Here are five common myths about core training for cyclists, along with clarifications based on current cycling and sports science perspectives:
Cyclists Don’t Need Core Training
Myth: Cycling is a leg-dominant sport, so only leg strength matters.
Reality: Core strength is crucial for maintaining an effective and comfortable posture on the bike, especially over long distances. Weak core muscles can lead to inefficiencies, poor bike handling, and increased risk of pain or injury in the back, neck, or knees.
Core Training Must Be Intense or Use Heavy Weights
Myth: You need to do advanced core exercises or lift heavy weights to benefit your cycling.
Reality: Simple bodyweight and functional core exercises are often sufficient. Consistency and proper form matter more than intensity or heavy loads, and these exercises help prevent overuse injuries and improve overall stability.
Core Training Will Make You Bulky and Slow
Myth: Developing core muscles will add unwanted bulk and slow you down.
Reality: Core training for cyclists focuses on endurance and stability, not muscle hypertrophy. Improving core strength leads to better power transfer, efficiency, and comfort—making you faster and more resilient, not bulkier.
Core Training Is Only for Off-Season or Injury Recovery
Myth: You only need to work on core strength when you’re injured or during the off-season.
Reality: Core training should be a year-round part of your routine. Regular core workouts help maintain posture, reduce fatigue, and prevent injuries, supporting both performance and longevity in cycling.
Cycling Alone Is Enough to Strengthen Your Core
Myth: Riding your bike is sufficient to build and maintain core strength.
Reality: While cycling engages your core to some extent, it’s not enough to fully develop or maintain core strength and stability. Targeted core exercises are necessary to address weaknesses and prevent imbalances.
These myths often lead cyclists to neglect core training, but evidence shows that a strong, stable core is essential for performance, comfort, and injury prevention on the bike.
Cycling is becoming increasingly popular in the UK. It is popular as a mode of cheaper and environmentally friendly transport, it is increasingly enjoyed for leisure with people wanting to get out and enjoy the fresh air, and, of course, it is a popular sport. And with two British riders placing within the top 10 final rankings at this year’s Tour de France, it is highly likely that the popularity of cycling as a sport will increase even further in the next few years. The Cycling World Championships in Scotland is also a chance for cycling to really grow as a sport as all the disciplines greatest riders come together for one awesome festival of cycling.
Of course, like all sports, cycling is not without its fair share of strains and injuries, and one injury that plagues cyclists, in particular, is neck strain. Sometimes referred to as cyclist’s neck, the complaint occurs as a result of the extended position of the neck that is caused by craning, which often takes place when a cyclist is looking ahead to see the course in front of them.
Neck strain can also occur as a result of poor posture or an aggressive riding position. All of these can ultimately cause the trapezius muscle and the other muscles in the neck to develop stiffness and pain. The more cycling is undertaken with poor posture, the worse this type of injury can become.
Why Pilates?
Pilates is a great addition to any training regime for a range of different sports and is particularly good for cyclists.
Pilates exercises can help to strengthen, stretch and also lengthen the muscles in the neck that become too tight and short from the hunched position that long distance cyclists find themselves in after a lengthy time in the saddle.
Pilates can also help to strengthen and improve how you handle a bike, as well as efficiency and balance when cycling. When a cyclist becomes tired in the saddle, their body begins to roll from side to side on the cycle, and Pilates can help to build up a strong and stable core that can reduce the effect that this has on the body.
This can help the cyclist to pedal in a smoother manner, one where their shoulders, head and body can remain still for longer.
When core strength is improved as a result of the right Pilates exercises, it can improve the way in which someone cycles, and this can help with neck strain
The right Pilates exercises can make significant improvements to how you cycle and reduce the risk of injury. Why not check out my online or in-person classes to see how Pilates can help relieve some of the neck problems caused by cycling?
Humans were not made for sitting. Our ancestors where active and on their feet hunting, gathering and playing… The trouble with our 21st century life is we have become addicted to sitting we sit at work from 9 to 5 we get in and sit down with a nice cup of tea before standing briefly to make dinner before then sitting again to eat. I know isn’t quite like this and a lot of people make a real effort to exercise.
The trouble with sitting is it causes our abdominals to weaken, muscles in the back of your legs to shorten, your spine to slump and your shoulders to round forward. This can lead to lower back ache, and neck and shoulder pain. Doesn’t sound great does it!
Now, we all must sit for periods of the day there is no escaping that, try and think about your posture as you sit. Think about engaging your core pulling your belly button towards your spine, dropping your shoulder blades almost as if they were melting down your back and imagining you have a piece of string from the top of your head to the ceiling that is pulling you up making your spine longer.
Improving your core, back and hip strength will help you sit more comfortably and decrease the pressure you put on your spine. Pilates is the ideal exercise program to promote good posture and a well-balanced body.
Functional strength is the strength we need in our daily lives to live. To be able to pick up our kids, shopping, go cycling or running we need a balance between strength and flexibility. Pilates exercises build functional strength, by creating a balance between strength and flexibility you do not compromise your body alignment and therefore posture. Often heavy weight training can mean a shortening of your muscles which compromises your flexibility and posture.
Squats and lunges are great examples of functional strength training exercises. These integrated exercises use lots of muscles, whereas isolated exercises, such as leg extensions, do not.
Why do you need functional strength?
Here’s a scary stat: your muscle mass and strength will decrease 30 to 50% between the ages of 30 and 80. So start using those muscles if you want to do at 80 what you can do at 30!
Doing resistance exercises and movements that help you become stronger, more flexible and agile means you are better equipped to handle day-to-day tasks as well as helping you be less injury prone.
Functional fitness incorporates muscle groups across the whole body it is beneficial to nearly everyone no matter what your fitness goal is. It builds lean muscle and can help you lose weight if that’s your intention. Right up to high performance athletes functional strength training brings a well rounded training session to your otherwise highly targeted weekly routine.
I am going to post some good functional strength training exercises on my youtube channel that you can do in your house and garden.
Following the Government’s latest response to Covid-19, it is with great sadness, I must advise that all Pilates classes are suspended from next Monday 23rd March. I hope to run the next three days worth of classes but please get in touch if you are not attending so I can check numbers.
Don’t panic though! I have a new timetable of online classes that you can join from the comfort of your own home. Yes, it will be different, but the alternative is losing the hard work and dedication you have put into making your body stronger, more flexible and fitter.
I know what I would choose.
We also all know that sitting at home on our bums is not good for us, so I invite you to join me online, live from Monday 23rd March. I will be running two live online classes a day from my private Beyond the Studio Live group.
Don’t have a Facebook account? I have created an online tutorial on how to set up a super secure Facebook page so you can join in! Please let me know if you have any questions or queries on this. I can also email workouts as an alternative should you wish! Click here to watch the video
To avoid confusion, I am going to freeze everyone’s ‘real’ class payments from Monday 23rd March, so your ‘virtual classes and real classes are not linked.
I have come up with two packages, please let me know by email if you would like to sign up to either of these.
Package one:
2 live classes a day – one morning one evening – timetable coming tomorrow.
Exercises you can do whilst out walking
Weekly Pilates challenges
Polls
Prizes
Positive lifestyle tips
One filmed class a week
Outdoor classes (providing this is allowed from April, should we still be in this situation)
Weekly roll call and accountability to keep us all motivated and exercising
Outdoor celebration, Pilates picnic in the park once we can celebrate the beginning of our new ‘real’ classes restarting
Package one is £28 a month (That’s £1 a day, 50p a class, should you embrace all of them! :))
Package two you will get all the above plus:
One to one postural assessment and plan for helping you improve your posture
Send me videos of you doing a class and I will give feedback and correction
One to one virtual class once a week via skype
24/7 what’s app support
First ‘real’ class back is free
Package two is £40 a month
I know how important these classes are for us all and can only hope – optimistically! (along with the rest of the country) that we return to normality soon. Until then I am doing my best to keep us all active and healthy.
I hope you will join me, and we can embrace this new adventure together!
I am here if you need to talk through anything and keen to help you get online and join my classes and stay connected during the next few months. In times like these we really need our community, my wish is that we take our ‘real’ class spirit online!
Try my new Pilates at home wake up and mobilise routine. Only 10 minutes long try waking up, getting out of bed and following this simple Pilates workout to help energise your body, mobilise your joints and strengthen your muscles.
I have come up with a simple Pilates energising routine to try once you get out of bed, it’s only 10 minutes long so shouldn’t be hard to fit into your morning routine.
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