core training

tdl123321 said:

How many of you do specific exercises to work on your abs/lower back etc? If you do, which exercises do you find the most helpful?

Silence. Tumbleweeds roll across the thread...

The "specificity" principle suggests that most off-the-bike activity has limited impact on on-the-bike performance. If you want to do core workouts to be healthier, look better on the beach, etc., do so in good health. But there's less than zero reason to think that they actually make you faster on the bike.

tdl123321 said:

How many of you do specific exercises to work on your abs/lower back etc? If you do, which exercises do you find the most helpful?

Hi - I believe this very subject came up in the 'gyming to improve power'. If you do a search within that thread, you'll get much more info.

kmavm said:

Silence. Tumbleweeds roll across the thread....

This question would probably be better addressed in the Cycling Training forum.

kmavm said:

Silence. Tumbleweeds roll across the thread...

The "specificity" principle suggests that most off-the-bike activity has limited impact on on-the-bike performance. If you want to do core workouts to be healthier, look better on the beach, etc., do so in good health. But there's less than zero reason to think that they actually make you faster on the bike.

i hope your kidding. a stronger core will enable to have much more power on the bike. a stronger core will dramatically decrease the risk of back injuries, help you when climbing and tting, help you with your pedal stroke. any good bike rider has a strong core. i remember when trent klasna was doing 1000 situps a day.

the holster said:

i hope your kidding. a stronger core will enable to have much more power on the bike.

I haven't done a situp in 2 years.

I haven't sat on a fitness ball for the same.

I do no core work.

What you say makes no sense...

Pushing harder on the pedals will allow you to make more power on the bike.

Jim

the holster said:

i hope your kidding. a stronger core will enable to have much more power on the bike. a stronger core will dramatically decrease the risk of back injuries, help you when climbing and tting, help you with your pedal stroke. any good bike rider has a strong core. i remember when trent klasna was doing 1000 situps a day.

he isn't. see the gyming thread.

ric

the holster said:

i hope your kidding. a stronger core will enable to have much more power on the bike. a stronger core will dramatically decrease the risk of back injuries, help you when climbing and tting, help you with your pedal stroke. any good bike rider has a strong core. i remember when trent klasna was doing 1000 situps a day.

Then Trent isn't the first guy on earth to be really good at something without having any idea why he's really good at it. Wishful-thinking ex. phys. students keep concocting studies that try to show advantages for cyclists of performing off-bike strength workout X. They have been at it for decades, but they never succeed.

I really like core workouts in the gym - try working on a swissball - a great way to add core strength! Slowly add some weight during the winter - and you will have greater stability in the spring.

LarsEjaas said:

I really like core workouts in the gym - try working on a swissball - a great way to add core strength! Slowly add some weight during the winter - and you will have greater stability in the spring.

Lars,

No one is discounting doing core work for general fitness and well-being.

The issue is, just like weights, if you are doing it for the sole reason of getting faster on the bike, you are wasting your time...

Jim

I do core stuff to keep back pain at bay... I race MTB and there are plenty of bumps. So I wouldn't say it will give you more power, but endurance, yes, because you absorb the punishment for a longer time...so your legs can keep pumping out the watts. 🙂

otb4evr said:

Lars,

No one is discounting doing core work for general fitness and well-being.

The issue is, just like weights, if you are doing it for the sole reason of getting faster on the bike, you are wasting your time...

Jim

I think there is a difference between lifting weights in the hope of increasing on-bike power via larger muscle cross-section and maintaining core strength with the aim of improving stability, preventing injuries, etc.

If I don't have sufficient core strength and stability to be comfortable and efficient on the bike for the duration of my races, it doesn't matter how high my FT is - I won't be able to produce the watts when it matters. While this *is* the Power Forum, there is a certain myopia in ignoring the cyclist as a whole. In order to be competitive, I need to train 12-20 hours/ week. In order to train 12-20 h/wk, I need to have sufficient core strength to be comfortable for all that saddle time.

I'm DEFINITELY not recommending 1000 situps a day or hitting the gym. I find 1 - 2 hours/ week of yoga and core exercises (no weights involved) to be sufficient. But I find it a bit disingenuous to say that core strength is only good for the beach. 😉 Core strength may have little or no bearing on determining how one stacks up on the almighty CP power profile, but I'd wager it helps a bit in real world races.

Ditto. This forum is bit passionate about the Gyming thread and staying on the bike as the ONLY way to improve on the bike. The posts on that thread are a bit lopsided, IMO. Like anything else from the internet, you have to weigh what you read with your experience. Mine says there are a number of professional cyclists/coaches, who, while shouted into the minority, still disaggree. I use an exercise ball for abs and feel I am more comfortable out of the saddle for it. Don't ask me to prove why. My coach, who is riding TD Cal and TD Georgia, does both weights and core. His coach told him to. YMMV.

flame suit on.

woodgab said:

Ditto. This forum is bit passionate about the Gyming thread and staying on the bike as the ONLY way to improve on the bike. The posts on that thread are a bit lopsided, IMO.

nope, just backed by the available evidence and first principles as it applies to trained endurance cyclists.

Quoted post said:

Like anything else from the internet, you have to weigh what you read with your experience.

that thread, or at least the replies, by myself, Andy Coggan, 2Lap and possibly one or two others are based on peer reviewed evidence.

ric

ric_stern/RST said:

nope, just backed by the available evidence and first principles as it applies to trained endurance cyclists.

that thread, or at least the replies, by myself, Andy Coggan, 2Lap and possibly one or two others are based on peer reviewed evidence.

ric

you;re right

I've decided that it may or may not help power(looks like most would say it will not), but it may prevent injury and that in itself is enough motivation for me.

tdl123321 said:

I've decided that it may or may not help power(looks like most would say it will not), but it may prevent injury and that in itself is enough motivation for me.

Well, hanging upside down by your ankles while singing "American Pie" might help prevent injury, too. There's just no reason to think it does.

kmavm said:

Well, hanging upside down by your ankles while singing "American Pie" might help prevent injury, too.

LOL Sign me up. 😄

frenchyge said:

LOL Sign me up. 😄

i heard that sitting at home in the armchair doing nothing, helps avoid injury. so, that's it i've stopped cycling and am going to be injury free. Unless the ceiling falls on me.

Oh! wait. i've never been injured in 22 years of racing from cycling (except when i wanted to make friends with the road).

There goes the armchair idea.

ric

Personally I do some core ball/body weight stuff to improve my very weak upper body. Not because I think it'll make me ride a bike faster but for general health and to look a little better in a t-shirt.

Vanity, vanity, all is vanity 🙂