Core

[Barracuda]

Whats the recommended exercise found most beneficial for core strength and stability.

Firstly to avoid fatigue on longer rides and also hamstring and back issues after ride !

Thanks all

 

[usedtobefast]

old school situps and pushups work quite well for me.
i use a slant board for situps.

 

[Martin318is]

I did a bit of clinical pilates with an osteopath. Worked wonders. Core strength is the small subliminal muscles that control the micro movements and therefore stability. Doing big abdominal exercises will make your abdomen strong but won't necesarily do anything for core strength or stability.

In my case, the osteo demonstrated on ultrasound that my major leg musles were doing a huge amount of extra work to stabilise my balance because my core muscles were not being recruited and were sitting dormant. Doing the pilates has helped to improve my balance and also released my leg muscles, etc to work on pedalling instead of holding me in place.

 

[Tapeworm]

"Core" is a grossly overused and misunderstood analysis of what makes up the vastly complex system of muscles and co-ordination of the central nervous system which keeps us, in short, upright.

The core is worked pretty much all the time we are working against gravity. Walking around - your core is activated. Sitting upright - core is working. Cycling - core is activated. For those that believe this not to be the case I suggest trying to relax all muscles in core and look what happens, you flop over like a dead fish.

If you want to work core strength, in the very absolute sense of the word, then pure strength building exercise like the squat and deadlift will do this in spades. Keeping an XXX weight stable on your back while moving down and up or conversely picking it up off the ground is the very essence of a "core" workout. Once again if you think about what is actually keeping the spine in its correct form and curvature then you can see how this is achieved.

IN the above example sit-ups are working the rectus abdominis group of muscles. Unless you have an issue with toppling backwards at a regular interval then situps won't really do much for your "core". Boxers need to do situps (cuz they get hit in that group of muscles), beyond that I can't think of too many applications that required a strong pulling forward motion.

However in cycling core strength would not be the limiter. What we are after is core endurance. This can (and in my opinion should) be trained on the bike. Whilst riding keep the back straight, tense up/tighten the core, keep pedalling for as long as you can. Repeat. Ta-da, one bike specific core workout.

If you really want to do something off the bike then all the silly things like planks and raising feet/legs/hands in the air while maintaining the position. Hold for as longs as you can, rest, repeat.

Getting back to your original reasons for this I would also have your bike fit looked at, back and hamstring issues would not generally be associated with a weak core (unless you are just starting cycling from a sedentary past). Also it may just also mean you need to ride more and longer.

 

[Boeing]

Whats the recommended exercise found most beneficial for core strength and stability.

Firstly to avoid fatigue on longer rides and also hamstring and back issues after ride !

Thanks all

lifting large bunches of bananas will make you a fast and core centered cyclist in no time.

 

[Polyarmour]

lifting large bunches of bananas will make you a fast and core centered cyclist in no time.

Eating them does wonders for your core too.

 

[oldborn]

I see quite often people doing a lot of sit-ups for core (or just to look nice in summer); but not a lower back as well. Core is defined as our abdominals, lower back, buttocks, and hips, and all the core muscles must act together to stabilize the spin.

I am doing (when in mood) two ways of strenghten the core; repeadetly flex, extend, and rotation the trunk (like crunch, psoas crunch, swimming on dry up to 30-45 seconds), and onother method to stabilized the trunk against the force of gravity (isometric, static strenght) something like front plank, side plank, push up position etc. up to 30 sec or 1 minute.

Important is to focus on all the core muscles. Many people has issues with lower back pain as result of "strong" abdominal and "weak" lower back, strenghtening just one group is not gonna help a lot.

Hope this help!

 

[Christophe]

lifting large bunches of bananas will make you a fast and core centered cyclist in no time.

Actually, try lifting sacks of apples -- it's a 'core' workout!

 

[brianf7]

Whats the recommended exercise found most beneficial for core strength and stability.

Firstly to avoid fatigue on longer rides and also hamstring and back issues after ride !

Thanks all

Cyclist dont need a lot of core strengh enough to stop the back and sholders from falling apart mid season. more important is stretching. hip flexors ham strings etc.

 

[usedtobefast]

situps... and pushups great for overall body strength. trust me i know these things.

 

[oldborn]

situps... and pushups great for overall body strength. trust me i know these things.

I believe you Kenny, i am doing a lot of squats like Cancellara and getting faster and faster despite some theories

 

[microdose]

....
However in cycling core strength would not be the limiter. What we are after is core endurance. This can (and in my opinion should) be trained on the bike. Whilst riding keep the back straight, tense up/tighten the core, keep pedalling for as long as you can. Repeat. Ta-da, one bike specific core workout.

Sounds like good advice to me. Any tips on how to exactly "tense/tighten" the core whilst riding given it can be quite hard to sense exactly which muscles are the "core".

 

[marathon marke]

Cycling - core is activated. For those that believe this not to be the case I suggest trying to relax all muscles in core and look what happens, you flop over like a dead fish.

However in cycling core strength would not be the limiter. What we are after is core endurance. This can (and in my opinion should) be trained on the bike. Whilst riding keep the back straight, tense up/tighten the core, keep pedalling for as long as you can. Repeat. Ta-da, one bike specific core workout.

I think I understand what you're trying to say, but I'm having a difficult time believing it's always as simple as that. Although I'm not riding as much as I used to (yet), when I was doing ultra-marathon cycling, it seemed that my core muscles would always fatigue before my legs, resulting in me losing my form and the stable, solid foundation in the core that is required to produce efficient effort to pedal. Also, there are times when seated climbing for long periods seems to fatigue the back muscles even quicker. Considering that, don't you think that there are certain times, such as these I mention, when it might be good to include isolated core work to prevent this loss of form and/or back fatigue?

 

[Elegant Degenerate]

I have found yoga to be fairly useful for this - particularly lower back rather than abdominal muscles. It's also been useful to help strengthen my knees. It won't add unnecessary weight.

My only complaint would be that it can be quite time consuming.

It's worth trying if you have the time - particularly if you find yourself developing a few niggling injuries from overuse.