How the Velocity Rocker can help you develop a stronger core and manage your weight
Can cycling alone cause you to achieve chiseled abs? Not likely.
A high quality diet is THE most important factor in creating those fitness model abs. While meeting your caloric needs and proper proportion of macronutrients, keep in mind - "Eat food, mostly plants, not too much." -Michael Pollan
A strong core also requires dedicated exercises to add strength, stability and muscle. Doing weight-bearing exercise, yoga, pilates or other core exercises a few times a week is a good foundation. So what about working your core while cycling?
Cycling can be a full body workout utilizing your upper body and core as well as your legs, especially while sprinting and climbing. However, cycling indoors on a motionless (static) bike and trainer can have a negligible effect on developing and maintaining core strength.
With the 4-way motion of the Velocity Rocker rocker plate, you are forced to recruit your core muscles and upper body in order to maintain proper - in real life (IRL) - bike lean. In other words, as you push down the right pedal, the bike leans left and vice versa. The Velocity Rocker has inflatable balls as springs, so they are highly adjustable and tunable to the rider's weight and desire/ability to engage the core muscles. In other words, a looser setup is possible for an IRL riding motion.
Some rocker plates with fixed springs force the rider to have opposite to IRL bike lean (the left pedal goes down and the bike leans left and vice versa). It is a one size fits all mentality. Even though the rocking sensation is present, it feels oddly different and off-putting to many. As you become used to riding an adjustable spring rocker plate like the Velocity Rocker and you reduce the amount of psi in the balls/springs you become forced to engage your core muscles with every stroke.
Because the Velocity Rocker allows you to comfortably ride longer due to greatly reduced saddle/sit bone friction, the amount of time you work your core also increases significantly.
CORE ACTIVATION:
Static trainer = close to nothing unless consciously flexing.
Velocity Rocker = as long as you care to ride.
So while the Velocity Rocker won't, by itself, help your carve those Instagram abs, it can certainly be an important addition to your ab carving regimen!
