Strength training is now widely recognized as a key performance booster for cyclists, but not all exercises—or techniques—are created equal. Simply lifting weights won’t unlock your full potential on the bike. To maximize your strength gains and improve power output, stability, and endurance, small adjustments can make a big difference. In this guide, we’ll break down three simple but highly effective tweaks to your chest press form that will help you generate more strength, maintain better posture, and ultimately ride stronger.
When it comes to cycling, these days everyone (finally) agrees that strength training offers big benefits. But simply hitting the weights to “pick things up and put them down” doesn’t offer you the biggest returns- especially if you’re looking for improved performance.
Here are 3 simple, but not easy, changes to make to your chest presses, to help you reap more rewards on the bike.
1. Making sure your knees are at 90 degrees when your feet are flat on the ground
A massively overlooked part of “bench pressing” by the masses. Foot position and connection with the floor can either boost or bust your chest pressing gains – whether for more weight, or more performance.
Having the knees at 90 degrees with the feet flat allows you to keep your pelvis more squarely positioned on the bench, encourages length through the hip flexors and quadriceps (something everyone needs these days), while also helping increase your ability to fire up your glutes to help provide stability and strength. Think about pushing the floor evenly with your feet, keeping your weight in the mid-foot the entire time.
As you can see here, there are times where the bench you’re using may be a bit too high for you to keep that 90 degree position, so you will need something flat to place your feet on.
On the other side, some benches may be too low for 90 degree knee bend. If this is the case you’ll have to play with your foot position to find where you can keep the weight on the midfoot, while pushing the floor from the glutes, and keeping the pelvis square on the bench. Not optimal, but in this case we have to work with what is ideal, as putting the bench up off the floor to make the knee to 90 degrees will sacrifice safety – something we never do in the weightroom.
2. Keeping your low back flat while pressing
While competitive powerlifters look to arch their lower back as much as possible, that is part of their chosen sport. And while a neutral arch for your spine is something we want to work on (we here at Human Vortex Training use the Mcgill big 3, done with focus on technique and proper execution), I’ve found over the years that the chest press is a great multi-use exercise when we practice using your abs and glutes to reorient your pelvic position.
This is in part due to the hamstrings being placed into a disadvantageous position – thus our first point above – as well as the clear and present feedback from the bench of whether or not you’re getting your low back flat or not.
Now there are some folks who have a larger curve in their lower back who will find that getting their low back flat on the bench is very difficult without lifting their head or shoulders off the bench. In these cases we use a rolled up hand towel or gym towel under your lower back, to decrease the distance, while still getting the abs and glutes active.
Putting your low back flat through your abs also includes the use of your external and internal obliques, and having them re-tune how they are firing together to provide stability for the pelvis and spine – something very important to helping your hips and low back feel better and better deal with stresses.
Of course, if getting into this low back flat on the bench causes you any kind of pain, or if you know just looking at that position is likely to flare you up or set off pain, then it’s best to see a physical therapist for an assessment to help you address the root cause.
3. Reaching long from the shoulder at the top
Our last little change is one that has a big impact on your shoulder health, posture, breathing abilities, lower back, and power output.
This little trick of “reaching from the shoulder” (keeping a nice, long giraffe neck) allows us to begin to train the serratus anterior muscles to provide stability for the shoulder, as well as rewire how it is working with your obliques and glute, as these 3 muscle work as a team.
The idea here is to activate those muscle just under and to the front of your armpit, NOT to “reach for the skies” and round your upper back.
It is a subtle movement, and many riders find it takes a few weeks of practice before they can properly execute.
Take your time in executing this, but be sure to practice it regularly in the exercise.
Conclusion
Strength training is an incredible tool to help riders of all ages and abilities look, move, and feel better. Those improvements are dovetailed and sped-up by understanding the nuances of the exercise you are performing, and how to get what you need for yourself or your sports performance.
Yes, just lifting some heavy(ish) things offers a lot of benefits, but if you take the time to learn how to execute and pay attention to the right details, the results you attain can be multiplied significantly, leaving your riding buddies asking you “What ARE you doing that’s helping you get so strong?”
The best part is, they really won’t believe it when you tell them exactly what you’re doing.
“No, really! Tell me what’s your secret!?!?”
Just smile and pedal away, leaving them to suck wind as you more effortlessly put the power down.
Enjoy!
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