hillcrawler

I read somewhere that such a thing may happen and it sound very similar to my situation.

This is where I read about it:

No Glutes = No results The Plague of the Mediocre Athlete -

Even the shortest rides and/or walking just one mile causes an over-fatigue on my glutes area. I get immediately tired. I feel like I need to stretch them out really well. It happens even though I am resting myself from cycling for 3 weeks. Has anyone ever been in the same situation?

Machka 

Do you know where your glutes are?

hillcrawler

Yes, in the same place as yours.

Machka 

Uh-huh ... well, if your bicycle is set up properly, and if you have the correct saddle size, you shouldn't be having any gluteus pain while riding.

But you might experience it while walking or running if you haven't walked or ran recently.

dm83

What does "shutting down" mean anyway ? Unless you suffer from a nerve injury, your muscles don't shut down. Sounds like you just need to get stronger, and barbell strength exercises will fix that.

hillcrawler

I haven't read that webpage yet thoroughly but I think they are exaggerating a bit the laziness of the muscles. Those muscles are one of the most active muscle group while cycling but I am sitting on my office chair around 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. And I haven't rode a good distance since 4 months. That is a good reason why they can get lazy and it may explain why they are getting fatigued so easily and I feel like I need to stretch them all the time.

Carbonfiberboy 

Really! You don't ride or workout and then find you tire easily? Huh. Your muscles will develop to support whatever you tell them to do. But first, you have to tell them to do it. The article illustrates the many ways in which that can work. If you train, like ride, hike, and lift, almost every day, every week, every year, your glutes will feel like ball bearings.

hillcrawler

I don't ride because my knees don't allow me to do. Whatever...

CbadRider

Here are some simple exercises to strengthen glutes that you can probably do in your office at work.

http://www.realsimple.com/health/fitness-exercise/workouts/glute-exercises-00000000029953/index.html

Carbonfiberboy 

Still with the knee problems? What are you doing for it/trying lately?

Carbonfiberboy 

Here's another thought re glutes and knees:
Next time you're on the bike, when your leg gets close to the bottom of the stroke, sort of lock your knee and focus on pulling back with the whole leg. That's your glute doing that. You should be able to pedal on the flat just doing that, kind of jerky, but forward motion that doesn't involve any pressure on the front of your knee. Once you get the feel of that, combine that sensation with the sensation of flexing your ham, so you're pulling back with both glute and ham and a little up with the ham. See what that feels like after you do it for a while. Do it with your heel cups. Little or no pushing down.

Weatherby

On the downstroke, the quadriceps and gluteus maximus provide most of the power.

Anyone who does not feel the force of the glutes is not starting the pedal stroke early enough....it should start at 12 O'clock and not at 2.

Mine were out of condition and the early miles of a ride still require a lot of stretching. Try stretching before riding and I stretch while riding but be careful.

Weatherby

Also, saddle could be too low forcing your hips to be too closed at the top of the stroke resulting in too much glute recruitment.

Weatherby

Interesting article. It is true that bushmen have huge rears. All of the trackers, skinners, and others in the bush always have huge butts. Caddies are similarly well endowed.

Muscle can be inhibited if its opposing partner muscle is in spasm. Myofascial release is sort of a massage technique to restore balance in the muscle pairs.

It sounds like you are just out of condition.

Machka 

Good question ... what does this mean?

Machka 

+1

Join a gym and start jogging on the treadmill, and you'll develop your glutes. They'll be sore the first few times, but you'll get past that.

A long, brisk hike up a beach, walking on sand, or up a mountain will help too.

Machka 

You don't sit in your office chair 6 hours a day, do you? You do get up once an hour and walk around the office, hike up and down the stairs, and/or go for a brisk walk around the block outside, don't you?

It's not good for a person to sit for 6 hours straight ... we've got to get up and move regularly.

In addition to going for a walk or jogging up and down the stairs once an hour, they also suggest taking every opportunity to stand. Stand in meetings. Stand up at your desk and work whenever you can. Stand at lunch.

You don't have to go crazy with the stretching ... just move more.

hillcrawler

When something goes wrong with your body, if you have a pain or swelling going on somewhere in your body, your nervous system gets really nervous (bad joke) and activates a protective mode not to cause more damage to that area. I don't know if this explains that shut down thing though.

Whatever, my problem is mostly due tight muscles. When I try a quadriceps stretch I can feel that they are damn stiff. It is the same with my glutes also. Sometimes the calves. I need to stretch them every day until I don't feel stiffness. Because this is yielding to my kneecap tracks out of its groove. Doctors couldn't know that before they didn't monitor my knee while cycling. Once I get rid of the stiffness and inflammation around the joints I will never do a long ride with platform pedals. They cause the hamstrings to sit back and watch while all the other muscles overwork. Hopefully I understand it correctly.

hillcrawler

I am not sitting that long without giving a break but the breaks are really short like only a few minutes and if I have to calculate the cumulative hours of sitting I think it is not less than 6 hours a day. I am working 8.5 hours a day and it is all about checking e-mails and making phone calls etc. I usually go out on lunch breaks and walk at least a mile for that matter.

Ursa Minor

Stretching is a good idea. Last Fall I had a bad back and that motivated me to start stretching.
I had the idea of doing it while taking a hot shower and I've been able to make a habit of it.

I know you aren't complaining about a bad back but the shower idea for stretching helped me a lot.

Charlie

hillcrawler

Good idea but it might cause another injury.

Machka 

It just sounds to me like you need to exercise more.

Get some decent shoes and go for long walks.
Go on hikes.
Are there any walking or hiking groups in your area? If so, join them.

Join a gym and start working out. A good gym will show you how to use all the equipment properly.

Don't sit for more than 1 hour. Get up and walk around a little bit, even if it is just for 2 or 3 minutes. Walk or jog up and down stairs if you can.


And yes, you may hurt at first, but then after doing it for a few days, your body should get used to the exercise.

hillcrawler

I am never afraid of hurting myself in a good way but you know I am trying to save my knees in the same time. Ok, I will take your words and be more active around the workplace. Walking long distance still hurts my knees. Never tried hiking but it would do worse than walking in my current situation. I am taking aspirin twice a day to get rid of inflammation if any. It feels much better already after 3-4 days since i've been taking aspirin.

What was so discouraging for me is that I rest for 3 weeks and last Sunday I tried a really short ride (only 5 miles) with %60 tempo and even though it was a pain free ride, after few hours pain started to come back and while I was trying to go into sleep I had a good amount of pain which seems to be coming from inside my kneecap, it felt like my femur and tibia rubbed each other and I had pain inside the joint. Terrible feeling. I have no choice but to rest more, do more stretchings and give it another go after a month or so.

hillcrawler

I was doing my glutes stretching just now which needs my knees to be bent almost fully. After I did that stretch I slowly straightened my knee and heard a very loud clicking noise from my right kneecap. It was like crushing a tin of coke in your hand. It is the first time I hear that kind of noise through the kneecap. Does that mean there are some cartilage parts moving free between the joints and they should be taken out by an operation?

Machka 

It means you shouldn't do stretches which require your knees to be bent almost fully (or fully extended either for that matter). But you would know that if you had taken our advice about joining a yoga class. Fortunately, it is not too late ... you can go sign up for one tonight.

It might also mean that you've been sitting around too much, and may need to get up and walk around the block.

But how on earth would we know if you needed an operation? There are, however, people who can tell you that. They're called surgeons. If you really think there is something wrong with your knees that more exercise to strengthen your legs can't fix. Go see a surgeon.