What do you do for recovery that you feel like works for you? I’m stealing a bit from Brendan Housler at EVOQ who asks this on his pods.
Mine is putting my legs up before bed. I’ll just prop myself up on the wall for 5-10 minutes. I swear when I do this consistently, I just feel better. My broscience here is that I’m moving around some blood and lymph that has pooled in my feet and lower legs during the day. Seems like I sleep better too. That’s probably just because I’m giving myself a little more wind-down.
The other is just going for a short walk, around the block also like 5-10 minutes. I like to do it barefoot, so that I can get some “grounding” which is total and complete broscience there. But I get a little more stress than using cushioned shoes, so I figure that’s good too.
Let’s hear what you are doing! Particularly if it’s free and easy to implement.
After dinner about 10-15 minutes of Geoff Neupert’s P3 diaphragmatic breathing and movement from his two programs Sore Joint Solution and Systematic Training for Kettlebells (chasingstrength dot com).
20 minutes in the massage chair.
5 minutes guided breathing exercise after getting into bed.
FWIW I’ve been doing StrongFirst strength training in bare feet, they contend there are health benefits to doing that and I’ve seen some research on PubMed to back that up. Its not “grounding” in the electrical sense of the term, its actually something else.
For me, a relaxed walk with the dog in the small forest just behind our home always does wonders. Both mentally and physically, 20-30 min at ‘feels good’ pace. Then when getting back home, 10-15 min easy reading to fully wind-down and as soon as I hit the matrass, I sleep like a baby.
If I don’t get out for a walk in the evening after a hard ride, there’s a 50% chance that I’ll wake up in the middle of the night with a painful cramp. If I do get that walk, risk of cramp is reduced to less then 10%.
Hot bath (~40-45 deg. C) 1x per week, normally after the longer endurance rides, in my mind helps to reset the muscles and builds a little bit of heat adaption.
Pretty high temp considering the overall accepted Pain Threshold for humans is around 43°C…
But yes, a hot bath, or shower, does wonders to relax and turns the fatigue feeling into a cosy ‘cocoon’ experience.
I’ve been digging Menachem Brodie’s philosophy on core training, but I don’t work it into my schedule as recovery. I like the idea of putting some of the movement and balance work that’s part of this into active recovery after riding.
It relaxes me to analyze the current training ride down to the smallest detail, to find out if anything fundamental has changed in my form or fitness. I also read everything in the forum to improve my charts. In the end, I’m very relaxed, but not better.
I’ve been in JoinBaseCamp Winter group coaching for 2 years and Menachem is the strength coach. I’ve got his book but not clear on his philosophy. His programming is good but I’m more of a minimalist and prefer to keep things simple.
Here is how I see things. Strength is the master quality. Stability supports all movement and strength work. Your foundation is stability and breathing, then layer on strength, then layer on endurance (cycling). Geoff Neupert is the co-founder of Original Strength, an organization dedicated to restoring movement patterns. They have a certification program, as does Functional Movement Systems and a couple other companies. Geoff has some incredible programming for restoring movement patterns that I mentioned above, along with kettlebell programming and nutrition programs.
Simple systems without a lot of moving parts, easier to do, easier to focus on perfect technique and movement patterns, and therefore easier to identify issues if and when they come up. Just like StrongFirst, simple kettlebell practices involving a few key strength exercises that are easy to do, focused on technique, offer a path for continuous improvement, and programming explained in simple terms so its hard to screw up.
Time efficient and very high return on my movement and strength investment.
Brodie’s philosophy is definitely in the same shape: he focuses on lifting heavier, but the programming is simple, a few moves, core stability, but less specific focus on breath work. I’m doing less than 90 minutes total a week on lifting and core. I’m definitely feeling my ability to utilize my glutes is improved.
I’m on board with what you are talking about. Strength is the priority, core is right behind it to effectively utilize it, and you need to be consistent and find something you can maintain year-round.
As for breathing - well, what I’ve discovered is that I have this weird habit of briefly holding my breath sometimes at points when I go hard. It’s only like 2 seconds, but yeah, way to go numb-nuts. I’ve been focusing on forceful exhalations on the bike during intervals. Some podcast on breathing where getting rid of CO2 is key, as it’s the CO2 buildup that causes the out of breath feeling. So now I manage to look pro when going hard because I’m spitting saliva all over the place.
Interesting to see your 43 C number, because I did some experiments and found I liked 42 C, although our bath isn’t heated, so it cools down the longer you sit there, so it might be different if it were a hot tub that never cools down…
I’ve started strength [ mostly glutes = squats, Bulgarian single legs, etc ] & core training this yr. I know. Yes, not doing it caused problems; IT band, lower back, etc. Thanks.
I’ve seen a physio & sports med doc. Mostly / all homework is single - movement, like mentioned above.
If someone wanted a free or at least lower - cost guide to getting into “full range” / “dynamic” motion strength & core program with kettlebells, etc, at lowest possible time / wk, does such a book or website exist ?
JoinBaseCamp is way out of my budget. StrongFirst seems to have about forty-seven different books, with no indication where to start / what would be the one book to get.
What ? Surely a full program can fit into a single book, no ?
Is it as simple as buying one of their guides, or ‘Strength Training for Cycling Performance’ by Brodie ?
My recovery bro science [ the thread title ! ] is my patented Threshold cooldown.
My bro science is that shutting it all down super fast causes your HR to crash, and circulation to your muscles to crash. This causes local extreme heat buildup in the muscles, as well as a crash in byproduct flushing. My bro fact is that 80 - 99% of your muscle soreness and non-productive damage comes from this, and not your ride.
First downstep after Thresh is only about 5%, and hold 4 - 5 mins. Watching HR descend, slowly. Keeping it high, while you decrease heat & BP production flushes the muscles faster.
Each downstep thereafter is 5 - 10%, holding 3 - 4 mins, watching HR and feeling my body literally cooling of in my insane-O “eye of a hurricane” fan.
I’m 90 - 100% sure that doing this is the only reason I’m able to do these 2 - 3 x / wk, for now 5 wks in a row. I used to be sore for days after a true Thresh of > 15 - 20 mins.
As mentioned above; this method is patented. Nobody can use it or I’ll sue you.
I also bro - think that hemp protein, a complete protein, is the best, because it’s less environmentally costly than any animal based protein. [ And I eat a ton of meat. ]
Rest days. Nothing is better than rest days.
My context is 49 Years of Age Mountainbiker.
When having 2ish days off per week. Then I can do 2 days with HIIT and one days with strength training, and two days with commute rides in high zone 1 low zone 2.
But I do need those the recovery days.
The youth mountain bikers do I coach (Youth Elite and Juniors), do really appreciate the days off for handling education, life, mental health and training on other days.
For every one the benefit is in being consistent long term.
Great post #10 from Anna C, she also rides bikes and did a 5 day cycling fundraiser last year:
I’ve posted in that thread, here is a summary of my last 17 months:
In 2023 I bought and read the Simple & Sinister book
Found a bunch of YouTube videos to help me visualize technique, I can create a playlist if you want it
Due to shoulder issues, started with 2 arm swings, did that for all of 2024 and progressed from 16kg (35lb) to 32kg (70lb)
8 months ago (August) got a functional movement screen and came up with a game plan to work on T-spine issues preventing me from pressing and doing getups.
2025 I switched to one arm swings and restarted at 16kg (now at 20kg and 24kg), and also getups that started unweighted and today doing 16kg half getups and 6kg full getups (still rehabbing one shoulder)
Half getups with 16kg kettlebell lit up my core like nothing else I’ve every done, including my attempts at gym group classes (Yoga, Pilates, Barre Fusion).
For someone already strong with barbells, the untimed simple standard in Simple & Sinister (32kg swings and getups) can be accomplished in months. Then you continue with achieving Sinister, or alternate every 3 months between Quick & Dead and Kettlebell AXE. Or go buy a Geoff Neupert program. Or Brett Jones Iron Cardio. Or Kenneth Boylard Ballistic Strong. Or Dan John Easy Strength. Or …
For someone with basic barbell and dumbbell skills & strength but “high mileage” issues, like myself, I’m at 16 months and still working with Simple & Sinister. StrongFirst programs are minimalist, time efficient, have been consistently delivering results, and don’t interfere with my cycling.
Anyways, a couple of screenshots from Simple&Sinister:
10 minute warmup with some Geoff Neupert breath work and S&S halo, bridge, and goblet squat
10 minutes of one arm swings, and every 3rd practice I’ll do two arm swings instead
10-15 minutes of getups, I’m “getup challenged” so I’m doing a heavy day (half getups) and medium day (full getups) and light day (shoe to work on technique in WindWarrior challenged areas)
10 minutes cooldown QL straddle, 90/90, and Geoff Neupert stability work (x30 neck nods/rotations, x30 dead bugs, x30 quadruped rocking or bird dogs)
Over time I’ll make changes to the Geoff Neupert stability work, his progressive Systematic Training for Kettlebell program starts with stability and then strength and eventually power.
I was traveling over the weekend and reread Menachem Brodie’s Lift Heavy Sht* book. There is a lot of good info in the book, but I’ve found Simple&Sinister to run counter to his argument that a more complex progressive year round plan is required. Some people get bored easily, and prefer constantly changing and evolving programs. But I’ve found a small space in the garage, a few high ROI exercises, ongoing commitment to perfecting technique, and proper programming can deliver year round strength and endurance gains without interfering with structured cycling programs.
Total cost for my recommendations:
$10 (Kindle) or $25 (paperback) for Simple & Sinister on Amazon USA
$69 for Systematic Core Training for Kettlebells on ChasingStrength (87 page PDF also includes links to video instruction)
your reading time
your time to watch videos and search for kettlebell technique/corrective videos some of your time on YouTube
the thread title ! ] is my patented Threshold cooldown.
