The Bike & the Box. Crossfit and the quest for mobility.

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I've been riding bikes since I could. Mountain bikes since around 1990 and in some ways despite all of the benefits to my wellbeing, it's never been more difficult.

In 2023 I'll be 50 years old. I work as a full time mountain bike coach and guide. I've been doing this professionally for around 8 years and before that, ad-hoc whenever someone needed me to. I've never gone out ill equipped or under-equipped. I've never really found myself hungry on a ride, too thirsty or faced with a repair or emergency that I couldn't over come.

Sure, I've faced plenty of adversity on journeys that have required me to use my experience, knowledge and specific equipment to overcome. But I've always been confident that whatever happens I'll be able to adapt to it and ultimately overcome it.

There's essentially one reason for all of the above. The weight on my back.

Well equipped bags can be heavy. Up to 10kg to be well equipped in certain environments.

I could write a whole other blog on how I've tried to mitigate the weight and the effects of it whilst living a busy life and telling myself it will be fine. So I won't go into it here.

Suffice to say that over the last few years I've tried really hard to stretch and move. Do some minor weight work and try and become a little more ritualistic in my "routine" for moving around and feeling a little less stiff in every day life. Yeah, I felt better doing this but overall when I did feel better I thought that it was all ok and then reverted to the old routine. The pain and stiffness coming back almost immediately.

The position that a modern day aggressive bike would have you sit it is pretty ridiculous if we're all honest. For normal people, huge reaches whilst sitting are mostly prohibitive to comfort, regardless of the seat angle and saddle position. If you have good mobility it can be dealt with, but these bikes are mostly built for descending and aggressive trail riding. Not for folk like me riding around with heavy rucksacks.

Geometry wise, the Pipedream Sirius S5 is the most conservative bike I have owned in years.

This all came to a head recently when the ongoing aches in my lumbar / Sacroiliac region were joined by a thoracic pain that was unbearable on a day to day basis. A visit to the osteopath, months of repetitive, specific stretches and movements and nothing was really changing.

So I got to thinking, what did I enjoy doing when I was a kid. What kept me active, what made me feel good?

After listening to a specific episode of Dr Rangan Chatterjee's podcast "Feel better live more" I had the epiphany that it was movement and strength that were missing. The combination of a lack of strong, functional skeletal muscle and no real capacity for movement outside the everyday riding my bike and just "existing" were hindering me in my quest to feel physically better. Link to specific podcast here.

Another thing I learnt from a different episode on the same podcast on how "movement is medicine" was a theory that reverting to things we did as kids to promote movement and strength were beneficial. So I got to thinking, what did I enjoy doing when I was a kid. What kept me active, what made me feel good? Link to specific podcast here.

Well when I was young I loved bikes obviously. But I used to run, jump over things and off of things, throw things and catch them. Climb things and lift things move around and never stop until I had to, or till I couldn't go any further. This was my childhood exercise regime.

Nowadays, they call this something different. They call it Crossfit.

Can weights, wall balls and climbing ropes compliment the legs and lungs I gained from years of cycling?

In a mix of converging fortunes, I'd worked this movement thing out in tandem with a Crossfit gym or "Box" opening in Innerleithen. My friend Amanda had asked me along to another Crossfit gym some time ago but it wasn't what I'd call local or convenient. This unfortunately was enough to put me off. But she did say her friend was opening one where I live in Innerleithen. Not only that, but a literal 5 minute walk from my house.

When you haven't lifted weights or done anything like that before or for a long time, lifting a 20kg kettlebell a few times is a bit of a shock to the system.

Then came the first day. A trial session with my friend Sam who is also a coach at the box. Now I should say at this point that I had been on a few occasions to a Crossfit box and a few other "functional fitness" classes, but this was long ago. Perhaps around 8-9 years ago? But walking Ito the place and seeing weights, kettlebells, bars and ropes as well as the workout jig actually filled me with some apprehension.

When you haven't lifted weights or done anything like that before or for a long time, lifting a 20kg kettlebell a few times is a bit of a shock to the system. But on a Crossfit journey it's not really about harder and faster, it's about measuring improvement. You don't just turn up and work out. Classes are structured and are called a "WOD" (workout of the day) Short punchy activities that require speed and intensity, but only at a level you can manage.

Still rings: The rings of power... Just about any piece of equipment can be used a dozen scaleable ways.

So a WOD is a set of individual exercises (or reps) added together, then called a round. So you may have 5 different reps in a round? Then you stick a time limit on it to make up the challenge. So for instance, you could make up a WOD as follows:

In 30 minutes complete as many rounds and reps as possible

1. 10 pull ups

2. 10 sit ups

3. 10 air squats

4. 20 kettlebell swings

5. 100m run

So you start the timer and get cracking. If you do all of these reps exactly how they are set out. Perfect pull ups, perfect sit ups etc then this is called an RX WOD (RX means "as prescribed") To score your effort you just measure how may full rounds you complete plus how many reps into the next round you managed before the clock stops.

When you have an RX WOD, then thats your benchmark and you just keep trying to fit more RX rounds into the same time to see improvement. There are different WOD RX weights and distances for men & women.

There's other ways to score and other ways to time too, this is just an example from a beginner (me) to try and explain it to you. Not many average folks are going to RX anything but the easier WODs to start with but trying is fun! I've managed 1 in my whole time attending.

The bike is still there. But I can't see past Crossfit being an important part of my wellbeing.

So if you aren't feeling like you can do 10 pull ups, you can "scale" every exercise in Crossfit to your ability. It's about finishing a version of the WOD, not necessarily trying to RX it until you are ready.

For instance, pull ups. I'm 80kg and lifting my own bodyweight from hanging is really tough. I can do one RX pull up on a good day, so what do I do? I do Knee ups, simply hanging and bringing my knees up to my abdomen. I might wrap a heavy resistance band over the pull up bar and put my foot through it. This can take up to a third of my body weight off the exercise. Still hard, but a welcome relief allowing me to practice full technique.

Here's a quick video to demonstrate what I mean.

Anyway, I'm not here to tell you about the in's and out's of Crossfit. If I'm honest, the above is the limit of my knowledge. I'll press on with this and finish up with how it has already been of huge benefit to me.

So firstly it's mobility. When I first started I didn't notice, I only lived in the hope that as I took part in more regular and different types of movement that the benefits would come as a result. Little things like standing up after being sedentary didn't elicit a wince, putting my shoes and socks on and reaching up for things seems less of an effort (such as it was before)

I know it sounds silly, but the need to specifically stretch and manipulate my lower back is almost gone. I do it anyway so as not to fall into the trap I opened this blog with. It can't hurt right?

So as I'm finding more movement in every direction I feel more confident in trying out and testing that movement. Stretching to reach things, sitting on the floor to put my shoes on so I have to get back up. Silly things really, but for me, a revelation. After all these years of waiting for the next place I feel an ache or pain, the confidence to move around with a little more certainty is priceless.

Now my favourite pieces of recreational equipment. A mountain bike and a workout rig.

Behind mobility comes strength: Now, more strength will come and probably overtake mobility. I feel myself getting stronger already after only a month or so of attending. I've never deadlifted before and that alone has boosted my confidence to keep trying. I've done a comfortable 80kg which is my body weight. I could have gone further but I'm just starting out. My technique for such a concequential exercise has to be on point before I get past that effort.

I could feel the difference in the areas that are normally strained when doing such an exercise. I can say this about a half dozen exercises so far.

It's amazing how your body can adapt, it never fails to amaze me. I could barely do 4-5 sit ups without my feet being anchored, this week I did 17. They weren't pretty but they were there.Most importantly I could feel the difference in the areas that are normally strained when doing such an exercise. I can say this about a half dozen other exercises so far too.

I go to 3 classes a week at 6:30am which is perfect. But the nature of the benefits I'm feeling makes me want to over commit and go every weekday if I'm honest. But Injury is a real thing if you jump in too deep..

I will say that I have sustained little pulls and tears here and there as well as some heavy DOMs (delayed onset muscle soreness) which is pretty normal. They only lasted a few days and due to the scaleable nature of Crossfit reps, you never really have to strain a small injury. If anything significant happened, I know myself well enough that I would rest until it passed.

I really can't say enough about this format of workout. I haven't been out on my bike much since I started, but I've levelled out a little on the Crossfit time commitment side now and realised that I do have the strength and energy to do them both on the same day. Winter is coming and it's time to get busy right?

So where is all of this happening?

Crossfit Innerleithen. The home of Crossfit in The Tweed Valley, Scotland.

Annette Oliphant (Net) opened Cf_INZ in September of 2022, I actually think I was the very first customer to to take a trial session (I'll need to confirm that?)

Its a superbly well equipped box with a huge free exercise space and a Clydebuilt rig. Net opened the Inners box after losing control of her own Crossfit addiction and really just wanting to see other people get the benefits of the strength and fitness gains that I have. Small, but significant to me.

The Crossfit community was built on the concept of support. From the technical aspect of scaling and timing, allowing everyone to start and finish at the same time. To the overt nature of the encouragement of others in their search that elusive first RX.

Net and the other coaches are super supportive and have even in this short time formed a respectful, supportive and inclusive atmosphere that welcomes all comers into the gym for a free trial. All of the pictures in this blog were taken at the CF_INRZ box. You can find them at the following links. Facebook | Instagram | Website

In conclusion.

I have changed my "winter bike" to something slightly less aggressive and added Crossfit to my daily regime. This will help, though my "big bike" is still hard hitting in its geometry in comparison. Time will tell how I feel when I move between the two.

But I guess the point is that the times I have ridden my bike, the way I sit on it has changed. The pain in my back is much less even with the rucksack on, standing or seated. There is a lifetime of work left in making my back stronger, but I'm determined to continue on this path and eventually concentrate more on strength work.

A stronger frame and stronger more resilient back is my goal right now. At 50 years old I'm late to this revelation about strength and conditioning. But if the last 6 weeks has taught me anything it's that its never too late.

Thanks to everyone at CF_INRZ for your support. I love you all!

-Allan