Chefben

I am looking for any tips on how to relax my shoulders and upper body as I ride. I can feel my shoulders creeping up as I ride either uphill, downhill or on the flats. I have been through a professional bike fit and it has really helped in all other areas except for the shoulders. My body type is not perfect for a road cyclist by any means, 5'9", 198 lbs with a fairly muscular upper body. I am pretty sure this is sapping some of my energy on longer rides and was hoping there is some advice out there that might help.

Thanks.

UmneyDurak

How is your core? Might be you are compensating for it by supporting yourself with your arms.

Mondo734

I have the same problem. When every I find myself tensing up I let my arms drop like dead weight at my side with my hands barely resting on the bar or hoods. Once you get into the habit of dropping your arms like that you will find yourself staying relaxed more often. I still havent completely broken the habit but it has going better. hope this helps.

Jazzy Hands

I have the same problem. What I do is push my shoulders down and squeeze my shoulder blades back without moving my arms. That relaxes my shoulders for me.

kyamei

Try a shorter stem for now and work your way back up to the reach indicated by your fitter. That's what I had to do, as I had the same issue when I started as well.

Makel

Core strength helps.

Mondo734

I don't know about the others having this problem, but for me core strength isn't the problem. And on my current bike the stem seems to short giving me a cramped feeling when in the drops. But then again I haven't had a pro fit so there could be some truth to the stem length thing.

Campag4life

Core strength came up in another thread recently and I dismiss it as your root cause OP. Your issue is very common among amateur riders.
Reason for your issue aside from muscular upper body? Fit. Fit. Fit.

Once you dial in your fit you will ride with much less effort. Your comments are spot on OP...what you suspect is true. Tension in the upper body robs power to the pedals as unneeded energy expenditure. There shouldn't be much tension in your upper body.
Without seeing you on the bike...I will suggest a couple of things.
Some recommend a shorter stem...seems to be an anthem on the 41. I suggest the opposite. A short stem does more to increase tension in the upper body than decrease it. The reason is...when trying to assume a proper weight distribution on the bike which means stick your rear end out to create power...you place you arms in compression by having your reach too short.
Biggest thing and the centerpiece of a good fit...and critical to guys that are heavier in the upper body is...you must balance your body weight fore and aft on the bike. This naturally unweights the upper body. You do this by selecting the right saddle setback. There is no formula. Best setback for 'you' is achieved through trial and error like it is any decent rider. Move your weight back and there is less weight on your hands. Move your handlebar forward and there is less compression in the arms. Core doesn't have much to do with it. If you use your core to hold yourself up this creates tension that robs pedal power and inhibits breathing.
The reason why there is diminishing return with setback and many good riders don't ride farther back is it weights the rear wheel of the bike more affecting handling and closes the hip angle fighting a more aero position. Take a page from recumbent riders who ride with 2 feet of setback. If they didn't have a backrest, they would fall off the back of the bike...no pressure on the arms nor core strength required.

jrobe

A professional bike fit doesn't mean that he fit you in the most comfortable position for you as an individual. I agree that you might need your seat back further to take more weight off your upper body.

This was the best "professional fit" info I have found. His section on comfort and fore-aft saddle position has helped me to ride more comfortably.

https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.htm

Campag4life

Also some so called professional fitters...not all...will mindlessly set a rider at KOPS whereas a given rider may be best 1 inch behind that position.
Finding a good fitter maybe harder than finding the right position on the bike yourself.

AMFJ

Sounds weird, but yoga helped me with that. I still do it, but I can make them relax a lot easier now.

Campag4life

Yoga is great without question. But I believe a relaxed position on a bicycle is about fit and weight distribution relative to one's flexibility.
Below is a picture of what I believe to be an ideal position on the bike. Notice the model rider isn't riding with that much drop either but with a relatively aggressive about 40 deg back angle on the hoods for a nice stretch to the bars. By contrast, I have also included a forum member position asking for help a while back...latter riding position with a short stem and not enough saddle setback leading to chronic upper body tension because the rider is falling foward into the bars that are too close due to forward weight distribution. Intuitively, cyclists with this problem tend to seek an even more upright position when the opposite is more comfortable for the vast majority.
By contrast a properly positioned rider has weight back to balance a forward pelvis rotation and bars are well away for an almost hammock arm position...or arms more relaxed versus holding the body up due to weight being too forward.

cocar

^^
This, for me, has been the key. It seems counterintuitive, I know. But if you rotate your pelvis forward and flatten your back, and bend your elbows, it will unweight your hands. Then all the bumps from the road won't transmit up your arms into your shoulders/neck. It will also keep you on your sit bones and keep your butt comfortable. When I was riding more upright, I had too much weight on my hands/arms, and my hands kept falling asleep. I was also getting neck pain if the road was bumpy. Changing my position fixed these issues.

Campag4life

So true...counterintuitive is really the signature point about fit which leads to so much frustration about set up. I believe it is part of the fascination about improving. Most of us when we ride in a poor position on a new bike, can feel and know intuitively that it isn't right, but didn't know how to fix it many times and sometimes will apply exactly the wrong change. Road biking reminds me of golf. Those that have tried to get good at both will know what I mean.

oilman_15106

Tilt the saddle front up 1 degree. This will take some of the pressure off your shoulders/hands. You may have to move the saddle forward just a bit to compensate for the angle change. This comes from Cobb Cycling and it worked for me.

link https://cobbcycling.com/installation_tips.cfm