Weak in the Trapezius?

[AllanVarcoe]

Cycling is relatively new to me. I've gone about 4k miles on Strava and a few more on something else. BUT, I've ridden BMX all my life. So, I was noticing that I'm weak at pulling activities like rowing (I used to be a professional ocean kayak tour guide).

Then, last Saturday I woke up and could hardly move my right shoulder. Really intense wide spread pain from the traps! To make a long story short, my chiropractor said that a combination of commuting by car for 1+hrs/way, sleeping on my side and cycling caused a pinched nerve. The pinched nerve, he said, is probably because of what he says is common in cyclists.

Weak trapezius muscles.

Now, when I rode BMX and rowed a kayak full time I had shoulders like a football player but since cycling is my main activity now, my weight has gone south to my legs and my shoulders more resemble angle hair spaghetti.

The point of all this:

1. Have any of you experienced similar "injuries" and how did you recover?

2. What do you do for upper body workouts (or activities) that doesn't involve going to a gym? (because I'll die before I'll pay a place to go "workout" when #OutsideIsFree) I mean I have dumb bells at home and $#!t like that.

3. I'm going to be 40 in Nov. Is this just a part of aging?

[Tickdoc]

2nd opinion.

[Bentley]

How about push-up and pull-ups. Build a strong upper body just with those. You can do inclined push-ps and wide and narrow pull-ups without going to a gym. Add some dips and build up the forearms

Ray

[Hilltopperny]

I have big traps from years of laboring and genetics. Dumbell shrugs, dips and over head dumbell presses will definitely strengthen your shoulders and traps. No need for a gym. Push ups and pull ups will strengthen your core as well

[AllanVarcoe]

Lucky you Hilltopper! My body is a "use it or loose it" kinda deal. Ha!

Sweet! So just basic lifting type stuff? I'm just feeling better now for a couple days so I'm going to give it another week to start working it. I did go for an 11 mile easy peasy ride today and it felt good. Not 100% but definitely progress!

[Hilltopperny]

Definitely ease into the exercises and gradually build up. Don't overdo it and you'll be fine. Good luck!

[AngryScientist]

consider finding a used concept2 rowing machine.

rowing, especially with proper form is one of the best total body workout's i've found.

[Bentley]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

consider finding a used concept2 rowing machine.

rowing, especially with proper form is one of the best total body workout's i've found.

Agree with this totally, but it takes up a bit of room. You can find them used on CL pretty easy

[AllanVarcoe]

We have a rower actually! My wife was on the crew team at SUNY Albany and Siena.

But yes, I'll definitely ease into any form of exercise.

[Clean39T]

The key here is learning to use the right muscles when pulling. You need to set your shoulder blades so they lay more flat against your back and when you're reaching for things (handlebars, steering wheel, pull-up bar), keep them set and don't over extend out of your shoulder area. There are a ton of physical therapy exercises to retrain the way you use that part of your body.

https://youtu.be/47ZgLPptI5U

Plus anything to fix "scapular winging".

Just a layman's guess here based on having experienced it myself and then working with a structural integration specialist.

[AllanVarcoe]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

The key here is learning to use the right muscles when pulling. You need to set your shoulder blades so they lay more flat against your back and when you're reaching for things (handlebars, steering wheel, pull-up bar), keep them set and don't over extend out of your shoulder area. There are a ton of physical therapy exercises to retrain the way you use that part of your body.

https://youtu.be/47ZgLPptI5U

Plus anything to fix "scapular winging".

Just a layman's guess here based on having experienced it myself and then working with a structural integration specialist.

Sweet! Thank you!!! I have always tried not to over reach when riding and driving.

I'll watch that when I get home.

[bewheels]

Originally Posted by Tickdoc

2nd opinion.

^^^

By looking into all the exercises, you may be skipping over the step of finding out what the root cause is. Its possible that any exercises you start doing may make this issue worst, not correct it.

I am not a doctor but have had some interesting shoulder issue in the past...

[merckx]

Screw the exercises. Increase your saddle setback and you will be fine.

[benb]

You're right, if you ride far enough your upper body suffers.. cyclists will deny it but most of us have weak upper backs/shoulders, and have tight pecs and super stretched out shoulders, and you can end up having those cramps and such that you seem to have noticed. IMO being too stretched out makes it worse could be excessive reach or drop, but a lot of it is mileage based. I can't believe how fast my arms feel like they get weak if I go through a period of months of just road cycling. (Seems to be getting worse with age too)

Some people seem fine, plenty seem to have trouble. I definitely notice the same thing you have. It takes plenty of weight training and other exercises to combat it. Maybe you need a second opinion, maybe you need a bike fit session, maybe you need to cross train and work on getting your shoulders/arms fit again. Probably all of the above.

I'm going to be 40 next month too. I want to say some of the pulling activities (rows, lat pulldown, pull ups) I am probably 30-50% weaker than when I started cycling, but I am NOT noticeably weaker on the pushing exercises (bench press, pushups, etc..) Just a question of when it starts bothering you. It has really bothered me the last few years.. being so unbalanced seems to invite injuries and you can't shake them off as easily as when you're 20.

Could be worse.. I've never been more than a 5000 mile/yr cyclist. I don't think I've ever been able to do less than 25-30 pushups. I have had people who ride 10,000+ miles/yr tell me they can't do a single pushup. When I they have arms/shoulders that look like Froome/Hamilton/Van Garderen I believe them.

Maybe it's more age for you.. this is a close to 20 year thing for me, it's surprising that you are noticing it after 4000 miles.

[tommyrod74]

Originally Posted by merckx

Screw the exercises. Increase your saddle setback and you will be fine.

Going to disagree with this completely. Not that his position couldn't be off as well...

I have my athletes do the following:

Deadlifts
Dips
Pullups
Kettlebell swings

Traps and upper back are hit by all of these, directly and indirectly. Even grip strength is helped by these.

I started having my XC/enduro guys do these lifts because they were getting sore atfer longer races. I found that, personally, I can hold a more aero position with more drop on the road as well with a little added strength, so I now have to road guys doing them as well.

I do all these at home in ~30 min 2x/week. No more than 2 sets of each lift per session during season, and 1 set is enough during race weeks. Build strength during the off- and base season and just maintain during race season.

Added benefits - better bone density, and better crash resilience (it's a matter of when, not if). Better coordination.

PM if I can help further.

ETA: cycling (even road) requires a lot of posterior kinetic chain strength to transfer power to the pedals. Cycling does little to build the posterior kinetic chain. Driving and sitting work to decondition these muscles. So many cyclists refuse to do anything to become better cyclists except ride the bike more. A little (and it takes very little) body work goes a LONG way toward injury prevention and health, especially as we age (I'm 43, personally).