Function Jigsaw held an education day for cyclists to help improve the marginal gains that could improve their performance in a race.
The event took place at the headquarters of leading bike manufacturer Giant UK in Leicestershire.
The main focus of the day was to educate cyclists into how and why day-to-day issues can affect their ability to get better and post faster times.
MD Julie Hayton gave a seminar at Giant’s wonderful facility near Cossington, to examine the many ways in which day-to-day life can put strains and stresses on the body.
Matt Bottrill and some of his team prepare for a mid-session ride
Being hunched over a desk in an office and bending down to type or read on mobiles phone being prime examples.
She then illustrated how doing the basics in life can help counter-act many of those issues.
Being aware of things like posture, nutrition and taking care of your body were high on the agenda.
The element of proper recovery from activity was also an important learning tool and Julie explained the benefits of swimming pools, ice baths and massages using either a trained masseur or a roller from Function Jigsaw’s Active Kit Range.
Julie Hayton explains how to get the marginal gains to improve riders’ performances.
The idea of a short ice bath before activity raised a few eyebrows in the presentation theatre and encouraged plenty of questions at the Q&A.
Clinical programme manager Tom Heeley then gave practical demonstrations on elements of the company’s ‘functional movement screening programme’ to highlight how an individual’s range of movement could be improved.
Attendants took on some fuel for lunch and then went out on a ride with Team Bottrill’s head coach Matt Bottrill before returning for an afternoon of more practical examples of post-event stretching and foam rolling, led by Tom Heeley (below).
Read more: Learn how to Active Roll your glutes
