If you have a desk job, you spend a lot of time, sitting. This is bad for your back, and if you’re a cyclist, it isn’t helping you. If your back hurts, this is the post for you.
I’ve spend the last 6 months or so working on mine, and I thought I’d share what I’ve been doing. Note that this can help your cycling as well.
First off, you’ll want to fix your hip alignment. Most people have either an anterior or posterior pelvic tilt. This is the best article that I’ve found that talks about it and tells you which muscles you need to stretch and which ones you need to strengthen. My PT helped me with it but this article gave me a lot of backing. I had a fairly serious anterior pelvic tilt (also known as “hyperlordosis”).
I would also recommend reading this and this.
My recommendation is to start with those exercises and do them for at least a few weeks before you go any farther. You will have to find which ones work for you and which ones you can tolerate without pain.
Now, on to the back. This is about both posture and strengthening; cycling puts us the “arms forward / rounded” posture. There is some information in the articles I already listed, but here are a few other things that worked for me:
· Pectoral muscle stretches. Working on these every day makes a significant difference at keeping my shoulders back.
· Farmer’s walk. In this exercise, you have a weight in each hand, and you walk around. While you are doing this, you should hold your should back and your shoulder blades together. This is a great exercise. I recommend starting with something like 25 lbs in each hand (I use weight plates).
· Suitcase carry. Like the farmer’s walk, but harder because it’s asymmetric. Same style cues; keep the shoulders back.
On to the deadlift. I’ve come to believe that big functional motions like the deadlift are very useful, but you need to have good form and start slowly. I like the stronglifts 5×5 approach, and I recommend that, regardless of gender, you start out just using the bar. If your gym is good, it will have what are called “bumper plates”; they are round plates that are the size of 45s but are much lighter (generally 5lbs or 10lbs is the smallest size). You use these so that the bar is at the same height regardless of how much weight you use.
The best video I know of is “How to deadlift”. The big cue is to pull yourself down to the bar; this flattens your back and puts you in a good position.
Other stuff to do:
- I try to get to a circuit training class once a week. They typically have a variety of core & strength moves.
- I’ve also used Cyclo-Zen in the past; it has some good back and core workouts.
So, what do you think ?