Race bike training with EMS suit: Stefan and Antelope at the Race Across Germany
Cycling from north to south: Stefan Feilen spends at least two days on the saddle during the Race Across Germany, only taking breaks when absolutely necessary. A sporting feat, even for a racing bike enthusiast like Stefan. Is this feat of strength easier to master with the EMS Antelope suit? We have asked the ultra marathon participant about this.
Un, deux, trois: the starting signal for a sporting passion
Stefan used to have no interest in cycling. He was a footballer and played in the local league. About ten years ago, he happened to watch the Tour de France on television... and was thrilled. He bought his first racing bike. His tours quickly became longer and longer. In 2014, he started taking part in 24-hour races. He became more successful and finally more ambitious.
A day and a night in the saddle? That is not enough anymore. Stefan, who is a member of RV Schwalbe Trier, is currently training for his biggest challenge yet: In July 2022, he will take part in the Race Across Germany.
The race starts at the port of Flensburg and ends at the foot of the ski jump in Garmisch Partenkirchen: 1,100 kilometres. On the bike.
It takes up to 58 hours on main roads and gravel tracks. Every man for himself: no one is allowed to ride in groups - and therefore in the slipstream.
Fast and intensive road bike training thanks to EMS
To ensure his body can withstand this constant strain, Stefan trains specifically for the race: six training sessions a week. At home, he puts in regular strength and athletics sessions, and on the bike he rides power and long distances. His main goal: to acclimatise his body to the high fat-burning rate. Stefan uses a lot of his free time for training.
And that's when we come into play because Antelope is sponsoring Stefan at the Race Across Germany. Stefan has been using the Antelope EMS suit for training for almost three months now. The convincing argument for him: "It makes me flexible in terms of time." He can easily do a long session from home, and the electrical stimulation of the muscles from outside makes training much quicker than without stimulation current.
The suit also accompanies Stefan during strength and endurance training on the road. Paired with padded cycling shorts, the Antelope suit is perfect for cycling.
Proven good: increasing performance with EMS suit
When Stefan started training with Antelope for Race Across Germany, he did an FTP test. FTP stands for "Functional Threshold Power". The threshold test finds out how many watts of power an athlete achieves on average in an hour.
About eleven weeks later, he took the test again. He had already realised beforehand that the suit was challenging him. Nevertheless, Stefan was surprised by his leap in performance: a 19 per cent increase in less than three months. "I thought that was amazing. I was already training according to a training plan beforehand. But you can really tease out a lot more with the suit."
However, the function that Stefan raves about the most is the massage. After every training session, with or without the suit, Stefan gets a 20-minute massage from the suit. The results are immediately noticeable. After his last long training session (300 kilometres along the Luxembourg border) he had the suit massage him for 20 minutes at home to help him recover, and he didn't have any sore muscles afterwards. This is actually unheard of for such a session. It allows him to recover more quickly and get back again on his bike sooner.
Arriving in the flow: On the other side of pain
"When I tell people what I'm planning, some say that I'm out of my mind. And others ask: how can you do something like that to yourself?" Stefan sees his passion very differently. "I don't think it has anything to do with 'doing it to yourself'. I just realise at some point that I switch off." After a few hundred kilometres, Stefan reaches his flow. He feels the pain, the cold, the rain. But he switches off - in a good way. "I then put my head on the trailer on the handlebars and pedal along in my world."
After all the training with the Antelope EMS suit, Stefan knows that he can physically manage the race in July. Instead, the biggest challenge is his head: "It can really throw a spanner in the works." He knows: "My legs can ride a bike. But you have to teach your mind."
The mental challenge is great. Especially after the first day, when the athlete feels tired. The most important success factor then is how much he wants to persevere. His great strength is his stubbornness, says Stefan. "I'm focussed, I have a goal in mind - that's enough for me."
If you want, you can follow Stefan virtually on the Race Across Germany website in July. Only those who reach the finish line within 58 hours have successfully completed the race. And because Stefan doesn't accept big goals if he can make them huge, he has an even stricter deadline: "My own goal is 48 hours," says Stefan. "That's actually very tight," he adds and laughs.
We'll be cheering you on, Stefan!
