Originally Posted by
abstractform20
you didnt actually answer the question.
everything you write is basically a story about you vs. some guy, and how the guy cant even compete with you.
the easiest thing to do, would be for you to measure your power output on a trainer for 2 hours, and compare it to another cyclist on here that does some exercises for his core.
although, you have pointed out that you look like the pros, but arent pro, but can probably still beat guys that dont look pro and arent pro.
I've done this of sorts when I periodically add a bunch of weights to my regimen of regular run/bike, usually after a goal race, just to mix it up.
My core strength goes up a lot - I double my pullups and go from benchpress atrophy to back to near-
PR levels (40 lbs difference) in less than a month. I also gain 5-7 lbs of muscle in a very short period of time in the upper body.
And as I fully expected, I get ZERO gains in power on the bike (I have a powermeter) and also experience no significant change in comfort on long rides although that's a bit harder for me to judge because I'm usually in good enough bike shape to knock out a 4 hr ride no problem.
For sure, though, a bunch of years ago when I started riding, I got tons of back pain/issues, probably because I was over-reaching the duration of my long rides, and I did a lot of core work like deadlifts etc just to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Didn't help at all. The one thing it feels like it helps is when I do running sprints <200yds, but that's about it. (I do 200 yd striders at faster than VO2 pace mixed in a 6-10 mile run regularly once a week for run workouts.)