Train with Camilla

My name is Camilla Pedrazzi-Fochetti and I have been a physiotherapist for 10 years and a Pilates instructor for eight, and I love cycling.

In my studio I train all levels of cyclists and I am also the physiotherapist for a mountain bike team during World Cup races.
I have great respect for fluid movement and for achieving technical perfection in my exercise routines. My goal is to help my patients and the athletes with whom I work improve their execution of the exercises and thus improve their overall strength.

Why TRAIN WITH @ CAMILLAFISIOBOUTIQUE?

To be our best on the bike requires more than just pedaling; other factors play into the game.
Proper saddle height is essential and should be set to your individual needs. Two other factors will be addressed through the exercises that I will be showing you over the next few days. These exercises will give you:

• Better overall body perception and increased awareness of how to use specific muscle groups for specific tasks;
• Develop core muscles to anchor the legs firmly for a more precise pedal push.

What is needed?

• Looped resistance band (any strength): used to increase muscle activation. You can also use a knotted elastic exercise band, it’s not as comfortable but it’s as equally effective.
• Exercise/yoga block: used to reduce the weight on the wrists (can be omitted)
• Soft exercise ball
• Swiss ball

Execution and repetitions

For some of the exercises I offer you variations which are a progression of the basic exercise. You can start with the simplest and challenge yourself with harder variations should you wish. I suggest you stay at the level most suited to your abilities and repeat it several times. As you get stronger, you can try the more difficult routine.

Usually I don’t tell my clients how many repetitions to do for each individual exercise, for me the quality of execution is more important than the quantity. However, I give a suggested amount of repetitions should you want an general idea.

#lessbutgood

My suggestion is to stop doing an exercise when the quality of the movement is no longer perfect.

I always find it helpful to film yourself every so often in order to critically observe the quality of the execution of the exercise.

Exercise 1

• Material: Exercise/yoga block and elastic loop band
• Focus: Hip dissociation – movement from the lumbar
• Hip extension, remember to distribute weight evenly between right and left hands
• Pay attention! Don‘t move the trunk, lower lumbar and/or pelvis (Tip! Place a book the lumbar area, if you remain stable during the movement it won‘t fall off)

Exercise 2

• Equipment: Looped resistance band, soft exercise ball
• Focus: Selective trunk movements with the oblique abdominals. I feel my belly. I feel my sides.
• Trunk movement (a) concentrate on rotation (b) concentrate on inclination. During both movements keep the loop tension steady with symmetrical knees.
• Pay attention! The pelvis remains stationary and the chin positioned in the center of the chest.

Exercise 3

• Equipment: Looped resistance band, soft exercise ball
• Focus: Selective movement of the hips while activating the trunk and the lateral hip muscles (Part 1). Selective movements of the trunk through the activation of the oblique abdominal muscles. Increased proprioception. (Part 2)
• Do: Flexing extension of hip and knees (Part 1). The movement is executed through the activation of the muscles of the hip that is on the top, the legs only support the movement (PArt 2).
• Pay attention! There is no shoulder or pelvic rotation. The ball remains still.

Exercise 4

• Equipment: Swiss ball, looped resistance band
• Focus: Posterior chain activation, proprioception
• Do: Selective movement of extension and flection at hip level. Dorsal flection of the ankle. Tip!! I imagine that the body stretches as I ascend. Tip!! Focus on the leg that remains on the ball and not on the one you are lifting.
• Pay attention! The ball and hands do not move (in the second variation the ball moves). There should be no flection extension of the spine. Be careful to keep the pelvis raised

Exercise 5

• Equipment: Swiss ball, looped resistance band
• Focus: Posterior chain activation in the stretch position, proprioception
• Do: Alternately lift the feet from the ground by flexing the hip. Tip!! Focus on the foot that is on the ground and feel how it heightens the tension of the buttocks when the other foot is lifted.
• DPay attention!! Don’t let the pelvis move or the ball roll.

Don’t miss the second part of Fisioboutique‘s exercise. Click here to get it.