for decades, something you’ll become familiar with pretty quickly is a flat tire. This is common on both road and mountain bikes.
You will often see used inner tubes on the side of the road as they usually mark the spot where someone flattered and traded in your old inner tube. This is unfortunate for many reasons. As cyclists we all hate to see this type of behavior as it confuses our minds as we pedal thinking how lazy someone can be. After all, being lazy in the sport of cycling doesn’t pay off. Among all the reasons not to throw your used inner tube on the side of the road, I hope to present one more reason to stick that old inner tube in the back pocket of your jersey and keep it because it will become more valuable as you read this article. .
Cycling helps build many muscles in the lower body. However, there are many muscles that get neglected due to the repetitive motion of cycling, as well as the fact that, for the most part, your body weight is supported by the seat. This doesn’t do much in terms of building functional strength or fitness. Sure, your cardiovascular system is great and your quads and calves are in perfect condition and look great, but what about those muscles that are used to support your body when you move laterally? Even if you’re a triathlete, you’ll do little to no lateral movement while training. This poses a significant problem in terms of maintaining the supporting muscles in the back, stomach, and buttocks.
Now let’s go back to the old inner tube. When you get home from your ride, take the inner tube and a pair of scissors cut off the valve stem. Then simply wrap the inner tube around itself to create two loops. Step inside the loops with 2 feet and position the inner tube so that it is slightly above the knee and almost to the middle of the thigh. From here you will perform what is called a lateral side step. Anchor one foot and side step to the side with the other. As you step to the side, you will feel the resistance of your inner tube. At the end of the step, plant the foot you just stepped on and lift the previously planted foot. Continue in one direction until you complete 10-15 steps depending on your type of inner tube. Mountain bike inner tubes are going to provide much more resistance. If you have light race inner tubes, these are good to start to get a feel for movement and resistance level. As you progress you can try regular 700c tubes and ultimately mountain bike tubes. I like to put the lighter tubes around my ankles and the heavier mountain bike tubes around my thighs when doing the side step.
Complete this exercise as part of your warmup to activate your lower body muscles immediately after stretching and stretching. This not only provides a great warm up, but will gradually strengthen the muscles used to stabilize the core while riding. I also found that this exercise really works the glutes and knee stabilizers. It is important to include this in your warm up routine and over time you will start to notice that your whole body feels more stable while on and off the bike.