Submitted by V-Club Member Bill Kaufman, Oakland, CA
Two years ago I peered through the window of the exercise studio at my local YMCA and saw a group of fit women being led through a series of exercises by an energetic athletic trainer. I joined the class that day as its only male member. Over the past two years in body sculpture classes I have used weights, bands, steps, bosus and experienced some of the most difficult and rewarding exercises I have ever done. From multiple types of lunges, planks, pushups, duck walks, wall slides to presses, curls, squats, the list goes on and on. Not to mention crunches, yoga stances, pilates movements. All this has made me a much better cyclist able to take on seven day bike tours with much less road time prep as in the past. And yes more men have joined the class including some cyclists who came over from the spinning class. If you want to improve your core, glute, arm, and back strength, find some good body sculpture classes. The results will surprise you.
I am a 64-year-old cyclist who has done tours of Yellowstone, Glacier, Bryce and Zion, Hawaii. This summer I will be doing a tour of Prince Edward Island and I am on the waiting list for the Oregon and Washington Bicycle Rides.
V-Club Training Corner
We’ve teamed up with Marilyn Trout, certified USA Cycling Elite Coach to answer V-Club members’ training questions. You can view her coach profile at: http://www.trainingpeaks.com/coachdirectory/searchbydiscipline.asp#MarilynTrout
Send your cycling inquiries to Marilyn, and for a limited time, if yours is selected to be answered in our V-Club column, VeloWear will send you a $20 gift certificate that can be used towards any purchase on VeloWear.com. To submit your inquiry, e-mail her at trout_mic@msn.com, and type “V-Club Training Question” in the subject line of the e-mail.