You might be thinking this is about how to pee on the bike or how to deal with “runners trots”. Although I will deal with that in a later post,  today’s  message is a little different.

You see I was squatting on the toilet this morning (I highly recommend this practice. It is the most natural way to clear the bowels properly… Anyway back to the main point.)

So I had some quiet time to think and I remembered that when I was in my athletic prime I didn’t like sitting on the toilet seat.
So what I used to do was the yoga pose called “the  chair”.

If you are not familiar with “the chair” it is where you get in a position as if you are sitting on an invisible chair. This exercise
really makes the quads burn and also develops core strength.

Another variation on the chair is “Hindu squats”. For this exercise you hold your right ear lobe with the left hand then the left ear lobe with the right hand,then squat up and down. Breathing through the nose – in on the way down, out on the way up. Do at least 21.

I find to be an excellent warm up – literally. When it is frosty in the middle of winter I do this exercise and I immediately begin to sweat. This used to be given to Indian children as a punishment when they were naughty. But now studies have shown that it increases alertness and learning, so it is practiced daily as “brain yoga”. Something to do with crossing over the hands and connecting both sides of the brain. Anyway I don’t understand how it exactly works, but it is definitely helpful for concentration and keeping warm.

Perhaps this is another reason why I did well at triathlon and why I was so strong on the bike.

Then I thought to myself what other strength work did I do? My house was at the bottom of a very steep driveway so I had to start
every bike ride with a sharp climb.

I also did weights three times a week. I used to do very standard excercises: bench press, lat pull downs (behind the head), leg extensions and leg curls, etc. And of course situps.

I’ll go into some more detail about weight training and core strength training in a future post.

But for now try the chair pose and see how long you can hold it!!!

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