#43 – Yoga for Cyclists with Hunter Allen

Sponsor: RePowerU -- a free fitness practices assessment (a 10-minute questionnaire) Yoga for Cyclists? YES! Yoga is everywhere, but is it for cyclists? YES! Hunter Allen was one of the first coaches to bring yoga to his clients to help them be more resilient, recover faster, and get stronger on the bike. Using yoga to recover faster and get stronger on a bike.... with Coach Hunter Allen Hello, and welcome back to the Wise Athletes podcast with Joe Lavelle and Dr. Glen Winkel.  On today’s episode, number 43, we are joined by the legendary cycling coach Hunter Allen. Hunter was co-author of the book  “Training and Racing with a Power Meter” (with Dr. Andy Coggan) which has been translated into 8 languages and sold over 120,000 copies.  He also co-wrote “Cutting-Edge Cycling” with Dr. Stephen Cheung, was the co-developer of TrainingPeaks WKO software, and was the founder of Peaks Coaching Group. Episode 40 with Hunter Allen: https://www.wiseathletes.com/podcast/40-power-meter-find-your-superpower-with-hunter-allen/ What Hunter is less well known for is his work in bringing yoga to cyclists with his Yoga for Cyclists video.  When Hunter was a professional cyclist, he was looking for ways to help him recover and become more supple without adding to his exercise regime.  He found yoga, and over the years was able to curate a set of yoga poses that work best to help cyclists recover and, over time, develop supple, resilient muscles. Widely known as one of the top experts in the world in coaching endurance athletes using power meters, Hunter Allen has been instrumental in developing and spreading the power training principles. Hunter is a USA Cycling Level 1 coach, was the 2008 BMX technical coach for the Beijing Olympics and has taught the USA Cycling Power Certification Course since 2005. A former professional cyclist for 17 years on the Navigators Team with over 40 road victories to his credit, Hunter has been coaching endurance athletes since 1995, and his athletes have achieved more than 2000 victories and numerous national, world championship titles and Olympic Medals. Hunter Allen -- Yoga for Cycling Pioneer http://www.peakscoachinggroup.com/ https://shoppeaks.com/product/yoga-for-cyclists/ Hunter was one of the first to bring the benefits of yoga to the cycling world.  He started when he was a professional cyclist….he was looking for ways to recover better. How did you bring yoga into cycling?  When you start to understand the idea of muscles and how bound up we become as cyclists because of the awkward position we  are in for so many hours.  Bent over, arms out in front, never extend legs fully, craned  neck.  Because of the 1000s of hours we are in that position we develop muscles very specific to that. I can always tell who is a cyclist because they have stand with knees slightly bent.  Never straighten legs.  Hamstrings are tight.  Never extend through heels.  Tight hip flexors.  Needed to create suppleness in those muscles to become a better cyclist.  Prevent muscle cramps.  Create more rel