Interview with Luca Riceputi, coach of Vittoria Bussi!

Luca Riceputi

We had the pleasure of meeting with Luca Riceputi, a highly experienced athletic trainer known for having trained, among others, Vittoria Bussi, the women's hour record holder and first woman to exceed 50 kilometers. During our chat, Luca shared his experiences in adopting the first version of SKE in his training programs. He told us how he discovered SKE and how he uses it to train athletes from different disciplines, from cycling to soccer, highlighting the benefits in both athletic training and rehabilitation. A rich meeting for anyone who wants to learn more about SKE through the direct experience of those who have used it.

You can watch the video interview in our YouTube channel or read it in the text below!

How did you get to know the SKE?

I learned about it several years ago through Vittoria Bussi. We were preparing the hour record and Vittoria had already used the product in previous years, so she asked me if I thought it might be a good solution. I met and contacted Nicola, who was immediately very helpful in bringing a Bikestepper (at the time that was his name) here to our studio. 

I had the chance to try it personally, also to try to understand what could be the possibilities of integration of such a tool, and I liked it immediately despite the fact that it goes a bit against what have always been my characteristics. I have always been "famous" for working on one leg exercises and therefore on the push and pull gesture, and here we are talking instead about something opposite, that is, one push. I always like to say that you don't need to be a fan of one method or another, but you need to know them, understand them and try to integrate them in the best way when needed. 

How was the training experience on the SKE with Vittoria Bussi?

With Vittoria, we used SKE for the hour record but also for all the preparation parts in the individual pursuit, following protocols aimed at improving awareness of balance and stability at the start. As we know, on the track we start from blocks. When there is a starter, the bike stays loose and we have very important ratios to start, so the use of core and stabilization in transferring the force pushed on the pedal becomes important. Vittoria, using the SKE, immediately felt a similarity in the exercise and a subsequent improvement just in performing the start on the track. 

How have you used SKE in your training programs?

I always hated to replace with something magical something that has always been done. So, in my opinion, integration is the key word, of a training tool and method with respect to what we have been doing. I never give up what has always been the secret of achievement, but I go and integrate to try to improve further, to set a higher and higher bar for that athlete. I didn't twist my training methods, I simply integrated the tool consciously into their work protocols.

I focus so much on the work related to core stability because it becomes in my opinion a predominant factor, which then opens the door not only for bike athletes but for athletes in general. With SKE there is a stabilization at the level of core stability that you can hardly in a sport-specific way repeat, and so up here you can give a really important input. We talked about it before on the Victoria track starts, but similarly it is very useful for crossing obstacles, on the slippery, on wet roots, on those race situations where there is a loss of grip, a loss of stability, and so the control of the bike, related to being able to transmit force with good core stability, becomes of paramount importance.

Do you recommend using the SKE during the winter season or year-round?

The first few times, when I was not yet familiar with the tool and therefore did not know what the feedback and even the loads that the athletes were going to accumulate, I preferred to use it only in the winter phase. Then, as I became more familiar with it and more aware of it, we extended the use to the whole season as well, including the competition periods, and so now they use it year-round. 

What do the athletes say about the SKE?

The great thing is that they appreciated it and didn't want to stop doing it. That is certainly worth more than anything else, because when the athlete himself is the one who asks you to keep doing an exercise, it means that the perception is high. 

One feedback we often hear from athletes is about the feeling of stability. For example, mountain bike athletes tell me that when crossing the root or slippery spot there is a greater sense of stability, definitely related to all the work being developed on the core. Another of the things at the feedback level that has been stated to me frequently concerns very hard climbs, with a change in feeling and perception from years before, when we were not yet using the SKE.

What sports do you recommend SKE training for?

The first sport one thinks of is cycling. In SKE, the beauty of it is that, even simply on a mental level, an athlete feels on the bike, and so this definitely leads to the use of a motor scheme that is as similar and true to its sport-specific application as possible. We said it's complementary, right, but fundamentally it's strength work. And so strength work on a tool that manages to position similarly to one's bike is definitely learned with different feedback.

In my opinion, however, it is not a tool exclusively related to cyclists, despite visibly looking like a bike. In fact, far from it: it can be a great tool for so many sports. For example, I train soccer players, I train guys who do enduro biking but also motorcycling, and even in these disciplines the feedback has been very important. I had just today a guy who trained with SKE and he was very happy. But also in fitness, in sports in general, just because when we talk about stabilization at the core level, we talk about sports in general. When we talk about stabilizing an expression of strength that depends on both lower and upper limbs, we talk about sports in general. And so limiting it to cycling seems really reductive to me. I am sure that if it is understood and if there is the expertise to use it-and I have no doubt about that, because we are surrounded by professionals-it can be a method that is really used across the board.

Have you also used SKE in rehabilitation?

Of course, yes! I have a double background, I started out as an athletic trainer but later I did masso-physiotherapy and manual therapy, and here in our practice we also have the physical therapy and rehabilitation center. 

We have also worked on the history part, again understood as strength testing, and it is wonderful to see how different strength deficiencies are highlighted. For example, a practical case is that of the mid-upper gluteus: with the use of the SKE, if we go to create and ask for a major thrust resistance, if there is no stabilization of the mid-upper gluteus we will find a knee that will tend to adduct, and this is visible very simply to an experienced eye. By going to correction feedback, that is, by asking for a contraction of the gluteus medius-high, we will find a stability of this compartment. It is obvious that we have already tested and created the correction exercise as well. This is a practical example of use at the rehabilitation level. 

Another important thing to highlight, in my opinion, is the possibility of working on the balance of the two legs and then trying to see if and how much of a gap there is between one limb and the other. There are specific protocols that highlight and emphasize what the gap may be between one limb and the other. Consequently, it becomes a test but at the same time also an exercise and feedback to show the patient, to go and compensate for the strength gap that they may have, for example, in the operated limb.