Are Core Exercises Not Enough for Cyclists?! | NEW STUDY | Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast 503

[@JFomo]

Strength training = strong bones. Don't sleep on strength training.

[@valelantin1991]

Yeah, I really don't care about improved cycling performance. It's all about bone health, flexibility and longevity for me.

[@davidbell2490]

As you guys noted, not everything we do off the bike to improve our cycling is about improving FTP. As an older gravel/endurance MTB racer, I believe that regular core and strength work is really important for reducing back and upper body fatigue in long events. There's only so much mental energy available to push through discomfort and if you arms and back hurt, it takes something away from pushing the legs. That said, I do believe there is a "minimal maintenance dose" for core work. Since I don't need Instagram influencer abs, over the years I've cut down the amount of core work I do to a handful of basic exercises 2-3x/wk which seems to be enough for basic health and durability on the bike.

[@Chris-jc3lr]

The study seems to have the same problem as a lot of strength training studies. The control group is just doing zone 2 and omitting doing anything whilst the other groups are doing strength/core training. They should be substituting the strength training with some intervals.

[@larrybratton8054]

12 hours of solid zone 2 would be tough but I'd like the time to try...

[@jasong911ski]

Graphs from the paper would help the watchability

[@338386]

I think they sort of missed the plot in regards to the "why" of core training (and stretching!) which is the ability to hold a more aggressively aero position for a given power and time duration. This ability is a huge differentiator at the pointy end of road/gravel/crit racing. This would be an interesting study topic. Core Only, Core + Stretching, Stretching Only, vs. simply training time in the position.

[@sfrunnergirl]

Super interesting study. Thanks! I started weight training after a prolonged pandemic hiatus and have definitely seen huge improvements. I got through the whole season w/o injury as well while maintaining a higher volume and set numerous PRs at age 50. I don’t think strength training was the only factor but I could tell a difference when I did it and when I missed it. I am not sure that the off season benefits would translate all next season without doing maintenance work, though. But it might enable one to start from a stronger position once the season is underway. I think placebo effect is minor imo. The power increases that I saw correlated to also lower heart rate and I think HR is less susceptible to placebo effect. Lifting heavy is a big push right now for women especially those in menopause years. Maybe you could address this demographic sometime!

[@notreal-pl7mz]

5w/kg kids doing a 30 second plank vs lifting to failure? Gosh I wonder which results in the most significant outcome? Why was this 'study' even bothered with? There has to be a lot more interesting and useful studies you could do with this group of people. Super impressed at how exciting you make it all sound TR.

[@lsantilli]

I think the key is that these athletes are 5w/kg FTP capable. Try the same study - with athletes starting out at 3-3.2 w/kg (a well trained person but certainly not elite) and you’re going to have a glaring difference, particularly if you keep the hours at 12 a week of base, which is a decent amount for a 3.2 w/kg person.

[@adamarchie]

Hi guys, this has probably been asked already, but mention of power profile had me think of it. Could your AI software also figure out our max 5 min power? That would be handy, and would save doing 5 min all out efforts to test it, which I find even worse than 20 minute ones 😂

[@salishseacycling]

Were the core exercises also only done twice a week?

[@aethylwulfeiii6502]

A lot of core exercises are calisthenics and don’t progress very well after hitting 20 reps. Sit ups you should focus more on making each rep as difficult as possible rather than blasting a high rep count. I suppose you could add a medicine ball or weights. Planks really don’t progress well past the one minute mark. Superman’s, bicycle kicks, mountain climbers have no progression of intensity. People end up eventually just flopping around like a fish out of water on core “workouts”. with no progressive overload.

[@DittersGustav]

0.07 w/kg difference in some cases? That should be considered margin of error, what kind of studies is this?

[@Critracer]

L O L I love you guys but you probably should’ve had Nate on this episode

[@nickwoods5150]

Participants riding only zone 2 is as equally useful as the study on caffeine that gave the participants a 400 mg caffeine dose + carbs to measure the outcome. It’s ridiculous and unrealistic. You get the feeling that the people running these studies set the parameters to engineer the outcome.

[@hoim75]

1 study....

[@DDai-qd8uk]

Nothing against Sarah, but this variety of podcast when she talks about a study are by far the worst. Impossible to be engaged with this kind of podcast.

[@teddorosheff1929]

You should probably explain this viewpoint a bit more. Why is it impossible to be engaged? Seems pretty interesting to me.

[@olishobbyscene1643]

@@teddorosheff1929concur

[@DDai-qd8uk]

It's the format, a single article being discussed by 2 people is just plain boring (for me). Poor article selection didn't help in this case. Nothing against Sarah, but her monotonous time, double takes, constantly getting prompts just comes off as a bit amateurish on what is usually a pretty entertaining podcast and an easy listen. Explaining a basic article anyone can read themselves rather quickly, reading results out (let's not act like hearing someone say "point zero zero.. zero zero zero zero" is even remotely engaging), and a basic discussion for an article that's honestly not worth an entire podcast is just plain boring. So strength training is good. So is core work. So is zone 2. But you already knew that a long time ago. You don't have to agree, that's just my own opinion and I respect yours. Have a nice day fam.

[@olishobbyscene1643]

@ Might just be down to the fact that studies are dry and dusty and lack any sort of humor. Also maybe Jonathan should interrupt her less? Else it was easy listening for me while I was changing my waxed chain. 😉

[@sfrunnergirl]

Going through the science behind the work at TrainerRoad has always been part of the format