July for many Michiganders means barbeques and pools, but for many others it means the heart of mountain biking season.  You have probably been tearing up the local trails for a few months now, and before that, you may have hopped on your trainer for a few good sessions in anticipation of the first warm weather that pierced the spring.

It doesn't matter if you're chasing points in the MMBA Championship Point Series, just finishing the Lumberjack 100, in the heart of training for Iceman Cometh or just meeting up with a few good friends every week for a great workout; chances are you have built up a few muscle imbalances from all that riding.

Muscular imbalances occur when you have a repetitive motion, in this case a pedal stroke, and do nothing to balance the work, time, and motion of that repeated movement.  At best, it will lead to a decrease in performance.  At worst, it can derail your training, your riding, and your season with a painful injury.  Inhibited hip stabilizers and weak core strength are a few prevalent imbalances.  The most common ailment among mountain bikers is tight hip flexors.

The psoas muscle plays a big role in rotating your hips for a free range of motion.  It attaches from your lumbar spine (low back) and into your hip.  When you're on a bike, the psoas is constantly in a shortened position and never has a chance to lengthen.  If you sit at a desk all day and your primary exercise is biking, you're getting a double dose of tight hip flexors.  This can create back pain and also lead to a decrease in force production on your pedal stroke.

When you're bent over your handlebars for long periods of time you can start to develop a rounded shoulder and rounded midback posture.  This can inhibit your core strength and will start to allow other muscles, like your shoulders and forearms, to take the brunt of fast downhill descents.

Frequent riding can cause tightness and weakness in the muscles that keep your hips level.  The gluteus medius is one of these muscles and is on the side of your hip.  By itself, this muscle abducts (laterally moves away) the leg from the body.  While on your bike, it helps to maintain a neutral pelvic position.  It allows an even transfer of power from your legs and core into the pedal stroke.  When it gets weak, your body will recruit other structures to try to maintain a neutral pelvis.  The muscle most often called on is the Iliotibial (IT) band.  The IT band originates on the lateral side of your pelvis and runs down the middle of your outside leg, inserting below your kneecap.  This is why it will often get tight and develop into lateral knee pain that can be debilitating.

When professional mountain biker Danielle Musto (Salsa Bikes) first developed IT band pain three years ago it knocked her out of competing for the 24 Hour National Championships.  Less then a month later she was pain free and racing again.  She went on to race in more than 50 races without any bike-induced repetitive injuries.

To get Danielle back into action, quality myofascial work was the first step.  The tightness and adhesions (small knots) that had built up in the muscles and fascia from repetitive use were massaged and worked out with a technique called Active Release Technique (ART). The next step was to strengthen the right muscles.  One big exercise was the Reverse Lunge with a slide.  Start out holding light dumbbells straight overhead.  Slowly slide one leg back behind you as you lower yourself into a lunge position on the front leg.  It helps to put a towel under the foot of your slide leg.  Now reverse the motion.  Push the heel of your front leg into the ground and slide the back leg up.  The arms always remain straight overhead.  Alternate legs.

The back leg gets a nice stretch on the hip flexors, while the support leg is developing the gluteus medius, hamstrings and adductor magnus (inner thigh) strength, which is crucial for healthy biking.  Holding a weight overhead will challenge the core while isometrically working the shoulder retractors.  It's a "big bang for your money" exercise.

Musto also concentrated on stretching her hip flexors in a kneeling stretch.  Start in a 90/90 kneeling position; picture a lunge with the back knee resting on the ground.  Lean forward through the pelvis, keep an upright upper body and lift the arm on the side of the grounded knee towards the sky.  Repeat on both sides.

Finally, a bodyweight inverted row is another quality exercise for bikers.  Hang from a barbell with your feet on the floor.  Keep your body perfectly straight, this will challenge and develop core strength.  Pull your chest towards the bar making sure not to bend at the waist or low back.  This will develop the back muscles and shoulder retractors and will help to balance out the rounded shoulders and hunched midback.

These exercises will help to iron out imbalances from a lot of time in the saddle.  It will increase your performance and will help keep you riding healthy through the remainder of the summer and fall.