Bombproof your body

Whether it’s the biting winter chill or the legacy of last year’s summer miles, this is the time of year when cyclists’ bodies begin to creak and groan with all sorts of niggles and injuries. And no matter how much you love riding, pain will eventually force you off your bike and destroy your hard-earned gains.

Is that you? There’s a good chance it is as a study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine found that 94 per cent of cyclists had suffered overuse injuries. Around 45 per cent of those were back-related and 23 per cent were in the knee, but pain can strike anywhere.

Thankfully, there is a solution. To help you remedy your aches and dodge new problems, we asked a team of experts how to condition every part of your body for the ultimate injury-prevention blueprint. This revolutionary programme of stretches and strength exercises takes little time and will reap big rewards…

Feet

Problems

Cyclists’ delicate tootsies don’t suffer the same pounding as runners’ blistered paws but that doesn’t mean you’re immune from injury. “It’s common for cyclists to report clawing of the toes, pain under the arch of the foot, pain under the ball of the foot (metatarsalgia), lateral foot pain or numbness (paraesthesia),”