How to Prevent and Treat a Sore Core
Follow these postworkout tips to avoid delayed onset muscle soreness.
Building a strong core for your bike rides means dedicating some time during your gym sessions to practice planks, sit-ups, dead bugs and other ab exercises. The results will translate into better balance, cycling efficiency, and posture for the road, but also a sore core which is never fun—especially when it hurts to laugh.
Like the rest of your muscles, your abdominals and obliques, along with the rest of your core movers and stabilizers are susceptible to delayed onset muscles soreness (a.k.a. DOMS), the painful inflammation caused by micro-tears in worked muscles.
“Generally you stay sore for about two days, and [the feeling] diminishes as the inflammation goes down and your body gets rid of the fluid,” explains David Costill, Ph.D., program director emeritus of the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State University. Still, when your core feels sore it can seem debilitating.
Here are a few strategies to help remedy your sore abs, so you won’t hesitate to laugh or complete your next workout.
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