Most cyclists chasing more watts are one floor session away from getting them. Not another interval block. Not a power metre upgrade. Twenty minutes of bodyweight work they keep skipping because it doesn't feel like real training.
Key Takeaways
The cycling internet is obsessed with FTP. Every other week there's a new threshold session, a new zone 2 protocol, a new way to structure your intervals. Meanwhile the same riders are wondering why their lower back seizes up at hour three, why their position falls apart on a long climb, why their power numbers drop off in the second half of every hard ride. Phil Sheridan, a physio I've worked with over the years, said something to me once that stuck: the erector spinae is the most neglected muscle group in cycling, and most riders don't even know where it is. That's the gap. Back prone extensions hit exactly that muscle, along with the smaller stabilising muscles around the spine. Hip thrusts build glute strength and carry over directly to power output. Side planks work the part of the abdominal wall that's doing quiet work every time you hold a position for four hours. Plank walkouts hit the core without any equipment, no gym required. I've been doing versions of these for years. When I stop, I notice it within two or three weeks, usually in my back first, then in how long I can hold a decent position before I start moving around on the saddle.
The protocol here is not complicated. Four exercises: back prone extensions, hip thrusts, side planks, plank walkouts. Fifteen to twenty reps each. Three sets total with short breaks between. The whole thing takes under twenty minutes and you can do it in a hotel room. That's the other thing I hear constantly from riders I coach: they travel for work, they can't get to the gym, they skip the strength work entirely for weeks at a time and then wonder why they're starting from scratch when they get home. These four exercises were built specifically for that situation. It's like anything off the bike, the thing you'll actually do on a Tuesday night in a conference hotel beats the perfect programme you'll start when conditions are ideal.
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If you want to take this further than hotel-room floor work, the 5 exercises Pogacar always does before a ride episode covers the pre-ride activation side of this. And if back pain is showing up because of how you're positioned on the bike in the first place, go listen to the bike fit mistakes episode.