Abdominal strength

[Jim Riley]

Thanks to all who responded to my question on opening the chest a couple weeks ago. Here's another
one, this time regarding abdominal strength.

Various sources state that cyclists need strong abdominal muscles - something about providing a
stable platform for the leg muscles to push against.

But is that really an issue? Gravity seems to do a pretty good job of keeping riders' bottoms
planted firmly on the saddle despite the mighty forces from the leg muscles below.

Moreover, when there is motion above the waist, it usually takes the form of leaning into each
downward stroke. Preventing that motion would require an upward/backward force, and wouldn't that
come from the back, not the abdominals? (I suppose the obliques might be involved too if the motion
has a side-to-side component.)

Finally (and this is the really heretical part), I'm not convinced that a little upper body movement
is such a bad thing. The conventional wisdom is that moving the upper body wastes energy, but it
also takes energy to hold it very still. It's not obvious to me that the movement always takes more
energy than preventing it.

Comments?

Thanks, -- Jim

 

[Jack Pine]

>Here's another one, this time regarding abdominal strength.

You really should ask Sharron Peters, she can help you out.

Jack

 

[Comutrbob]

>Thanks to all who responded to my question on opening the chest a couple weeks ago. Here's another
>one, this time regarding abdominal strength.

I read something to that effect. I began doing a ton of abdominals. My wife bought me this video
called 8-minute abs. It's a tough little workout, but it does the job and it's over rather quickly.
I did it every single day.

I had the best season of my life on the bike, but I don't think the ab work had that much to do with
it. I lost about 10 pounds. That made the difference. And I did that with some changes in diet.

Here's where the abs seemed to play a key role. In October, I was coming down a little grade with a
tailwind. I was doing about 30 mph. I came to an intersection and a a teenager talking on a cell
phone while driving an oncoming car didn't see me and made a left turn -- right into me. It was a
huge collision. Broke my hip, pelvis and ankle and gave me a huge laceration on my left leg. The
emts at the scene were very concerned that I probably had life-threatening internal injuries. The
doctors at the emergency room couldn't believe that I didn't. They said it's very unusual to see a
broken pelvis and not see internal injuries. They attributed the fact that I didn't to my unusually
good abdominal musculature.

So ... I'm really glad I do abdominals. They may not benefit my cycling, but I might not be here to
continue cycling if I hadn't been doing them.

Bob C.

 

[Kyle Legate]

On Mon, 30 Dec 2002, Jim Riley wrote:

> Moreover, when there is motion above the waist, it usually takes the form of leaning into each
> downward stroke. Preventing that motion would require an upward/backward force, and wouldn't that
> come from the back, not the abdominals? (I suppose the obliques might be involved too if the
> motion has a side-to-side component.)
>
It's all about muscular balance. My lower back would ache on long rides, but I found that ab work
increased the length of time I could spend on the bike before my back started giving me trouble. I
chalked it up to the likelyhood that my lower back was quite a bit stronger than my abs, and the
imbalance was causing the soreness.

... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected] Kyle Legate [email protected]

Tower of Tongues:Thursday PM:10:30-11:30 EDT:http://cfmu.mcmaster.ca moon
musick:ritual:IDM:experimental(electronica):minimalism:glitch
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...

 

[Tom Kunich]

Glad you weren't hurt any worse and getting better.

"ComutrBob" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> >Thanks to all who responded to my question on opening the chest a couple weeks ago. Here's
> >another one, this time regarding abdominal strength.
>
> I read something to that effect. I began doing a ton of abdominals. My
wife
> bought me this video called 8-minute abs. It's a tough little workout,
but it
> does the job and it's over rather quickly. I did it every single day.
>
> I had the best season of my life on the bike, but I don't think the ab
work had
> that much to do with it. I lost about 10 pounds. That made the
difference.
> And I did that with some changes in diet.
>
> Here's where the abs seemed to play a key role. In October, I was coming
down
> a little grade with a tailwind. I was doing about 30 mph. I came to an intersection and a a
> teenager talking on a cell phone while driving an
oncoming
> car didn't see me and made a left turn -- right into me. It was a huge collision. Broke my hip,
> pelvis and ankle and gave me a huge laceration
on my
> left leg. The emts at the scene were very concerned that I probably had life-threatening internal
> injuries. The doctors at the emergency room
couldn't
> believe that I didn't. They said it's very unusual to see a broken pelvis
and
> not see internal injuries. They attributed the fact that I didn't to my unusually good abdominal
> musculature.
>
> So ... I'm really glad I do abdominals. They may not benefit my cycling,
but I
> might not be here to continue cycling if I hadn't been doing them.
>
> Bob C.