Triceps: Upper Body Shock Absorber

As a biker, whether you consider yourself a roadie or mountain biker, the triceps are a very important muscle to develop strength in.   The stronger your triceps are, the more absorption capability they have. Just as the quadriceps are to runners for absorption, the triceps are the bikers shock absorbers.

If the triceps lack sufficient strength to do this, often bikers will complain of upper back spinal pain.  The impact has to go somewhere.  If not absorbed through the triceps, the spine will take more of the brunt.

There are several easy ways to go about this.  The standard push up, while simple is highly effective.  Throw in some isometrics at various angles as well as some slow eccentrics and you will have most of your bases covered.  The only addition would be to ad some type of kickback or skull crusher type exercise to hit the long head of the triceps.

As the regular mountain bike/road bike/cyclocross season winds down and you start planning your off season training, (unless your part of that crazy fat bike, winter riders) add in some triceps work to help build better upper body shock absorbers.