A little more on Fit and Posture

Time for another bike fit post, this time inspired by something I saw at Interbike this year.
For those of you who have been following me for awhile, you know that a huge part of my philosophy towards bike fit revolves around rider posture and biomechanics. For those of you are new here, check out this post in particular as it relates directly to what I'm talking about today...
http://imfit-youniquecycles.blogspot.com/2009/09/rider-posture-as-it-relates-to-bike-fit.html


I spend a lot of time working with my fit clients on how to achieve the posture that I talk about in the above blog. However, every now and then I come across a cyclist who lacks either the body awareness or natural range of motion to properly adopt the correct pelvic rotation to flatten out the back.

Enter the video below.



I'll admit, when I first saw this I quickly passed it off as another gimmick to artificially improve power output and speed and didn't see much of a practical use on the road. And I certainly didn't see this ever gaining UCI or ITU/WTC approval for competitive use.

While I was walking around though my brain started to properly wrap itself around what this mechanical aid could really do. It's all about muscle memory. This little gadget is perfect for those who can't quite get the proper pelvic tilt on their own. Strapping in to this contraption forces the pelvis and lower back into the optimal position and requires very little effort on the part of the rider to maintain it. From a bike fit perspective, this could become an invaluable tool for me to help explain and demonstrate the benefits of proper pelvic tilt. For at home use, those who need posture improvement can use this on the trainer a few days a week to help create the muscle memory and positional inputs that they can then carry out to the road. I'm sure that after spending enough time locked into the correct position and pelvic tilt, the cyclist will easily be able to feel the "wrong" position out on the road and make corrections based on physical cues and power feedback.

I'm definitely bringing one of these into the studio in the near future to assist with my bike fit protocols and I'm also considering retailing them on a small scale basis for those who need a little help to get their posture dialed in. Once I have one in house I'll be offering up demo's for any who are interested.