Hi
I’ve been properly bike fitted to my bike but when I try to do some work(tempo zone 3 or zone 4) my lower back hurts. It does disappear when I stop and stretch.
I assume there’s something wrong that I’m doing?
How can I strengthen my lower back?
Only happens outdoors and not indoor riding.
Thank you
This issue is with a Tri bike or Road bike? Also, same bike is being used indoors and outdoors?
Tri bike and yes the same bike.
I could ride 2-4hrs indoors and have no lower back issue
It sounds like a fit issue.
Even Sam Long on his videos says that his back kills him on 70.3s given the hard effort. I would have thought he’d have zero issues with back pain given he does ironmans and is a pro known for his bike prowess, but I distinctly recall him on a fairly recent video recapping a race and saying pretty much that his back was killing him by the end of the bike, but he didn’t worry about it since everyone’s back hurt at those efforts in the TT position or something very similar.
That said, it’s always worth considering if you can improve your position for less discomfort.
I and most people actually get the opposite of you, in that our lower back starts killing us after like 1.5-2hrs on the trainer, but we’re mostly fine outdoors.
What can I adjust to help with my lower back?
Is there anything I can adjust to help me with this?
In my experience, my back hurts when I’m not properly engaging my core and I end up arching my back when riding in aero. Try to focus on pulling your belly button in when riding in aero.
Thanks I will keep this in mind next ride
.
Is there anything I can adjust to help me with this?
Riding more helps. I know, sounds douchy but it’s true.
You can also raise your aerobars up if you have spacers, but it’s usually a pain to do so and if you’re already with a fitted position, you probably don’t want to do that unless you absolutely can’t train with the current one.
Here is a thought for the cause.
When outdoors you are looking up more (“craning” your neck) causing mild hyper extension. To test this, you could try looking up MUCH more indoors.
FWIW, I certainly felt the difference in neck fatigue between outdoors vs indoors.
Hopefully helpful?
Indoors you don’t have to activate your core to stabilise from winds etc. And also as someone else has mentioned, you tend to look more forward outdoors.
Things that I think might help:
What can I adjust to help with my lower back?
I would find a fitter with a dynamic fit bike.
What tires and what pressure?
If you hurt more riding inside then I would say it was a fit issue. If you hurt more outside then I would think it is due to vibrations. Outside you naturally tend to not hold a fixed position as much which would provide temporary relief to fit issues.
I have a rocker plate that I bought 2nd hand from the marketplace did that make any difference?
Will keep this in mind for enxt time. Thanks
the typical answer, for the last 25 years, has been “cockpit too long.” this is the danger of pushing the aerobars further out, which is a thing nowadays. unless you can completely rest the torso skeletally you’re holding it up with your spinal erectors. lower back pain is almost an inevitability. but i don’t know in your case. a pic of you in profile posted here would yield some more color to this.
Low back pain has been a major limiter of mine during hard or long bike races pretty much my whole amateur “career” of about 15 years. My bike fit has changed a lot over the years, including with the help of several professionals, but the back pain has always been there. There are certain factors that make it worse, such as trying to hold an aero position, but it’s not really an option to just sit bolt upright all the time. I also get back pain from running, although I had to quit running due to a foot injury, so I think I’m just prone to it due to my specific physiology.
However at this point in my life, even though I’m older than I’ve ever been ðŸ˜, I have it more under control than any other time in the past. And for me the magic formula seems to be:
Kettlebell swings, which have the long term effect of strengthening the posterior chain and the immediate effect of activating the glutes. So I do these before every ride and extra sets a few times a week
Massage gun, specifically it’s most important to work on the muscles where my butt meets my lower back. But I use this all over the legs. This is generally another pre-ride ritual, but at least once a day even if I don’t ride.
As soon as I start to feel any tightness in the back on a ride, I stop pedaling, stand up with one leg straight, thrust my hips forward and clench my butt cheeks. (You see a lot of cyclists do this but the two things no one ever told me explicitly was to do this before the sensation becomes pain, and to clench your cheeks as hard as you can.) When I do this, the discomfort usually dissipates immediately.
The lower back is going to do a lot of work stabilizing unstable positions. It’s the upper back and shoulders that will generally complain more if it’s a cockpit issue. Lower back is more often a result of the pedal stroke causing hip instability. Seat height, either too low or much more commonly too high, combined with the excess range of motion that occurs when your cranks are too long, are the leading cause of low back pain in my experience. Both overextending at the bottom and “overcompressing” at the top can cause the lower back to continually work to stabilize the hips.
The lower back is going to do a lot of work stabilizing unstable positions. It’s the upper back and shoulders that will generally complain more if it’s a cockpit issue. Lower back is more often a result of the pedal stroke causing hip instability.
that is not my experience. of course “lower back” is a big topic. when it’s muscular fatigue, that’s generally a spinal erector which is an aptly named muscle group. it keeps the spine erect. it does that work when the upper body is not resting on the aerobars.
have we forgotten 20 years of bike fit? i don’t mind upturned forearms. i never minded them, as long as an aero benefit was to be had. but i think we’re now so enamored with the idea of a new position (TRIPRO wants a new tri bike geometry) that i fear we’re going to be placing athletes in positions that are unsustainable. first do no harm, brother.