How to Improve Core Strength for Cycling Power

As spring begins to hint at its coming and we anticipate more rides outside on the open roads instead of on our trainers, transferring your strength training to show on-bike should come to the top of our minds.

While many are tempted to start doing more exercises that “look like cycling”, there is actually a much better way to develop the core stability strength to help you convert those weight room gains to on bike watts.

Core Stability Defined
Before we get into the details of the exercises themselves, we have to define what exactly “core stability” is, and is not.

For a lot of trainers and coaches “stability work” means hopping onto an unstable surface, like a bosu ball or balance pita, and trying not to fall over. . . While this is an example of full-body stability, it is not actually anywhere near what true core stability is, or should be.

Core stability refers to your bodies ability to orchestrate all of the muscles between your neck, elbows, and knees, in order to keep outside forces from breaking the needed stiffness at the spine and through the hips and ribcage, in order to allow athleticism and movement to happen at the hips and shoulders.

Or, put more simply:

Core stability is the ability to keep your spinal column appropriately stiff so that you can pedal your bike, run, or lift.

Building Optimal Movement Patterns To Allow In-Sport Adaptations

For many riders looking to improve performance, the secret will lie in two primary “baskets”:

1. Improving your skill of riding your bike (braking, gear selection, cadence ranges, economy of riding position, great control over the bike at all speeds, etc).
2. Training off the bike in optimal positions and postures, allowing the body to take those skills and apply them to your riding.

Yet many mistakenly don’t pay any attention to either of these, and instead of placing effort, time, and focus on these two critical linchpins, instead go the route of mimicking cycling movements in the gym. It is essentially using Duct Tape to “fix a problem.”

No fix

A nice thought, but this does very little to help you improve now, and over the long run. Note above how I wrote optimal position, which doesn’t necessarily mean replicating the cycling position.

In order for us to improve your riding abilities and longevity, we must, MUST, train you in optimal positions off the bike in your strength training. While your optimal positions may not be “textbook”, if you are putting yourself into the best positions you are currently capable of, your body will respond much more favorably.

 

Core Training For Improved Pedaling Performances
Two simple, but not easy exercises to help you both train off the bike in optimal positions, and to help you transfer strength onto the bike, are the Bird-dog (done in this specific fashion), and the Can Crush exercise.

Core Stability Training for Performance video-

When done following the directions outlined in the video, you will learn how to create core stability, while allowing power to be produced from the hips and shoulders. Will you be riding your bike in a neutral spine position? No. Nor should you, as the bike requires a different position. But learning and practicing the exercises in these optimal positions will stack the cards in your favor when you do ride.

Top 3 Bird Dog Mistakes (Don’t Do These!)

Whether you are a “beginner” to strength training, or more advanced, these exercises, when done with proper technique and intent, will help you to learn, reinforce, and integrate optimal movement patterns which will help you pedal stronger, longer, and with less pain.

If you’d like to learn more about strength training to help improve your on-bike performance, and your longevity as a masters athlete, check out my new book Lift Heavy Sh*t Intelligent Strength Training For The Masters Cyclist, How to lift heavy while adding longevity and quality to your life, available on Amazon late February 2024.