Yesterday afternoon Wattbike were out in force at the Chelsea FC training centre in Cobham yesterday. The state of the art facility was opened in April 2008 and hosts the training centre for the First Team, Reserve Team, Academy and Community programme. We set up in the Academy Gym and introduced them to the capabilities of the Wattbike. They were especially interested in the ability to monitor fitness and balance in their players during recovery from injury. Some of the ways that they were wanting to use the Wattbike were new to us, including standing cycling, both facing forwards and backwards without holding onto anything. This would help to develop good balance whilst also developing the musculature around the injured areas. They were also very interested in the possibilities of demonstrating the impact of injuries on the ability to produce power, especially where a player may feel fine, but the underlying weakness is still there.

Of course there was also the obligatory power tests, Steve Hughes, pictured below had thet top score at over 1250 Watts.

Steve Hughes, Chelsea Academy Physio, testing the Wattbike