Incorporate these techniques into your weekly training or riding plan to enjoy huge recovery benefits.

Quadricep technique

Sitting on the ground with your leg out in front, shake, squeeze and knead the muscle with both hands.

Use your thumbs and fingers to apply cross-fibre strokes along the length of the muscle. Then push gently down into the muscle with both thumbs together and massage down towards the knee.

Go back to the top of the thigh with the thumbs and rotate them outwards across the top of the muscle, squeezing down into it, again moving down towards the knee, repeating the movement as you go.

Hamstring technique

Sit up against a wall with one knee raised and your foot flat on the ground in front. Using both hands, shake, squeeze and knead the length of the hamstring muscle.

Lie on your back and press your fingertips into the muscle so the backs of the fingers of one hand are in contact with the backs of the other. Work your way up towards your backside.

Calf technique

Sit on the ground with one foot in front and out to the side so the lower leg is at an angle of about 45 degrees to the floor.

Using both hands, shake and knead your calf muscle. Then combine effleurage and cross-fibre strokes with your thumbs up and down the muscle.

This feature is brought to you by Get Into Cycling from Future Publishing, the publishers of www.bikeradar.com