 So welcome back, or welcome to the 15th edition of the RCA Training Tips Show. In today's video, we're gonna discuss a real genetic strength, which makes pro cyclists such high-functioning freaks, and it's a genetic factor that doesn't seem to be discussed all that often on YouTube, if not at all. You see, most topics on pro cyclists, when we're talking about how fast or how good they are, we seem to focus on power, weight, aerodynamics, or even elite bike handling skills, but never before have I heard someone discuss in detail symmetry or asymmetry compensation as genetic assets. That's right, this is the last video in the series with bike-fitting expert Neil Stambry, who's been fitting road cyclists for around 10 years in conjunction with being a sports physiotherapist, and today gives us a very interesting insight into a genetic strength that enables elite road cyclists to get to pro level. Now, if you've enjoyed this series with Neil, make sure you give the video a thumbs up, and also don't fret, because while this is the last video in the series, Neil has confirmed he'll be coming back for more, which is awesome news, and in the interim, I've got a new guest to welcome on the channel, whose name is Steph Cronin, and she's an expert sports dietician and has a ton of experience working with endurance athletes and road cyclists. So if you're keen on sports nutrition and learning more about nutrition in cycling, make sure you subscribe below if you already haven't, hit the bell to ensure you get notified of when the videos go live, and let's get into this one. Why would that be the case, and why would that be in their favor? Yeah, yeah, I call it, it's like a diagnosis of exclusion, a lot of people have this idea that the pros are fitted by the best people in the business, which is why they look so good on a bike, and it tends to go the other way around, they look really good because they're high functioning freaks, right? It's very hard to ride a bike 30 hours a week with a threshold power of 350 watts, so there's huge amounts of load going through your connective tissue. It's very hard to ride that much, and not get injured unless you're perfectly, like really, really good in terms of your symmetry and your overall function, your flexibility, your core strength, all that stuff needs to be good. So some people have to, some of the pros have to really work at that stuff. Others just win the genetic lottery, and they're just awesome, despite the fact that they don't stretch, don't do yoga, don't work on their core, they're just great. And I meet these people all the time, they're just, oh, mate, you've won the genetic lottery here, you're flexible, you're strong, you're lean, you've got massive lungs and heart capacity, you know, how lucky are you? So, and then you meet the people that really work at it, you know, that have to spend six hours a week doing core strength training and yoga and stuff. So the pros tend to get to that level, they tend to be able to train at that level because they're one of those people a lot of the time. They either work really hard at it or they've won the genetic lottery. And it tends to, let's say, for example, if you've got a large asymmetry, like a 10 mil leg length difference, some of the pros are so good at compensating, and pointing the shorter legs toe down or whatever, that they never know they've got a leg length difference and they ride their whole career and it's fine, right? Others who don't compensate as well, they start training in their teenage years and they reach 12 hours of training a week and someone says, mate, you're really talented, you know, you could turn pro if you work at this. So they start training a bit more and then their ITB starts hurting. So they have to back off their training and let it rest again. And then they cycle up again and happens again, happens again and again. And they never become a pro because they can't train in their full potential because of their shorter leg or their wonky forward arm. Is that how that happened? Not directly because it's longer-tuned or you never, and you would never know if that person could have been a pro. You would never know. But I've certainly seen heaps and heaps of really talented people pulled out of the sport from injury caused by stuff like a leg length difference or a weird pedal stroke, you know? So that might happen in their teenage years, it might happen in their 20s or 30s, but the pros tend to be, they tend to look so good most of the time, not because their positions are the product of an amazing bike fitter. The pros nail their own positions. By the time they get here, it's very rare that you look at a pro and go, mate, your seat's 30 mils too high, you know? This is horrific. How are you riding like this? Although there's a few, but very, very rare. If you've got some old footage of rider Hazardale, the Canadian time trial champ, multiple Canadian time, you've got some footage of him riding up a hill. You cut that into this and see what I mean about him. Not so flash position. Or a couple of years ago in the tour, I remember watching an error train rider on the Quebecer team, Quebecer team called, what was his name? We'll think of it later. And he had one of the most asymmetrical positions I've ever seen in a pros. Left knee moved on about a 30 degree angle across the pedal stroke. It was horrific. And so you rarely see that, right? Most of them, you look at them from the front, they look amazing. Their knees are moving like pistons and they're symmetrical and powerful and they're flexible. But they tend to get to pro level because they're like that. Not so much the other way round. So it's very difficult to train 30 hours a week at such intensities if you've got a body that is prone to injuries because of a leg length difference or something. It's kind of rare, I guess, that you'd see a pro who's really dysfunctional. Or they might be dysfunctional, but they're an incredibly good compensator. But yeah, if you've got a serious leg length difference or a twist in your pelvis or something positionally really challenging, very, very hard to train at that level. So yeah, that's why they all look so good because the ones who look bad don't ever get to that level. Yeah, yeah. So, and some of the ones that occasionally you think, how is this guy riding a bike? And they're still fine. They're just those really high level compensators. Better than you and me, perhaps. Yes, absolutely. All right, well, thanks for your time. I think it's time for you to show me your hill drop on the trainer. We'll go and do it now. Yeah, this will be interesting. Yeah, all right. Thanks very much. Cheers.