It’s becoming popular for cyclists (and triathletes) to put a big focus on “balance training” as a part of their strength training. Do you really need the wobble, or is it just throwing your training off-balance?

Halloween is just around the corner, which means the vast majority of cyclists are now turning to the weight training in an attempt to get faster. Today, we look at the importance of slowing down the movements, to help you get far better strength, stability, balance, and power for cycling.

Here’s what “your core” really is, and a fun, but challenging way, to see how you stack up. When it comes to strength training, everyone talks about “core strength.” So, naturally, we all tend to think of our midsections as being our core. Unfortunately, we’ve got “the core” all wrong.

These days it seems like everyone is talking about the core as the keys to a power pedal stroke. One often overlooked but critical component though is hip mobility and the importance of the hip adductors.

TOOLBOX:  This dynamic warm-up for cyclists could be the best way to create a solid base for your biggest gains as a “real-life” rider with a day job, family and other responsibilities.

Over the last few years more and more bike fitters and cycling coaches have begun to tout glute activation and “core strength” as being the foundations for performance on the bike. While this is certainly a step in the right direction, they are missing 2 massive components of performance.

TOOLBOX: It’s funny, that as cyclists we spend so much time and energy focusing on our legs when we strength train, yet we don’t give a thought to the very things at the end that connect us to the bicycle: our feet.