Professional cyclist Rory Townsend, 25, from West London, was first introduced to EMS training by Paul, lead trainer at Tribal Health & Performance in Chertsey, Surrey and says it has been "a complete gamechanger…"
Rory began his professional cycling career in 2017. It has since taken him all over the world, competing in destinations as far flung as China, Turkey, and Kazakhstan. Rory’s most recent accolades include being awarded Sprinters Jersey at the last Tour of Britain in 2019 and being shortlisted for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
“I first began working with Paul at Tribal in 2018, focusing predominantly on bodyweight strength and conditioning to help me compete,” says Rory. “I remember, back in 2019, Paul raving about this new EMS system they’d just introduced and how it would be the perfect complement to my cycling training.”
“When I first began EMS training I was suffering from underactive glutes, which was causing me a lot of back pain,” recalls Rory. “With EMS training, I was instantly able to really target my glute muscles (which also explained the heavy glute DOMS (post-session aches) I had back in the early days)!"
“I absolutely love how EMS training allows me to isolate individual muscles, which I haven’t been able to target previously with traditional training methods.”
Rory’s training regime now consists of, on average, 30 hours’ cycling a week, plus two weekly visits to Tribal; one EMS session to work on strength and one conditioning session to focus on movement. “My trainers Paul and Maddie tailor the EMS sessions to the exact needs of my cycling performance and make sure I don’t overuse my muscles during training,” explains Rory.
“Being introduced to EMS has been a complete gamechanger for me in terms of my performance. I noticed my muscles bulked up quite quickly in the early days, which gave me more explosive power in a racing scenario."
“As an endurance athlete it’s all about staying light but powerful. The beauty of EMS training versus traditional strength training is that it works the muscles in explosive bursts for a short period of time, which doesn’t slow them down the way heavy weightlifting can. What I can achieve in one 20-minute EMS session a week versus spending hours in a traditional gym setting is unbelievable – it’s a no brainer. Also, because my cycling schedule is so intensive, being able to swap out 20 minutes for an EMS session suits me perfectly.”
Rory is currently training in the South of Spain, with plans to return to Tribal once lockdown eases and it reopens as he approaches the beginning of the competitive season in the Spring.
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Source: Tribal Fitness
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