Whatever they are, they're the muscles right down low and to the outside of my back on both sides. They became sore and fatigued during hard, sustained efforts on the bike. I then stopped doing abs, and the discomfort went away after about 3 weeks.
I'd like to do abdominal exercises again, but I don't want to ruin my riding.
Maybe I was just doing too much -- I was doing about 5 mins of crunches every day for a couple of weeks before the back discomfort began.
Whatever they are, they're the muscles right down low and to the outside of my back on both sides. They became sore and fatigued during hard, sustained efforts on the bike. I then stopped doing abs, and the discomfort went away after about 3 weeks.
I'd like to do abdominal exercises again, but I don't want the ruin my riding.
Maybe I was just doing too much -- I was doing about 5 mins of crunches every day for a couple of weeks before the back discomfort began.
Crunches can hurt your back even if you don't ride. Are you sure your technique is good? If you want to crunch and ride, start again but build up slowly. Do fewer crunches at a time and only every other day.
I'm confident my technique is good: I only really do half crunches on a cushion, and an extra small cushion under my ass, and my back doesn't hurt at all when I do them. It's just those outer muscles when I ride hard.
I'm confident my technique is good: I only really do half crunches on a cushion, and an extra small cushion under my ass, and my back doesn't hurt at all when I do them. It's just those outer muscles when I ride hard.
Why do you do crunches at all? Do you go to a gym?
I don't go to a gym anymore, but I do some upper bosy weights at home.
Don't just about all cycling coaches recommend abdominal work for core strength and proper pelvic tilt?
Crunches are not the best excercise for core strength, although outside of a gym not everything else is available. Try "The Plank." When you do crunch, concentrate on technique, and do just a few. When that gets easy, do the same holding a weight to your chest. Only do this every other day.
cycling is really the only exercise that will improve your cycling performance, assuming that you mean some for of endurance cycle racing (i.e. > 90-secs in duration).
Neither crunches nor weight training need to be included in your training program if winning cycle races is your only goal. A strong core can be developed on the bike. Check out the thread "Upper body and power" for the various arguments (and counter arguments). But weight training has advantages for cyclists who do not compete and who wish to get fit all over.
Neither crunches nor weight training need to be included in your training program if winning cycle races is your only goal. A strong core can be developed on the bike. Check out the thread "Upper body and power" for the various arguments (and counter arguments). But weight training has advantages for cyclists who do not compete and who wish to get fit all over.
I weight train during the off season, 1 day per week in-season (maintenance) and I compete in cycling races successfully.
I weight train during the off season, 1 day per week in-season (maintenance) and I compete in cycling races successfully.
Some might say that your success is in spite of your weight training rather than because of it. I say:- "If it keeps working, keep doing it." Do you weight train your upper body, your lower body or both? What exercises do you do for a strong core?
Some might say that your success is in spite of your weight training rather than because of it. I say:- "If it keeps working, keep doing it." Do you weight train your upper body, your lower body or both? What exercises do you do for a strong core?
That's why I do it. It makes me feel good and it doesn't hinder my cycling performance. I do light weight training for mostly my upper body now...very limited to no lower body weight training for obvious reasons. For core, I do the basic ab workouts to hit the rectus, transverse, obliques, and spinal erectors, but add some harder ab workouts with balance to hit the whole core area.
Whatever they are, they're the muscles right down low and to the outside of my back on both sides. They became sore and fatigued during hard, sustained efforts on the bike. I then stopped doing abs, and the discomfort went away after about 3 weeks.
I'd like to do abdominal exercises again, but I don't want to ruin my riding.
Maybe I was just doing too much -- I was doing about 5 mins of crunches every day for a couple of weeks before the back discomfort began.
I would guess that your problem is your cycling technique on your hard, sustained efforts rather than your crunches. I was having some back discomfort in precisely the location you described and have been concentrating on relaxing from the waist up regardless of the intensity. In my case, I think I was trying to increase the resistance to apply more force to the cranks through use of my upper body, especially my arms. But, that is unnecessary at least to the point that your downstroke starts to lift you up off the saddle -- and that's a lot of force. My back discomfort has virtually disappeared unless I ride more than 4 hours.
Maybe you need to do some exercises to strenghten your lower back. When i was weight training people i knew got hurt or were sore all the time because all they did was bench press, they never worked out the opposing muscles and that threw things out of whack. So along with your crunches do some superman things, or hyperextentions or stiff legged deadllifts with no weight or milk jugs or something. Or try Yoga.
I tried some easy back exercises, but I lost patience
Are we saying that cyclists probably shouldn't do ab work?
I'm a bit surprised that Ric is a bit quiet on this one.
been busy!
For the majority of cyclists back/ab/core work won't improve cycling performance. it may have other benefits. the forces that are required to stabilise yourself on the bike are pretty low, and these are best trained for riding long hours simply by riding the bike.
as an n=1 anecdotal experiment, i did lots of core work this last winter. i hadn't done any for years previously. prior to this year, if i had to have a week off the bike through illness or whatever, when i got back on my bike my *first* ride back would make my wrists, back and shoulders ache. This would always be cured by the second ride. However, this year after doing lots of sit ups, press ups, tricep dips, core ball work, etc, i found that i had no aches on the first ride back in my usual ache points. i got really good (for me at least) doing press ups (including one legged and one armed ones) and the other exercises but apart from ridding myself of about 90-mins of aching (one ride) it didn't appear to have a positive effect on my cycling.
