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The Ultimate Guide to Cycling Neck Pain: Causes and Solutions

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Cycling neck pain is one of those nagging issues that can really hinder the other aspects of your life. The muscles in your neck are constantly supporting your breathing, interacting with your shoulders, holding up your head, and countless other important functions liable to irritate any pain, soreness, or injury that could be developing or already present from cycling. 

The reality of our sport means that the neck is going to have to sit in some uncomfortable positions from time to time. In fact, up to 60% of cyclists experience some sort of discomfort in this area. Whether our necks are prepared to go into those positions, how we can prepare them, and what we can do to optimize our necks on the bike will be the focus of this article. 

Neck pain from cycling doesn’t have to slow you down, and we’re here to help you fix it once and for all.

neck pain

(Image credit: SciePro/Adobe Stock)

Causes of Cycling Neck Pain

Does cycling cause neck pain? The short answer is yes, but the reasons behind it can be complicated. We have to approach the topic of cycling neck pain through a wide-angle lens, because it’s seldom a single factor causing the problem. 

Forward Head Posture (FHP)

FHP is an epidemic not just amongst cyclists but the general populace as a whole. The term is referring to the forward position of the cranium (head) relative to the shoulders and spine. Also commonly called text neck, scholar’s neck, or computer neck posture because of its correlation and likelihood of development after prolonged texting, reading, or spending time on a computer.

What many people don’t realize is that their head, on average, weighs 10-12 pounds, and that this weight gets amplified tremendously as the head moves/tilts forward from the midline. For every inch of FHP, it adds roughly 10 pounds to the head. As you can see in the below picture, this can equate to the neck having to support 60+ pounds of sustained pressure throughout the day.


(Image credit: New York Spine Surgery & Rehabilitation Medicine)

The big ropes you see on the sides of a person’s neck are called your sternocleidomastoid muscles. These muscles get overdeveloped and tight as a result of FHP, and can also flatten the natural backwards curve in your cervical spine. These conditions strain the neck, reduce blood flow to the brain, and weaken the extensors of the neck resulting in reduced stability. 

Cycling naturally puts us in positions of FHP, and trains us to hold those positions for long periods of time. Leaning over the handlebars causes the head to protrude forward and the neck to crane back in order to keep our eyes level with the horizon (righting reflex). Because these positions are unavoidable, we have to find ways to correct them in other parts of our training.

cycling neck pain

Notice the position of the head and neck of this cyclist; protruding forward, craned back. (Image credit: Artem Varnitsin/Adobe Stock)

Improper Breathing

Breathing and neck pain are intimately connected. Optimal inhalation is accounted for primarily by the diaphragm, a large, thin sheet of muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity. When contracted, its dome shape flattens out to pull air into the lungs and create room for them to expand. If it’s stiff or not functioning properly, however, other muscles get overloaded.

A muscle group in this category is known as the scalenes. They work as accessory respiratory muscles to help you inhale by lifting the first two ribs. When a person breathes through their chest as opposed to their diaphragm, these muscles get overworked and start to become irritated as a result. Chronic neck pain is often improved by addressing these kinds of faulty patterns.


The three muscles of the scalene group; anterior, medial, posterior. Notice the insertions on ribs one and two. (Image credit: Mikael Häggström/Public Domain)

Because cycling is a cardiovascular intensive sport, coupled with the positions we find ourselves in while riding, make it probable that we will develop a faulty breathing pattern that overworks the neck. Being folded over on the bike can discourage movement of the diaphragm and push our breath up into the chest, where we are only able to inhale ⅓ of the oxygen we could otherwise.

Opening up the breath through breathing re-education exercises, fixing the posture, and corrective stretching are all tools we can use to help combat this issue. By now you’re probably starting to see the links between these causes and how they all can contribute to cycling neck pain.

Upper Cross Syndrome (UCS)

Upper cross syndrome (UCS) is a postural imbalance that occurs as a result of prolonged sitting or standing in a forward head and rounded shoulder posture. It is characterized by tightness in the upper trapezius, levator scapulae, and pectoralis major muscles, as well as weakness in the deep cervical flexors, lower trapezius, and serratus anterior.

upper cross syndrome (UCS)

(Image credit: art4stock/Adobe Stock)

Cycling requires a sustained forward head and rounded shoulder posture, which can exacerbate UCS. The tightness in the upper trapezius, levator scapulae, and pectoralis major muscles can cause increased tension and compression in the cervical spine, as well as inhibit your breathing, which all further contribute to the problem.

Additionally, weakness in the deep cervical flexors, serratus anterior, and lower trapezius muscles can lead to decreased stabilization of the cervical spine. This can be especially problematic for cyclists who spend prolonged periods in a forward head position, as the neck muscles are required to maintain stability and support the weight of the head.

Poor Bike Fit

Having an improperly fitted bike is going to exacerbate all of the above causes of neck pain in cyclists. Symptoms of a poor bike fit include:

  • Handlebars too low or having to reach too far forward
    • Rounds the back/shoulders and closes the chest, encourages forward head posture
  • Arms locked out in extension
    • Having a soft bend in the elbows allows force from the handlebars to be cushioned while riding, otherwise reverberating up into the neck
  • Saddle tipped too far forward
    • This increases weight bearing load on the arms and increases the likelihood of the previous point occurring
  • Poor adjustment of helmet and/or eyeglasses
    • A helmet too low on the head will cause a cyclist to crane their neck excessively, the same problem will occur with eyeglasses sitting too low on the nose

Solutions for Cycling Neck Pain

The causes of neck pain in cyclists are often co-contributing to one another, sometimes making it difficult to pinpoint the exact root of the problem. However, there are some common preventative/corrective measures we can take to help alleviate the above causes and more by following the advice below.

Strengthen the Upper Back & Neck Extensors

To combat forward head posture and upper cross syndrome that develops as a result of cycling (and other modern activities like office work and driving), we can do exercises in our supplemental training to strengthen the muscles that get weak and hyperactive as a result of improper positioning/loading. 

Here are two exercises to help address this:

Prone Cobra/Cobra Hold

Instructions:

  1. Lying prone on your mat, pull your shoulder blades down and together so your arms are in a position like our coach Alisha’s (pictured above)
  2. From here, lift your chest as high as possible off the ground
  3. Squeeze the shoulder blades together, flatten and extend the mid back, and contract the glutes and lower back muscles as well
  4. Keep your neck in a neutral position by pulling it backwards (think of making a double chin)
  5. Hold this position for 30 seconds
  6. Rest for 30 seconds
  7. Repeat three times

This exercise works the mid/upper back, as well as the extensors of the neck in a static hold, which is important for postural endurance. Increased strength in these areas has multiple benefits, including a significantly reduced risk of concussions.

Wall Lean

Instructions:

  1. Start with your feet about one foot away from the wall
  2. Place a towel behind your head and lean into it, keeping the body in a stiff, neutral position (straight line)
  3. Support yourself with your neck in this position, if it is too easy, you can place your feet farther away from the wall
  4. Hold for 30 seconds
  5. Rest for 30 seconds
  6. Repeat three times

The wall lean is a simple exercise to work the neck extensors, which get weak if the head is constantly protruding forward. Strengthening these muscles will help correct forward head posture and pull the head back into better alignment.

Stretch the Sternocleidomastoid, Shoulder & Chest

It is important to couple the following stretches with the above strengthening exercises. These muscles are getting tight and causing neck pain because they’re working hard to try and support us in unnatural positions on the bike. If we stretch them without providing support through corrective strengthening we will only further our risk of pain and injury. 

Try these three stretches to counter the muscle tightness that develops from cycling and contributes to neck pain in cyclists:

Lateral Neck Stretch

Instructions:

  1. Stand in a relaxed and comfortable position
  2. Tilt your head gently to one side, make sure to avoid tilting forward or backward
  3. Rest your hand on the top side of your head
  4. Don’t pull, but let the weight of your hand gently stretch your neck to the side
  5. Hold for 15-30 seconds
  6. Repeat on other side

Cyclists with neck pain will help release a likely hyperactive sternocleidomastoid muscle by performing this stretch. Coupled with the neck and upper back exercises listed above, you’ll be offering multiple modes of relief to the painful areas.

Dynamic Shoulder Rolls

Instructions:

  1. Stand with your shoulders relaxed
  2. Roll your shoulders up high towards your ears, then back (squeezing your shoulder blades together), and finally back down and pulling away from your ears
  3. Complete these circles continuously for 30 seconds
  4. Reverse the motion, rolling your shoulders forward
  5. Repeat for another 30 seconds

This simple exercise helps loosen up and mobilize your shoulder blade and trapezius muscle. The upper trapezius and levator scapulae muscles often get tight as a result of cycling. This movement helps loosen them and is great to do pre/post ride.

Single Arm Chest Stretch w/Wall

Instructions:

  1. Start facing the wall with your arm straight out to the side (shoulder height), palm against the wall
  2. Staying close to the wall, slowly rotate away from your arm until you feel a stretch in the chest and front of the shoulder
  3. Hold here for 30 seconds
  4. Switch to the other arm and repeat

Tight chest and shoulder muscles are common with faulty breathing patterns that often develop as a result of cycling. By opening up these tissues we also open up our lung capacity so that the muscles in our neck don’t have to work so hard as we inhale. 

Professional Bike Fitting/ AI Bike Fitting

To avoid exacerbating all of the aforementioned causes of neck pain in cyclists, it’s recommended that you find a reputable local bike fitter to help optimize the positioning on your bike to your unique body and proportions.

Another option is to use an at home bike fitting app like MyVeloFit. This app utilizes the power of AI to analyze your bike fit and make recommendations on how to correctly adjust different components of the bike and ensure your joint angles fall into the optimal range.

The money and time you spend on a bike fit, whether it’s at home or in person, will most certainly be returned in the form of saved physiotherapy, chiropractic, and massage therapy appointments long-term.

Prevent Cycling Neck Pain & Become A Stronger Cyclist!

The above solutions were borrowed from our programming over at Dynamic Cyclist, a fully online and interactive training platform designed for the health and well-being of people in our sport. We address mobility, strength training, injury prevention and more in routines that are fun to follow-along with! Try it out FREE for 7-days by clicking here!

How to Eradicate Shin Splints in Cyclists

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“Shin Splints” is a term often used to describe any sort of pain that runs along the lateral part of the shin bone. It usually starts to occur after prolonged activity and/or training in sports that involve a lot of impact, running or other repetitive movements. Shin splints and cycling have an interesting relationship, because cyclists experience very different forces through the lower leg as opposed to someone like a runner. 

Even more interesting, the two sports often overlap, with participants cross training in each for triathlons or the complementary health benefits in general. This leaves the often undertrained area of the shin vulnerable to excessive impacts and contractions it might not necessarily be prepared for.

woman with a shin splint

lzf/Adobe Stock

What Causes Shin Splints?

If we think about shin splints as pain along either side of the shin bone, it begs the question…

“What is causing the pain?” 

The answer is, it could be a number of things. 

While many people think this pain is primarily caused by tiny stress fractures in the shin bone (tibia) itself, this is actually unlikely, especially for cyclists, because the impact on your lower leg while riding is very minimal. There are several other lines of defense if you will that tend to be the culprits in a condition like this that develops over time. 

Your body uses pain to alert you to a problem that needs addressing, and the muscles of the lower leg are likely to be causing these problems far before the integrity of your shin bone is compromised.

Lower Leg Muscles & Shin Pain While Cycling

When people train the lower leg (and this includes cyclists), they often focus only on the back of it, where your calf muscles are located. Your calf muscles are responsible for plantar flexion, i.e. pointing the toes down. You use these muscles repeatedly while cycling, every time you press down on the pedal (particularly near the end of your downward stroke).

The front of your lower leg also has a huge muscle which performs the opposite function, dorsiflexion, i.e. lifting the toes up. This muscle is called your tibialis anterior, and it runs from just below your knee joint all the way down your shin before actually wrapping underneath the arch of your foot. All that to say, it has significant influence over a number of areas in your body.

tibialis anterior

maya2008/Adobe Stock

As you can see from the image above, dysfunction in the tibialis anterior might cause pain at the knee, at the ankle/foot and anywhere in between. It’s a muscle that can get incredibly overworked in our day to day lives and activities of all kinds, including cycling. Because of its function to lift up the foot, we are constantly using it unknowingly while walking, running and even pedaling.

Everytime you swing your back leg forward while walking or running, your tibialis anterior is the muscle that lifts the foot to avoid it from hitting the ground. Everytime you press through the first half of the downstroke and start to transition to the upstroke, the tibialis anterior becomes engaged (especially if you’re wearing cycling shoes or are strapped into a stationary bike).

The countless times that the tibialis anterior will contract leaves it open to overuse and irritation if it’s not prepared for that kind of exertion. As previously mentioned, because of our neglect for this part of the lower leg, this often seems to be the case in individuals who develop shin pain while cycling. 

Another function of this muscle is to help us decelerate when walking, landing from a jump or running. It absorbs a huge percentage of our impact and helps us to slow down, change direction and also to keep us from overextending in the direction of inertia. This is one of the key reasons why runners develop pain in their shins, and could be a factor in cyclists who experience shin pain and also cross train with running.

How Do I Prevent Shin Pain While Cycling?

There are two things that commonly need to happen in any athlete who is experiencing shin pain. One is to stretch and mobilize the area so it can relax and better receive blood flow and nutrients. And two is to strengthen it to the point where it can handle the forces you’re asking it to absorb so you can continue your sport without irritation and injury. 

Stretch

Here is a simple ankle/shin stretch from one of our daily stretching and mobility routines available at Dynamic Cyclist. This routine focuses on the calf and ankle. We have hundreds of routines available like this for every area of the body to address mobility, strength and injury prevention for all levels of cyclists.

Strengthen

An easy way to strengthen your tibialis anterior muscles is by performing an exercise called Tibialis Raises. It involves leaning flat against a wall with your heels slightly away from the wall (the farther from the wall the harder this will be). While keeping your legs locked straight, lift your toes up as high as you can, slowly lower, and repeat. 

Performing high repetitions of this exercise (20-25 rep sets) will train your shin muscles to work under load, and will strengthen them up to be able to better handle the repetitive nature of pedaling and any other exercise/activity you might involve yourself in.

Do You Want to Become a Better Cyclist?

Dynamic Cyclist offers comprehensive, all-inclusive, balanced programming designed specifically for cyclists. Our mission for ourselves and everyone in our community is to ride pain free, and we do that by addressing strength imbalances and mobility restrictions that hinder cycling performance in a systematic and well thought out way. 

If you’ve ever wanted to take the guesswork out of your training and be part of something professional and easy to follow, try signing up with us for FREE with a 7-day trial that you can find here! 

The Best Way to Avoid Cycling Injuries

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“How can you prevent injury while cycling?”

It’s one of the first questions you should be asking as a cyclist. We all want to get faster, stronger and better on the bike, and while there’s definitely tried and true methods to attaining those things, there’s also a guaranteed way to prevent them from happening: Getting injured.

injury while cycling

Being sidelined from the saddle is a cyclist’s worst nightmare. We all know the exercise-induced-junkie-type behaviour that is all too common in ourselves and our fellow riders. We love to ride and we love to ride often. Being “injured” is almost a misnomer for many members of the cycling community, and we’re all too inclined to take a position of out of sight, out of mind. 

But that can only go on for so long. Anybody who has been riding for a while knows that the aches turn into pains if you give them enough time, and because of the repetitive nature of our sport, cycling injuries in general tend to stick around longer than others. 

This calls for action, a plan, something to have in place and fall back on. It’s not a pill, it’s not a tool, and it’s not a quick fix. It’s more of a philosophy, a necessary component. Something you need to build yourself and your cycling practice around. Something that will help you keep your status not just as a cyclist, but as an overall strong, healthy human being. 

One of the best ways to avoid cycling injuries is by implementing a strength, mobility and conditioning program into your training. 

Common Cycling Injuries

Think about it, apart from falls and collisions (which, admittedly, make up a large percentage of cycling injuries), how do we get injured in our sport? There are no rapid changes of direction that blow out our ACL’s. No violent kicks, throws or punches to tear a hip or shoulder. No lifting of heavy loads to herniate a disc…it’s just different from other sports. 

There is one word, though, that could characterize the plight of the average cyclist…

That word, is overuse.

Overuse injuries are the bane of your existence if you are an avid bike rider of any kind. The bike keeps you in a more or less fixed position while riding, which is something the body can adapt to, but only so much. There comes a time where you cross the point of adaptation and creep into the realms of imbalance; a place where lurking, recurring injuries love to dwell. 

Knee pain, neck pain, lower back pain, groin pain, hamstring tightness, headaches, shortness of breath and so much more can all be the result of overworked muscles. Not necessarily just in the area of pain, but somewhere in the chain of the human body’s unbelievably complex web of connectedness.

How do we restore function? How do we get rid of pain? How do we find balance? It is something we have to achieve in our time spent off the bike. 

Strength Training for Cyclists

prevent injury while cycling with strength training

fizkes/Adobe Stock

Exposing your body to exercises that work opposing muscles from the ones you use while cycling are going to help pull joints back into alignment and strengthen the tissues that get neglected through our sport. It is common for cyclists to think that any time off the bike is wasted time, but going back to the beginning of this article, if you end up injured, you might not be spending any time on the bike at all.

Some people fear the idea of strength training because they don’t want to get too bulky, and are afraid it will actually hinder their performance on the bike. Nothing could be further from the truth. Several studies have shown that in both men and women, one of the best things you can do to increase cycling performance is to increase the cross sectional area (size) of your muscles. 

Remember this as well, building muscle is a slow and tedious process. It requires weeks, months and years of consistent week-in-week-out effort. So the idea that you’ll wake up one day and be too bulky to ride efficiently is a myth you should be all too willing to dispose of.

What Should My Program Consist Of? 

Dedicating time to bringing harmony back into your body is the only way to counter everything we put ourselves through on the bike. A strength training program isn’t all about lifting heavy weights, there are several other components as well to ensure it remains balanced and complimentary to your body and the sport of cycling. 

We can not only increase our strength, but our endurance as well. The higher our fitness level the less likely it is that our form will break down while riding, which can lead to our muscles being used improperly and adding significant stress to our joints.

We can also work on our mobility and flexibility to help keep tissues supple and vascular. Too much cycling activity can really start to limit our ranges of motion due to its relatively minimal amount of movement. The pedal stroke doesn’t take our hip or knee through a full range, and the rest of our body doesn’t move that much at all. Resultant stiffness can lead to constriction, which means less blood flow and nutrients delivered to the area, and an increased risk of injury.

How Do I Start? 

Starting to exercise off the bike can be the most intimidating part of the process. We’re taking you away from what’s familiar and plunging you into a whole other world that applies to not just cycling, but every other sport and activity that there is. Sometimes the best thing to do is hire a professional, but coaching costs can be discouraging. That’s why we decided to come up with something better…

Dynamic Cyclist is our partnered training platform designed by cyclists, for cyclists. We’ve integrated mobility, conditioning and strength training into one, easy to use, 100% online user interface that our members can use 24/7 to fit their schedules. There’s no need for a gym membership, because all of our routines can be done at home with little to no equipment!

Everything has been prepared for you with high quality instructional videos led by world class coaches. All you need to do is press play and follow along!
For a fraction of the cost of a single physio appointment or personal trainer session, you can become part of our community of cyclists who want to ride pain free and be the best version of themselves on and off the bike. Try it for yourself by signing up for our 7-day free trial!

9 Tips on How to Build Your Own Cycling Training Plan

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Whether you just bought your first rig or are an experienced road racer, a cycling training plan is going to be (or become) that friend who always tells you the truth, no matter how ugly that truth is. Saying you want to do something (increase your fitness, be a better cyclist, lose weight, etc.) is something entirely different from actually seeing your progress written down on a piece of paper. 

Perhaps that’s why most people never do it.

It can be both heartbreaking and encouraging to look down at a planned workout or multiple week program, and then to see how you’ve been succeeding (or failing) throughout it. There’s no sense lying to ourselves, though. It’s better to see it in front of you than live in the delusion of doing better than you actually are. 

This is one of the most important reasons to have a cycling training plan. It keeps you on track, makes you responsible for something and holds you accountable. While all that sounds great, actually building a training plan can be another monster all on its own. There are a lot of variables and areas of focus that you need to consider, all depending on your experience and current state of fitness.

Today we’re going to give you three tips and/or things to focus on whether you’re a beginner, intermediate or advanced cyclist. These ideas can be combined with any current training program you’re working through or currently building, and can be used for reference whenever taking consultation from a coach, training template or fellow rider.

Beginner


Source: jul14ka/Adobe Stock

Beginner cyclists can vary to a wide degree. You could have zero experience on the bike, or, be a once avid cyclist who hasn’t rode in a long time. This is the only stage out of the three that has a sliding scale, especially due to the cardiovascular fitness and muscular endurance required for our sport. But whether you’re fresh to the bike or revisiting it after a prolonged absence, the beginner cycling training plan principles will remain the same. 

1. Build Consistency

Getting used to regular riding is something your body needs time to adapt to. The pressure from the saddle, the energy requirements, the time allotment…all these things add up, and they’re just a few of the components required to build on more advanced levels of cycling. So focus on getting on the bike often, at least 3-4 times a week.

2. Try Different Intensities

This can be explored in a number of ways, one of the most freeing and encouraging for someone new to the sport would be to try different routes and terrains wherever it is you live. This will present a number of challenges depending on how many hills there are, the contours of the ground, etc. Start learning where your boundaries are in terms of pushing yourself.

3. Increase General Strength & Conditioning

In many ways, as a beginner, you are most susceptible to injury. You’re going to be asking your body to do a lot of things it’s not used to. This is why it’s important to carve out some time in your training schedule to develop overall strength and conditioning. It will help balance you on and off the bike and prevent injury long term.

Intermediate

Intermediate cycling training plans typically include training for races around the five hour mark.

Source: Friends Stock/Adobe Stock

If you’ve built up the discipline and capacity to put in six to eight hours/week, and have been doing so consistently for at least six months, you might be able to call yourself an intermediate cyclist. People in this range are typically training for races around the five hour mark, and will aim to put in around eight to 10 hours/week of training.

1. Learn to Use Fat as Fuel

Don’t really, this isn’t really a conscious thing, but more of an experiential one. When people talk about “hitting the wall” in long duration aerobic exercise, the sudden halt in energy is often the point at which their body is switching from carbohydrates to fat as the primary fuel source. It’s a jarring feeling, one that takes getting used to. Longer rides will help you adapt to this.

2. Develop Your Muscles

The intensity and length of road races favours your slow-twitch muscle fibers. These are highly oxygenated muscle fibers that are capable of producing low amounts of force over long periods of time, which is exactly what needs to be done on the bike. They are workhorses, and can only be developed through sustained, long duration, consistent time riding.

3. Improve Your Cycling Economy

Your economy on the bike refers to the amount of oxygen required to move your body at a given speed or power output. As you build up higher training volumes, the capillarization of your muscles increases, you produce more mitochondria and your aerobic fitness goes up. All contributors to how well you will use your oxygen intake while riding.

Advanced

Advanced cyclists have completed several races and are used to putting in a lot of volume on the bike.

Source: Charte Photography/Adobe Stock

Advanced riders have been training for a bare minimum of one year. They’ve completed several races and are used to putting in a lot of volume on the bike. Because of the adaptive changes their body has made in terms of fitness and resilience, they’re able to push their bodies much harder than a beginner. This opens up new possibilities for training, especially at higher intensities.

1. Develop Your Anaerobic Threshold

Anaerobic threshold is the highest exercise intensity you can sustain before lactic acid starts to quickly build up in the blood. In other words, your submaximal effort. A place that tilts on the edge of serious discomfort. To become a serious competitor in cycling, you need to become very comfortable with that discomfort, because you’ll be spending a large portion of your races there.

2. Changes in Intensity

Advanced riders are more free to play with interval training, and expose their bodies to large scale changes in intensity over short periods of time. This can help mimic race conditions when going over varying terrain, hill climbs, attacking for and defending position. Your body should be built up by this point to where you can throw anything at it without worrying about injury.

3. Improve Your VO2 Max

Cyclists have some of the highest VO2 max scores ever recorded. It refers to the maximum amount of oxygen you’re able to utilize during intense exercise. The combination of aerobic base training (long duration, low intensity) and maximum effort training (short duration, high intensity) is key. This should become a prime goal in the last phase of training before a race.

Ready to Ride Pain Free?

Our partner Dynamic Cyclist is a world class training resource for cyclists worldwide. They have a comprehensive library of follow along instructional videos with routines for stretching, mobility, strength and injury prevention. We invite you to join the community and try their programming in a FREE 7-day trial that can be accessed here.

What Muscles Does Cycling Work?

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It can be hard to discern just through sensation what muscles we actually used during a ride, and you might find yourself wondering what was really accomplished in terms of muscular activity. What muscles does cycling work? Some people say their lungs are working, but the lungs aren’t a muscle. It’s obvious our legs are working, but the leg is a big thing with many parts. Which of them are doing what? How? And at what time when we’re on the bike? 

The science of cycling is unique in several ways because our sport is quite different than most. There’s those sports where you operate on your own two feet, and others (like cycling, rowing and kayaking) that support and move you in a seated position.

Today we want to tell you, and give you a brief overview of the different muscles you use while cycling. Some are far bigger contributors to your cycling performance than others, and some are just completely misunderstood. So let’s start with busting a major myth right off the bat. The idea that cycling builds big glutes.

Source: Rattanasak/Adobe Stock

Glutes

Unfortunately, it does not. Not to any great degree anyways. If you’re cycling to lift things up, make them more round and so on – you’re going to be quite disappointed. That is unless you’re coming from a place of very low fitness and activity (i.e. cycling is your first real form of exercise), in which case you will likely notice a difference, but only the same difference you would notice if starting any form of exercise.

If you’re relatively fit with a healthy body composition, the sport of cycling just doesn’t stimulate the gluteus maximus (your butt) enough for any real development. The gluteus maximus is the body’s primary hip extensor, it’s strong and big, and responds to intense, powerful hip extension like you see in a person sprinting or coming out of the bottom of a full depth squat.

The reason cycling negates its use is due to the range of motion your hip goes through while on the bike. If the hip doesn’t go past a certain degree of flexion, your body will not use the gluteus maximus to extend it. It’s too expensive, and the body is an energy conservation machine. It will instead resort to your secondary hip extensors, which are the hamstrings.

Electromyography analysis of the lower extremity during pedaling. What muscles does cycling work

Source: Electromyographic Analysis of the Lower Extremity during Pedaling

Hamstrings

The graph above details this situation perfectly. This study placed individuals on a bicycle ergometer and had them pedal against changes in workload, pedal rates and other variables in seated and standing positions. The graph shows measures in electrical activity of different muscle groups throughout the test. Notice the difference between gluteus maximus and biceps femoris (your outer hamstring).

Your hamstrings have a primary function of flexing the knee, and a secondary function of extending the hip. When circumstances ask for hip extension, but the intensity requirement of that extension is low, your body resorts to a principle called synergistic dominance. This principle states that when a prime mover is inhibited (gluteus maximus), your body will use secondary movers (biceps femoris) to save energy and properly perform the function.

Conclusively, the hamstrings are far more responsible for hip extension while cycling than the glutes. On every downstroke your hamstrings are working to extend the hip down. Further, they also use their knee flexing function to start the upstroke. All of this work presents itself in the hamstring stiffness often seen globally among cyclists.

Woman holding a bridge pose

Source: fizkes/Adobe Stock

Quadriceps

Let’s move on to the real workhorse muscles used while cycling, the quadriceps. Particularly the rectus femoris, also seen in the electromyography graph above. There is extreme and vigorous activity of the quadriceps on every pedal downstroke you perform. That’s because the range of the movement and your ability to produce force is operated primarily via your ability to extend the knee, which is, you guessed it, the main function of your quads.

Particularly when standing on the bike you are going to get more of a pump in your thighs due to the fact that you’re contracting them with the addition of a huge percentage of your bodyweight that would otherwise be supported by the saddle. The quadriceps are big, powerful muscles and that burning feeling you get climbing a hill or doing a sprint is because of the lactic acid that gets accumulated as a result of all their contractions.

Knee pain, IT band tightness and even hamstring injuries can be the result of overworked, stiff quadriceps muscles. Using foam rolling, mobility and stretching exercises to help release some of the tension they’re liable to hold on a cyclist can do a lot to increase blood flow and allow other muscles to do their jobs properly while riding. 

Lower Leg Muscles

The all too forgotten muscles of the lower leg serve important roles while cycling. If they’re thought of at all we tend to only focus on the back of the lower leg, your gastrocnemius and soleus (calf muscles). These muscles work to flex the foot or point the toes down, which is a huge part of transitioning through the bottom of your pedal stroke.

It may surprise you to learn that there is also a whole other side to your lower leg! The tibialis anterior is a large muscle that runs along the front outer part of your shin with its tendons actually wrapping down into the arch of your foot. It’s responsible for picking your foot off the ground and lifting your toes. Which happens every time you transition to the upstroke and is accentuated drastically through the use of cycling shoes.

Cyclists with achilles tendon problems, knee issues and foot pain often have dysfunction somewhere in the lower leg muscles as well. We can mitigate a lot of those problems, however, by ensuring our lower legs are strong, supple and getting some focused attention in our training programs. 

A group of cyclists lower body pedaling

Source: pavel1964/Adobe Stock

Hip Flexors

Especially if you’re wearing cycling shoes, the hip flexors (primarily the psoas muscle) can help produce a more powerful upstroke while pedaling. Their function is in the name, hip flexion, but that’s not all they do. Because of their attachment to all five lumbar vertebrae, they are major stabilizers of the lower back.

Low back pain is one of the most common complaints amongst cyclists at all ages and skill levels. A good chunk of that responsibility has to fall on your poor psoas muscle, which can really get crushed if you’re putting in long hours on the bike. This is because the hip is always in a semi-flexed position, which for the psoas means a semi-shortened position.

If you constantly put a muscle in a shortened position you’re basically teaching it to stay there, and by chronically shortening a muscle it will eventually start to lose sarcomeres (base units of muscle), becoming permanently shorter. We want to avoid this at all costs, and implement stretching and mobility measures to return the psoas to its normal range.

Strengthen the Muscles Used in Biking

Our partner, Dynamic Cyclist, has intelligently designed programs to address all the stiffness, injury and common muscle weaknesses seen in cyclists! They have hundreds of follow along video routines that have been organized into balanced training programs for you to try, all for a low monthly cost! See for yourself by signing up for a 7-day free trial!

How To Get Stronger Legs For Cycling

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When it comes to your muscles, cycling is a predominantly lower extremity exercise. Not including your heart, your legs are pumping harder than anything else in your body. Everything else remains relatively fixed in certain positions for prolonged periods of time, so it only makes sense that our training off the bike pays special attention to leg exercises for cycling.

You might be thinking…shouldn’t a cycling leg workout just consist of…cycling? 

Well, unfortunately our time on the bike will only take us so far in terms of output and overall performance. The fault of which lies in something called the S.A.I.D. principle.

Source: Maksym Protsenko/Adobe Stock

S.A.I.D. Principle

Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands (S.A.I.D.) is a guiding principle in exercise science that the body is always following. What it means is that the body will change only in relation to the demands you are placing upon it… 

For example, if you do push ups, you will get stronger arms and chest muscles. You will also get better at pushups.

If you start running, your ankles will get stronger and you’ll lose weight. You’ll also get better at running. 

If you sit at your desk, your glutes will get weak and your upper back will start rounding forward. You’ll also get better at sitting.

If you ride your bike, you will increase your cardiovascular fitness and tone your legs. You’ll also get better at cycling.

All these things are true…to an extent.

An important component of the S.A.I.D. principle is that the imposed demands have to be adequate enough for the body to make the continual corresponding specific adaptations. In cases where you’re getting weaker (such as the sitting example), this has to be thought about slightly differently. We will focus on getting stronger for the remainder of the article.

If you ride your bike 10 miles (and that is difficult for you), you will see improved fitness and strength adaptations in your body each repeated time you complete that distance. Once you are strong and fit enough to easily do 10 miles however, it is going to take a different or more intense stimulus to see new fitness/strength gains.

Source: Justin/Adobe Stock

How Does This Relate To Cycling?

Time on the bike will only get you so far. There are few ways outside of changing gears and the level of incline your riding that will make pedaling more difficult. It’s near impossible (and honestly, would be a bit strange) to try and replicate the reps and sets of a strength or muscle building focused gym workout whilst on the bike. 

Leg exercises for cycling should focus on building more muscle in the correct tissues, and also increasing their force production capabilities over extended periods of time. Luckily for us, these things can go hand in hand. It’s a matter of choosing the appropriate exercises and performing them in the right order to give us the maximum benefit. 

The S.A.I.D. principle is always at work. So what demands should we place on our bodies to get the adaptations that we want (i.e. faster, stronger, better cycling performance)?

Cyclist Legs Workout

By creating routines with exercises that are both similar and complementary to the positions and muscular contractions we see in cycling, Dynamic Cyclist is a wonderful resource for anyone looking to increase their leg drive on the bike. 

We’ve taken some of the exercises from one of their lower body routines to show just how beneficial the right movement selection can be. Each exercise includes a link to our coach Alisha teaching and demonstrating each movement, as well as a quick explanation about what makes it so powerful for you as a cyclist.

These are just a few exercises from a library filled with hundreds of videos and routines to help you ride pain free and be better on the bike. We hope you enjoy them and consider signing up for a FREE TRIAL with Dynamic Cyclist HERE!

Squat w/Band

Click here to try this exercise with Alisha!

Why It Works

It wouldn’t be a lower body workout without squats. It’s a fundamental movement we’ve been doing since we were kids, and it is one of the best leg exercises for cyclists. The force produced in the power phase of your pedal stroke is produced primarily by your quadriceps (front thigh muscles), and that’s exactly what this exercise focuses on.

By adding the mini band around your legs, it forces you to press your knees outwards throughout the entire movement. This helps to engage your glute (butt) muscles which play an important part in your overall hip health and lower body strength. 

Hamstring Curls

Click here to try this exercise with Alisha!

Why It Works

The hamstrings (particularly the biceps femoris) play a crucial part in cycling because of their dual function, knee flexion and hip extension. Both of these things occur in the transition between your downward and upward stroke, and because of the position of the hip while cycling, the hamstrings end up doing the majority of the extension work (as opposed to the glutes).

This exercise is simple, easy to do and all you need is a mini band. Because of the anatomy of the hamstrings and their crossing of the knee joint, they are an important stabilizer of the knee and contribute to its overall health. Many people experience knee pain while cycling because of an imbalance between the quadriceps and the hamstrings, this exercise helps correct that.

Tick Tocks

Click here to try this exercise with Alisha!

Why It Works

In a way, cycling is a partly unilateral exercise (one side, one legged). Not entirely of course, because you have the support of both pedals at the same time. However, there are varying degrees of emphasis on each leg depending on which one is in its power phase. 

This can create an odd strength/timing imbalance if one side is stronger than the other, because one leg might be pushing faster and with more force. The tick tock exercise helps work on the strength of each leg independent of the other. It also places tremendous demand on your gluteus medius and minimus through the standing leg and dynamic abduction of your free leg. Both these things contribute to pelvis stabilization and overall hip health.

Now It’s Your Turn!

Give these exercises a try and see what you think! Adding some strength training into your routine can go a long way towards improving cycling performance, reducing injury and keeping your body healthy long term. If you’re not sure where to start, Dynamic Cyclist has put it all together into one simple package available for you HERE.

6 Ways To Immediately Get Better At Cycling

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Becoming stronger on the bike is about more than wearing a speed suit and choosing the right kind of energy bar (despite what the manufacturers of such goods would have you believe). We want to delve into the more substantive aspects of how to become a better cyclist, and that involves looking at the sport from a personalized and wide-angle perspective.

The last thing we want as cyclists is to start feeling bogged down by the thought of getting on a bike. If you stop seeing improvement or the body begins to give you grief, all of a sudden the activity you used to love will become nothing more than another chore. You might already be there, but it’s never too late to change things up and reinvigorate a whole new routine.

It’s our goal today to give you six solid tips to improve your cycling, make you a better cyclist and help you feel good long-term on and off the saddle. These tidbits of advice will positively contribute to several other areas in your day to day life, so let’s start making a difference today!

Source: kunchainub – Adobe Stock

1. Slow Down

Source: insta_photos – Adobe Stock

Overtraining is a real and extremely detrimental condition that we in the cycling community are susceptible to. Your body doesn’t differentiate stress; stress from work, from relationships and from exercise. It’s all the same to the body. Having a cup that’s too full is a sure way to hurt cycling performance and eventually end up injured.

You wouldn’t think that to become a better cyclist you might have to stop cycling. Sometimes stopping completely, sometimes just learning to slow down. Try reducing the overall intensity of your rides by sticking to even terrain as opposed to hilly slopes. Or, have your goal be to enjoy the ride instead of focusing on performance, which is another way to calm a flared up system.

Look at it this way, cycling has been shown to improve executive functioning and mental health in older adults. This is evidence that our sport can be regenerative and medicinal with the proper dosage. Using it as a tool for recuperation and fulfillment (instead of punishment) is a way we can stay on the bike longer while feeling good about the choices we’re making.

2. Cross Train

Source: LIGHTFIELD STUDIOS – Adobe Stock

Cross training is one of the best ways to improve your cycling performance and make you an overall better bike rider. Not only do you get to explore other recreational and social opportunities, but it’s a physical necessity for any athlete participating in any sport. 

Proper cycling posture is a key factor in determining whether your rides will be efficient, comfortable and pain free. Even the most meticulous cyclist, however, will start to feel aggravated after too much time on the bike. Moving your body with different amounts of force through varying ranges of motion is a complexity that it constantly craves.

Integrating activities that use movements not found in cycling will provide the most benefit. Swimming is a great example; rotation, pulling, back extension, core extension, freeing of the legs and shoulders are all things cycling isn’t great at. An intelligently selected cross training activity will give your body that fresh new stimulation it has been waiting for.

3. Eat Better Food

Source: america_stock – Adobe Stock

The benefits of whole, organically grown, fresh fruits, vegetables and meats are far reaching within your own body, your community and the rest of the planet. Shopping at a farmers market is more than a nice day trip (but it is that too!). It supports local operations and people you get to meet face to face, making a connection between you and what you put in your body.

You literally are what you eat. Everything you digest breaks down to eventually form the cells of your entire anatomy. Organic food is more nutritious and contains less pesticide residues than commercially raised goods. By choosing whole, organic foods (not organic cookies) you’re supporting a sustainable ecosystem both inside your body and outside in the world.

When you eat poorly (and we all know what that means), your body has to try to build muscles, tendons, organs, blood and bone out of garbage materials. How do you think those structures will perform? A hint: They will be at high risk of injury and lacklustre on the bike. Not to mention your mental health, which your food choices have a profound effect on.

4. Implement A Strength Training & Mobility Routine

Source: Shutter2U – Adobe Stock

Unless you are a powerlifter, weightlifter or bodybuilder, your number one goal as an athlete in the gym (including cyclists) is injury prevention. When you get injured, it doesn’t matter how good you look or how strong you are or what your Vo2 max is…you won’t be able to do the activity you love. This often occurs as a result of a repetitive, improperly balanced program.

The implementation of a strength & mobility routine is how you make up for the shortfalls and detriments of your sport. There is no lack of those in cycling, so we have to be clever with the moments before we get on the bike, time actually spent riding, and off days dedicated to the health, pliability and strength of our bodies.

Dynamic Cyclist is a fully integrated training system dedicated to cyclists. It’s a fraction of the cost of a gym membership and can be performed at home with little or no equipment. They have follow along strength workouts, stretching routines, mobility exercises and injury prevention programs that are all designed to help you become a better cyclist.

5. Get A Training Partner

Source: Odua Images – Adobe Stock

Riding alongside a partner is one of the best ways to get better at cycling. Whether it’s your romantic partner, a long-time friend or someone you met at an event, cycling is a wonderful activity that should be shared and bonded over. 

Cycling solo certainly has its benefits, but we all need human connection. Shared experiences are the most memorable, and cycling offers us that opportunity to get outside together and explore. If you’ve noticed a lack of motivation lately, a training partner can help breathe new life into the sport you once fell in love with.

Nowadays there is ample opportunity to connect with local biking enthusiasts. Race events, Facebook groups and other online communities mean that if you want to find someone to ride with, you can! For the more competitive athlete, you’ll find grueling hills and long distance pushes far more enjoyable knowing someone else is going through it too!

6. Hire A Coach

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Commissioning the services of a qualified, experienced coach is one of the best returns on investment in any sport or activity. You’ll be under the guidance of someone who has been there and seen the problems you might be facing in themselves and other athletes. Not only that, they’ve learned ways to address those problems and figured out solutions to improve them. 

There is a plethora of information, training programs and advice that pervades the web on anything and everything cycling. Deciphering such information can be difficult and result in a lot of wasted time and effort. This is one of the main advantages to working with someone who can separate the wheat from the chaff and ensure you’re doing the right things at the right time.

Dynamic Cyclist’s dedicated 1-on-1 coach, Cory Krist, has over 20 years of experience helping people become better cyclists. He graduated with an honours degree in Kinesiology and uses his extensive knowledge to help people understand the why behind different training principles and techniques. You can learn about Coach Cory and set up a call with him HERE!

Become A Better Cyclist

As cyclists, we all know the importance of staying in top shape and maintaining muscle balance to avoid injury and ride pain-free. That’s why we’re excited to introduce Dynamic Cyclist, the program that offers daily stretching and strength training video routines designed specifically for cyclists. Created by industry professionals, these programs will take your cycling to the next level and help you reach your full potential. So, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced rider, Dynamic Cyclist has everything you need to improve your performance and keep riding for years to come. Experience the results for yourself, click here to try 7 days free. 

Unlock Your Glutes For More Cycling Power

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Does cycling work your glutes? How do you use your glutes when cycling? What are some good glute exercises for cyclists? These are all questions we will address in today’s article which focuses on everything glutes and how we can put them to work for you, on and off the bike. 

Introduction

Your butt. Your bum. Your glutes. We are, with all these terms, describing more or less the same group of muscles that surround the posterior and lateral aspects of the hip. They are the inspiration of gym goers and fitness enthusiasts worldwide. They extend the hips, keep us balanced and make us attractive. An enigmatic area to say the least.

Glutes and cycling have a love/hate relationship. We ask them to initiate movement on this vehicle we’ve invented, and they try desperately to help us through unspeakable numbers of repetitions. All this while sitting on said vehicle; sitting being a known contributor to a modern condition sometimes called “glute amnesia” (a term first coined by Dr. Stuart McGill).

Glute amnesia, where the glutes are inactive and become consequently weak, occurs for a number of reasons, three of which are relevant to cycling:

  • Pain and tightness in the front of the hip, which is common for the avid cyclist. 
  • Pressure is put on the glutes while riding the saddle, which inhibits their neuromuscular response (the same way that a massage relaxes muscle tissue). 
  • Lack of explosive/intense movement, which is what the largest glute muscle (gluteus maximus) is most responsive to.

Source: Antonio Diaz – Adobe Stock

For these reasons and more, we have to pay special attention to this area. Not just for cycling performance, but overall health and balance. Let us start with a brief introduction to the muscles we’re talking about.

Glute Muscles & Cycling

Gluteus Maximus

Source: SciePro – Adobe Stock

The gluteus maximus is the largest and most powerful muscle in the body. It is very misunderstood, particularly when it comes to cycling and glutes. It’s a major hip extensor and stabilizer of the pelvis. It tends to have a significant percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers, which are responsible for quick, explosive movements like sprinting and jumping. 

Where we get into trouble as cyclists is the long, low intensity and high repetition nature of the sport. Our hips don’t fully flex or extend while pedaling, which makes it hard for us to recruit our gluteus maximus at all. In fact, electromyography studies show very little activation of this muscle while cycling.

Source: Electromyographic Analysis of the Lower Extremity during Pedaling

In the above graph, you see far more activation of a muscle called the biceps femoris (your outer hamstring). That’s because in low intensity activities (where the load is minimal, i.e. cycling), the body will recruit secondary hip extensors (hamstrings) as opposed to primary hip extensors (glutes) to save energy. 

This same phenomenon, known as synergistic dominance, is what makes our elderly population so vulnerable to falling injuries. Falls are one of the leading causes of injury and even death in seniors, and lack of gluteal strength is a significant component of that. 

Gluteus Medius

Source: SciePro – Adobe Stock

Gluteus medius is our primary hip abductor, which means it is responsible for moving the leg away from the midline. It is also extremely important for the side to side stability of our pelvis (frontal plane). Any exercise or activity performed on one leg places significant demands on the gluteus medius; walking, running and any single leg weight bearing exercise.

When we put our weight onto one leg, the gluteus medius contracts on the standing leg to neutralize the height of our pelvis on that side. This lifts the opposite side of the pelvis where our leg is off the ground, which allows our foot/leg to swing through without hitting the floor. 

Failure to do this is called a positive Trendelenburg Sign in physiotherapy.

Source: Kyungmin – Adobe Stock

There is some activation of the gluteus medius while cycling, particularly when riding out of the saddle. The lack of hip abduction however suggests we need additional exercises to keep it strong and healthy.

Gluteus Minimus

Source: SciePro – Adobe Stock

Gluteus minimus is the smallest of these three gluteal muscles, and has a similar function to the gluteus medius. Hip abduction and unilateral stability of the pelvis. 

Interestingly, marked weakness occurs in the gluteus minimus/medius around the time of puberty in females1. This creates a “wagging” motion in the hips, the same motion purposely used by experienced runway models. It has been theorized that this rocking of the pelvis is attractive to males because it’s a biological signifier of potential gene reproduction.

Good for the propagation of human beings (hooray), not so good for the health of your hips. Display of this hip tilting in adulthood is known as a Trendelenburg Gait, usually meaning weakness or inhibition of the gluteus medius/minimus. Or a great runway strut.

Source: Dmytro Flisak – Adobe Stock

Why Are We Obsessed With Glutes?

Have you ever wondered why we are so drawn to these muscles? After all, despite their allure, they also house our inner pathways for…evacuation. Interesting contrast. Well despite all this there are actually biological reasons for our infatuation that reach far into the archaic roots of human evolution.

Well developed glutes mean power. They align our pelvis and help us stand up tall. For men, adequate glute muscle mass (and a certain degree of lumbar curve) on a female means she can effectively carry and bear a child. For women, a man’s backside indicates strength and the ability to lift heavy objects, making him more useful for fighting and protection. 

Our cultural obsessions can always be traced far into the past.

Does Biking Build Glutes?

Unfortunately, cycling is not going to play a big part in developing a big booty. The lack of heavy load and explosive movement makes recruitment of your gluteus maximus, for example, almost non-existent. 

However, the glutes do work while riding and you may notice some slight toning around your hips, especially with the integration of hill climbs and/or interval workouts. It doesn’t mean they’re not important, it just means we have to account for this lack of stimulation in our strength and conditioning routines.

What follows are some great glute exercises for cyclists that can be performed anywhere with little or no equipment. Click on the accompanied links to watch Alisha, our Dynamic Cyclist coach, teach and demonstrate each exercise in detail!

Glute Exercises For Cyclists

Lateral Leg Lifts

Click here to try this exercise with Alisha!

Benefits

We don’t really get any hip abduction or single leg stability work while on the bike. This exercise tackles both and with zero equipment. All three of the aforementioned glute muscles are being worked, with specific emphasis on the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus. 

Single Leg Deadlift w/Mini Band

Click here to try this exercise with Alisha!

Benefits

This exercise works hip extension both on the standing and non-standing leg. Alisha is using a mini band for resistance, but you could also hold any type of weight in your hand to increase the exercise’s difficulty. This resistance forces your muscles to work hard and pass the threshold of activation in a big muscle like the gluteus maximus.

Clamshell Hip Lift

Click here to try this exercise with Alisha!

Benefits

This is a truly well designed and valuable glute exercise for cyclists. Not only are both sides of the hips working hard to press and open up, you’re also integrating core musculature in the sides and lower back through the obliques, erector spinae and multifidus. Having the core and hips work together is crucial for force absorption and production while cycling.

Glute Pain & Cycling

If you experience glute pain when cycling, a number of factors could be contributing. You might have tightness on the opposing side of the hip, your glute muscles might be weak or not firing properly, or perhaps the problem resides farther up the chain somewhere inside your abdomen. Whatever the problem might be, Dynamic Cyclist can help.

The above exercises are just a snippet from one of our glute focused strength training routines. We have built a comprehensive library and systematic training program to help make you a better, healthier and stronger cyclist. 

Mobility, strength training and injury prevention all under one umbrella. High quality videos led by world class instructors and an interactive athlete interface make training fun and easy to follow. We hope you consider joining our community and being a part of the mission to RIDE PAIN FREE!

3 Core Exercises To Make You A Better Cyclist

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When the cycling world gathers around to discuss what might be the best core exercise for cyclists, there tends to be an all too predictable bee-line for the plank. Most sports, most gyms and most parts of the world have this same problem. Trainers, physios and even your family doctor might suggest this exercise from time to time. But what is it actually doing for us?

Cycling is not a stationary movement (even if you’re on a stationary bike!), yet we train this stand-still exercise to death hoping for some sort of miraculous return on investment. They’re a great beginner exercise, but once a certain level of proficiency is achieved (two-minute hold), it’s time to put the focus onto something more functional. 

A core workout for cyclists should be dynamic, multi-faceted and tailored to each individual’s strengths, weaknesses and other physical activities. In this article we are going to teach you three unique exercises to make you a better cyclist. We’ll show you how to do them, what they’re working and why they’ll improve your performance. 

First, the muscles.

Core Musculature

All movement emanates from the core. It’s tempting to think that cycling is all about your lower body, but your legs are not isolated entities. They are attached to that huge housing of organs, muscle and power that, if working properly, will be the starting point for any force eventually exerted through the legs and into the bike.

“Does your body have 650 muscles or does it have one?” – Paul Chek

This is a quote that is all too relevant when it comes to the core. There is not a single cell in the body that is oblivious to what the rest of your cells are up to. Fascial casings, innervations, origins, insertions, ligaments, tendons, muscle and bone make for one unbelievably complex and sophisticated movement web. A universal organism, and that organism: is you.

For these reasons, defining the core can be a herculean task all on its own. Today’s exercises will focus on tissues in the trunk and torso, as well as some auxiliary influence from the hips. 

Specifically the following:

Core Workout For Cyclists

These exercises are from one of our Dynamic Cyclist strength training routines. Week one, day two of our 3-month intermediate strength training program focuses on Core & Stability. You’ll be able to watch our certified personal trainer and coach of Dynamic Cyclist, Alisha demonstrate each exercise in the links below!

Hip Hinge Reverse Fly

Standing with your feet hip width apart, push your hips back and bend forward at the same time while maintaining a neutral neck and spine. Keep a slight bend in the knees and elbows. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and lift the arms out wide until in line with your body. Slowly release back down. Repeat. Try this exercise with Alisha!

Why It Works

This is an amazing full-body and core exercise for cyclists. 

First, you’ll hear Alisha cue to draw the belly button in while maintaining the hinged forward position. This activates the transversus abdominis (our deepest abdominal muscle), which wraps around your body like a corset and is crucial to lower back stability. It’s your body’s own built in weight belt. Training this muscle has shown to significantly reduce lower back pain in cyclists.

Second, your erector spinae muscles are working hard to hold up your torso in the bent position. Having the ability to produce stiffness in these large, powerful back muscles will transmit force more efficiently to and from your legs every time you pedal. It will also aid in injury prevention of the low back and better posture (two things a cyclist desperately needs!).

Third, actually performing the reverse fly movement with dumbbells gives the posterior (back) part of your shoulders some much needed love. The hunched over position we find ourselves in while cycling tends to stretch the shoulders and upper back into a forward, rounded position. This exercise reverses that by strengthening and tightening those same areas.

Plank Hip Dips

Starting in a forearm plank position with your tail tucked (glutes squeezed) and belly button drawn in, drop your hips down to one side, then return to the start position. Rotate to the other side, return to the start position. Repeat. Try this exercise with Alisha!

Why It Works

This is how you turn the plank into a good core bike exercise! The strength of a person’s abdominal muscles is a reliable predictor of cycling performance, and this exercise (if done correctly) works all of them. 

You’ll hear Alisha say to tuck your hips down at the beginning; this not only engages the glutes, but also the lower and upper abdominal muscles. You’ll again be cued to draw your belly button in, activating the transversus abdominis. And finally, by twisting and dropping your hips side to side, you’re working the inner and external obliques.

By working your abdominals, hips, back and upper body in conjunction with one another, you’re teaching the body to work as an integrated unit. One thing you’ll see in cyclists that lack this ability is excessive movement and swaying in the hips and torso when they start pedaling hard. This bleeds force into unnecessary areas and increases the risk of injury. So let’s not do that!

Clamshells w/Mini Band

Place a mini band just above the knees and lie down on your side with your forearm beneath your shoulder. Your heels, butt and shoulders should be in one line. Open up your top leg, squeezing your glute, and then slowly lower back to the start position. Repeat. Try this exercise with Alisha!

Why It Works

Our gluteal muscles serve an important role in cycling. They share an intimate connection with the core musculature via their attachment to the pelvis. This exercise works all the gluteal muscles and also activates tissues in the lower back.

The largest and most powerful glute muscle is the gluteus maximus, and it initiates the power phase in our pedal stroke. Being able to forcibly extend the hip is key to any sort of speed or climbing work on the bike. Well developed glutes will align your pelvis for better posture, and training them helps to counter modern activities such as sitting or driving.

The multifidus runs along the whole vertebral column and has its main bulk in the lower back. Many people have a weak multifidus due to inactivity or improper training which leads to instability. The clamshell exercise stimulates the multifidus and makes a connection between the core and hip muscles for a strong back and efficient power transfer while riding.

More Core Workouts For Cyclists

By incorporating cycling core exercises into your program, you’ll be proactive in the prevention of injury and contribute to better overall performance on the bike. Our comprehensive Dynamic Cycling core strength training routines have helped countless people ride pain and injury free.

These were just a few exercises from the hundreds you will have to choose from in our extensive video library. Dynamic Cyclist offers instructional, follow-along workouts and routines led by world class instructors, and even 1-on-1 coaching for a more personalized approach. 

Remember, everything emanates from the core. So it’s important to train it to stay healthy and strong for many more years to come!

Finally… Enjoying Adventures on the Bike Again Without Pain!

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Hi there and glad you found time to address the vexed topic of stretching. In the  following three to five minutes of reading, I’ll tell you how the Dynamic Cyclist program  helped me enjoy cycling again even after two herniated discs. Minor spoiler: With the right routine and exercises it’s easy to do and also more  beneficial in the long run than aftercare. 

A Bit About Me 

I’m Felix, a multisports enthusiast with a passion for cycling, a love for  challenges, and adventure on the mind at all times. I have done performance oriented sports since childhood, however for me it is about so much more than pushing speed or distance. The most important  aspects for me are enjoying nature and  discovering new regions. Sports are about being a part of a like-minded community, sharing an experience, and the joy of working out in a group. Sports, especially cycling, form a connection! 

Herniated Disc Number Two 

So when I was forced to take a break and was limited to a five kilometer radius around my house I felt pretty bleak. My endorphin levels nose dived like the stock market in 2008. During a period like this you need a strong partner by your side — so a thank you goes out to my  girlfriend, who put up with me during my second herniated disc and always encouraged me. 

So what happened? My morning routine during the Covid pandemic, winter months consisted of 10-15 minutes of freestyle stretching followed by a short HIIT session before work to get a little spritz for cycling. At the time I  had a lot going on at work and sat at my desk day in and day out (not always  ergonomically correct of course), but I believed that with my 10-15 minute stretch  program I would be fine. Apparently, that was not the case! As I found  out later: stretching is not just stretching. If that sounds confusing, bear with me here.  

It was a cool, gray morning in February 2021. On this particular morning I skipped the stretching program and went straight into HIIT and — bam — I went down. After being falsely diagnosed with a blockage I decided to stop training for a while only to be diagnosed with a slipped disc a few weeks down the road. Unfortunately, at the age of 28, this was already my second slipped disc. This was the absolute last warning shot for me.  Something had to change urgently!

Dynamic Cyclist – It’s a Match! 

After being frustrated with myself for not learning from the first herniated disk, I  got my act together and looked into what I could change in the future in a  sustainable way so I could avoid another slipped disc. I had to approach the  whole thing from a holistic perspective. 

What did this involve for me? Acutely and also in the long term a good physio, of course. However, I also had  to change my own behaviour. In addition to a balanced diet this included active regeneration and stretching. My herniated disc is partially genetically inherited (one more reason to take preventive action). As luck would have it I  found the Dynamic Cyclist program. It was a match!  

Give Yourself a Break From the Daily Madness 

The first time I tried the program I was hooked by the concept and presentation. Dynamic Cyclist only includes the most important aspects of mobility and stretching without any unnecessary fluff. It has a logical structure and a stretch program that is designed to guide you through the process of gaining mobility and flexibility over time. I can confirm that it does not get boring. I can easily find where I left off in the program from my home screen and the exercises have become my daily routine. Now my 15 minutes of stretching each day is  more efficiently invested than before my herniated disc. So it is  not the time that matters most, but the selection of the right  exercises and the logical sequence they are performed in. I enjoy the videos so much that some days I  even complete two videos, especially after cycling when my hip flexors are tight. This is another great aspect:  you can easily find the relevant cycling “pain points”  within the app and therefore work areas that compromise your mobility. 

Vary Your Training and Discover New Ways 

I have yet to find a comparable program that is as strong in content as Dynamic  Cyclist, both in depth and breadth. In addition to the Stretching & Mobility  portion, there are numerous other training focuses you can use in the app such  as Strength Training, Roll & Release, or Challenges. Before I found Dynamic Cyclist I found stretching boring, but necessary for me to continue doing my sport in a performance-oriented  way. With Dynamic Cyclist I feel I am at the leading edge again. Everything is more fun with good instruction! In person instruction is nice, but you are much more likely to take 15 minutes and stretch efficiently through an online video program than drag yourself to your local yoga studio every single day. I’m glad I found Dynamic Cyclist. It has a permanent place in my daily  routine and should be considered by everyone who loves to ride. 

Written by Felix Rähmer – Endurance Cyclist

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