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Get to the core for a stronger ride

How strong is your core? Every sport requires you to have a strong core. Although some sports require a stronger core than others, if you are hoping to stay injury free and enjoy a long life in your sport, you can’t ignore the core.
Kristina Bangma
Bikers core
A strong core translates to much more efficient riding. photo Dan Toulgoet

How strong is your core? Every sport requires you to have a strong core.

Although some sports require a stronger core than others, if you are hoping to stay injury free and enjoy a long life in your sport, you can’t ignore the core.

Cyclists are not exempt from this rule. Over the last few years, there has been a large number of new riders joining the bike craze due to previous injuries in other sports, including arthritis, bad knees, bad backs or any number of reasons.

This is fantastic and I love seeing new faces on the road, but I’m afraid that cycling is going to start getting a bad rap if these new enthusiasts aren’t training to ride and just simply riding.

Riding a bike is much easier than running because you are sitting down for the majority of the time. But this doesn’t mean that your upper body, including your belly, can shut off and go to sleep.

Cycling is still very much a full body sport. It requires endurance strength in your arms, neck, shoulders and especially your core to continue to support you for those long hours of sitting in one position.

When riding your bike next time, think about what you would look like from the side if you weren’t wearing a shirt. Due to the fact that a road rider’s cycling jersey is skin tight, this is isn’t hard to imagine.

So, is your belly hanging down to the bar or do you engage your core muscles for the whole ride?

For cycling, here are the five main functions of your core:

  • One: Supports your upper body, reducing the pressure on your hands as they rest on the handlebars.
  • Two: The definition of “the core” includes the small low back muscles. So having a strong core would mean that you would also have a strong low back, therefore reducing the chances of injury or pain as you ride.
  • Three: Stabilizes and helps you maintain balance on the bike. Being stable on the bike results in better bike handling skills as you are able to react quickly to sudden changes in your environment or the person you are following.
  • Four: Generally increases your overall endurance as a strong core allows you to comfortably hold an uncomfortable saddle position for long hours without stopping to stretch or rest.
  • Five: The one reason why you may listen and start to train your core: Increases the power and strength in your legs as power is generated from the core.

Building a strong core for cycling doesn’t include exercises like situps. Why would it? When was the last time you did a crunch on your bike? Hopefully never. Think about what your core is asked to do on the bike and then mimic those movements in the gym.

While cycling, your core must maintain one position for long periods of time. The simplest exercise to mimic this is the plank. Almost everyone knows how to do a plank from phys-ed tests in elementary school. If you can’t remember back that far, Google it.

Once you have perfected this simple exercise you will want to add some variations, continually challenging the body.

The following is a list of plank variations, listed in order of easiest to more advanced. I would suggest not advancing to the next variation until you have perfected the previous one.

It will take anywhere from three to six weeks to advance to the next exercise, depending on how dedicated you are to your training program and how strong your core is.

These exercises are safe to do every day but you will notice quick strength gains even if you only complete three sets of one plank exercise three or four times a week. Ěý

  1. Hold a low plank on your elbows and toes for 60 seconds.
  2. Hold a high plank (pushup position) on your hands and toes for 60 seconds.
  3. Hold a low plank for 40 seconds with one foot six inches off the floor. Change feet every 10 seconds.
  4. Hold a high plank for 40 seconds following the same instructions as in exercise number three.
  5. Hold a low plank and then move into a high plank — return back to a low plank. Continue until you have completed 10 of these, changing the leading hand each time.
  6. Hold a high plank for 20 - 30 seconds with one foot 6 inches off the floor and the opposite hand off the floor. Change feet and hands every 5 seconds.
  7. Hold a low plank for 20 - 30 seconds following the same instructions as in exercise number six.