I started yoga as a daily, 15-minute routine in the morning with my coffee, before going to work.
Author - abicarver
Restoring natural range of motion in all sections of the spine is crucial to relieving back pain.
20 years ago, I was involved in a big motorcycle accident leaving me with a crushed vertebrae (T10) and prolapsed discs (L5,4).
One factor commonly at play in lower back pain is a lack of stability in the core—the muscles that work together to support the lumbar spine.
I’ve been riding bikes since 1979, I’m a mountain bike photographer and I broke my back on a job on a motorbike in 2010.
At the ripe old age of 37, I had an acute gout attack. I can only describe this as what it would feel like if your foot was being crushed in a vice.
I've been riding mountain bikes with fanatical enthusiasm since 1990, when I got my first ever mountain bike.
Last year I did the Indian Pacific Wheel Race across Australia, which saw me spending many hours in the saddle.
As an MTB and road rider, I have always had issues with bike position and body soreness that was different depending on the bike that I was on.
This pre-ride activation is designed to activate the core and the posterior chain—calves, hamstrings, glutes, upper and lower back.
I’ve been mountain biking for around 5 years and did a fair bit of running and road biking before that.
In this article, I’m going to cover shoulder mobility (also referred to as shoulder flexibility) in each available range of motion.
Yin yoga is one of the most effective, and least well-known, styles of yoga that athletes can incorporate into their recovery program.
Abi’s yoga videos have improved my life dramatically having herniated a disc in my lower back over ten years ago.
After a winter of back problems, I realised that I needed to put some time into stretching and building core strength.
I started practising yoga with the 15-minute videos that were first posted on pinkbike. This was when I was cycling a tonnes.
When I was 7, I fell ski-ing and my leg almost did a full rotation. When I was 8, I graduated from a wheelchair to crutches.
Work these days has been crazy! I do not know how I could handle all that without my 2 yoga days a week and riding on the weekends.
“If you get too tired. Learn to rest not to quit.” Banksy The RELAXATION series is the easiest of the 5 core disciplines so it is a good one to start with, especially if you are a newbie to yoga. Riding and other lifestyle habits can leave you feeling tight, sore and low in energy. These gentle yoga sequences are designed to help you...
“Mobility is the body’s own anti-ageing agent. When you bathe each joint in nutritive and lubricative flow, you revitalise.” Scott Sonnon, martial artist The MOBILITY workouts are based on a style of yoga called vinyāsa. In each of the routines, we flow through a continuous series of poses, synchronising breath and movement. In this...
“The best strategy is always to be very strong.” Carl Von Clausewitz The STRENGTH series is designed to build muscular strength and endurance in a strategic and integrated way. The videos cycle through upper body, lower body and core workouts that get increasingly difficult as you progress through the series. BENEFITS OF STRENGTH...
The FLEXIBILITY series is designed to improve flexibility, increase range of motion, release tight muscles and alleviate muscular pain. The routines get progressively more difficult throughout the series, from beginner through to intermediate. WHY DO YOU NEED TO IMPROVE FLEXIBILITY? “All you flexible people should go bang some iron and all...
Finding Abi's articles on a dedicated mtb site is definitely a blessing!
I started doing yoga after reading a few of your articles on PinkBike and being pushed to by my girlfriend.
For me, yoga was something that I considered doing but never actually took a chance on until Abi's first article came out on Pinkbike.
Since starting to use Abi's post-ride yoga routines for mountain bikers, I've noticed a big reduction in my back pain.
A few years back I was knocked off my motorbike in which I did some muscle damage to my shoulder.
Being an avid enduro racer, road racer and father of 2 little ones, I have very limited training time during the week.
I see a yoga practice as a core tool to help me recover, increase flexibility and balance, and maintain my body for the years ahead.
As a rider, father, worker, trainer, racer and most of all at 43, it’s not always easy to be healthy and in shape, as our passions demands.
I've been using Abi's 15 minute post-ride routine for the past couple of seasons. I use it after every ride because it's so quick and simple.
I played around with a few yoga DVDs over the years. Static pose, 30-minute routines—nothing MTB-focused, just general movement stuff.
Love getting your emails Abi. I’m a 61 year old avid mountain biker out of Rossland BC Canada.
I started practicing yoga with your videos because I have a disease that brought me down to about 15-20% mobility.
Huge thanks for your pinkbike videos which have genuinely improved my standard of life and cut the physio bills down a bit!
I saw your videos a few weeks back. I thought I'd give it a go after my mountain bike spins and it seems to have worked.
15 minutes of yoga a day keeps the doctor away! Yoga 15 has bike-specific routines which are very helpful and practical for me.
Thank you for your session for auld giffer mountain bikers like myself. For the first time in years I don't wake up with a bad back.
Almost six years ago I learned to love mountain biking and I do it now as often I can.
I'm a mid-40s, stupidly busy mountain biker with rotten flexibility and a low tolerance for time wasting bullcrap.
“Body control at its simplest is the ability to perform an action with precision and accuracy, along with a sensation of ease, with no wasted energy.” Jarlo, GMB Fitness Balance is at the core of every aspect of riding—from cornering, to getting on top of your pedal strokes, generating power and speed, nailing tricks, avoiding injury...
A tight IT band and TFL can be painful and result in more serious conditions, including iliotibial band syndrome and cyclist's knee.
The gluteus muscles—maximus, medium and minimus—are responsible for generating forward movement and stabilising the pelvis.
Do you suffer from pain in between the shoulder blades and tightness in the upper back, neck and shoulders?
In this article, I’m going to shift my focus to mtb mental training. I’ll take you through a guided meditation and breathing technique.
Tight hamstrings do not, unfortunately, usually have just one simple root cause and solution.
If you're active or you sit too much, you probably have tight hips. And if you're a mountain biker, you almost certainly have tight hips.
Weak ankles and limited ankle mobility can be a serious hindrance for mountain bikers. Yoga can help to improve ankle stability and mobility.
Neck pain after mountain biking can drain your energy, lead to tension headaches and make you more vulnerable to injury.
Unfortunately, MTB low back pain is rampant. Luckily, this is where yoga excels, according to a paper published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Mountain bikers are prone to hand pain from vibration, gripping, maintaining the same upper body position for long periods.
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