LEEDS UNITED - EP 1: UTILISING WATTBIKES MID SEASON

In this first episode of the Wattbike x Leeds United mini-series, we talk to Rob Price, Head of Medicine and Performance, Tom Robinson, Head of Sports Science and Reuben Crespo, Rehab and Fitness Coach about how the Wattbike is utilised throughout the season and for specific positions.

“To explain how the bikes are used throughout the season, it’s probably easiest to split the team into three groups.” Tom Robinson explains. “So, one group would be the Goalkeepers, then we’d have the outfield players and then finally, our injured players going through rehabilitation programmes.”

“The Wattbikes are used between all of these three groups on a daily basis, but in differing ways. Firstly, the structure of the warm up before training is that we get all the players on the bikes prior to our performance and mobility sessions so that’s often 10-15 minutes on the Wattbike as a method of off-feet, low-intensity warm up. A lot of our players gravitate towards the Wattbikes rather than the spin bikes for this because they are a lot more comfortable and have a more realistic feel.”

“A lot of our players gravitate towards the Wattbikes” Tom Robinson, Head of Medicine and Performance, Leeds United FC

“The beauty of the Wattbike is that it has so much capacity for specific work, and not only that but also for honing in on the individual needs of specific players or positions within the team” Robinson continues.

“For example, our Goalkeepers have a very specific type of training on the field. There’s a lot of jumping and diving, which is high intensity but they miss out on the other longer duration work that our outfield players get. So, to combat this lack of longer duration work, the Goalkeepers training is supplemented with off-feet conditioning on the Wattbike a couple of times a week to provide aerobic conditioning alongside the anaerobic conditioning they’re already getting.”

“There’s a lot of high intensity, jumping and diving, that our Goalkeepers do training anaerobic systems but they miss out on longer duration aerobic work that the outfield players get. So, this is supplemented for them through off-feet conditioning using the Wattbike.” Tom Robinson, Head of Medicine and Performance, Leeds United FC

And it’s not just the players making the most of the Wattbikes, Robinson explains how the staff make the most of the bikes too, “The staff love the Wattbikes almost more than the players! We did the Prostate United Challenge a couple of years ago so a lot of the team were on the Wattbike every single day for the whole month of November.”

“The challenge was to do a set distance on the Wattbike every day for the whole month and it got to a point where a few members of staff, naming no names, got very competitive on distances in the last few days and we set the bikes up opposite each other, the numbers went up on the whiteboard and it got seriously competitive. All for charity of course!”

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Read Leeds United - Episode 2 which gives insight into how the Wattbike is utilised to aid rehabilitation programmes, active recovery and training in specific heart rate zones.