started mostly after V02… i cant understand why? i feel two main diferences from outdoors (where it never happened) in side i spin faster… and spend alot more time in the saddle at higher power…
anyone experienced this type of pain? never happened on zwift…an example… probably because the loads are not constante i supose…
any ideas? its only hurts when the demand of the force is higher…
Your adductors are the muscles on your inner thigh which are highly utilized to stabilize your hips and knees. Cycling, especially at more intense efforts, will require you to stabilize these areas more to be as efficient as possible when aiming to generate your target power. Since these are longer sustained workloads in TR than Zwift or outdoors where it’s easy to fluctuate, these adductor muscles will get less of a break and consequently (likely) become more fatigued.
i´m doing high volume on trainer…what could be a solution? reduce interval duration? decrease volume in order to increase recovery… reduce higher power targets…
Maybe start with mid-volume. Not sure if this is your first TR plan or not, but I would guess the more you ride (and rest), the stronger these muscles will get and over time less sore.
Anecdotally a lot of people seem to put more strain on the adductors on the turbo than the road…I get more tightness there at the start of my winter turbo training - does seem to ease though and goes completely when I race and ride outside in the summer.
This is a problem area for me too. Adductors into hamstrings and outside hip. You need to bring in some strengthening exercises that target those, to help activate and stabilize. You can do lateral banded movements to work inside and outside, and one legged glute bridge variations (w/ side line hip raises for outside glute). I find when I am regularly doing these I cramp less and feel less fatigued in inner thighs.
Same here. In fact, inner thigh soreness is a warning sign that I am close to the point where my knee will start bothering me. I have had knee cap tracking issues on my left side due to weak glutes and adductors as compared to my quads & hamstrings. The stuff you mentioned helps with that imbalance, good recommendation.
The solution is to do stretches and strengthening exercises that will address the imbalance in your inner thigh. Changing your training to get round the issue isn’t a long term strategy although you might want to avoid any sessions that aggravate the issue (or do reduced volume of those exercises until the issue resolves itself). This may also be a bikefit issue as you are effectively locked into a position without much opportunity to move on a trainer and the loads will be constant rather than the breaks you get outdoors (even the micro ones can help).
I agree with everyone’s comments pointing to imbalances maybe being a culprit here. WRT stretching I would consider foam rolling first to release tight facia first and then stretch.
But another thing that the trainer seems to pinpoint that riding on the road can sometimes mask is fit. If I were to guess I would say that either your foot isn’t fully flat across your shoe during the power phase of your pedal stroke. This could be caused by any number of issues. If you haven’t had a thorough and professional bike fit recently, I would recommend it.
A quick remedy might be to drop your saddle height by a few mm, like one or two. But in the end a full fit is what i would consider on top of the prophylactic strengthening of leg prime movers as well as posterior chain/ core work.
(edit: @Jackc70 basically just said what i did…sorry to repeat).
Had same issue recently. Physio told me to stretch and we worked on releasing the tightness. Toned down my intensity for a couple of weeks. Things have returned to normal.
Great thread and comments. Does anyone have specific strengthening exercises they recommend? Links would be great. Thanks in advance!!!
This video has a combination of movements that provide stretches and strengthening movements for the adductors. 21 Inner thigh Exercises - Adductor Variations - YouTube
Or do a search for thigh adductor exercises for other examples.
Perfect, thanks! Some of those look crazy hard!! Guess I’ll give a few a try next gym day.
Another real simple one you can do pretty much anywhere is, while seated form a fist with each hand then place them side by side between your knees and then press your knees together and hold for 5 to 7 seconds. Release rest 5 seconds then repeat the squeeze release cycle for 2 to 3 sets of 5 reps.
Have had the same issue, extremely tight/sore adductors. I’m finding that hip strengthening exercises like clamshells (helps to balance the medial/lateral forces on knee tracking during pedal stroke) plus foam rolling my lateral (vastus lateralis) and central (rectus femoris) quad and my adductor BEFORE a trainer session is helping to keep my adductor quiet. Honestly though, I think foam rolling has really been the game changer for me. Just got through 3 months straight of consistent base training with almost no adductor or knee issues, and the only thing I added was the foam rolling. Foam rolling FTW!
A I already did bikefit…so I would say it has nothing to due with that…it is for sure the indoor demand of pedaling that is higher than outside…of course if your hitting those big watts
Not an expert, but an overactive adductor would suggest something is pulling or otherwise translating the knee laterally and the adductors step in. Is there wear on the cleats?
As said above, could be several things. My judgement could be clouded by my own history, but the culprit is usually in hips or muscles controlling them.
Many good suggestions above. If it is hips, various glute medius exercises are often helpful, clams etc. Dont forget the gmed anterior fibers that rotate the hip internally. Reverse clams help there.
But ultimately my Lt Ellen Ripley solution to most lower leg issues are well controlled one-legged deaflifts with a kettlebell, barefoot.
I think I jinxed myself. Have had a tough training week, plane trips, lots of walking, and some hard effort pedal stomps or spin ups (Bays, Hale +2, North Pack). Today about 2 hours into a ride was getting the familiar right side inner knee pain, and what felt like nerve pain in my adductor. Need to take my own medicine this week!
I had this problem in Oct/Nov. Bought new shoes in the summer that I’d been using outdoors on my road bike. I’ve my TT bike set up on the turbo, my position on that had been set up during a bike fit. About 4 weeks into SSB1 I started having issues. Swapping back to my old shoes for turbo work sorted it out. New shoes had a much lower sole height than the old ones, was enough to cause problems.
I’m currently having this issue on my right leg, along with some pain a bit above and inboard of my kneecap. I also noticed that my right knee was tracking inwards a lot at the top of the pedalstroke, to the point that it was overlapping my toptube pretty much.
I walk quite duck-footed with that leg, so one thing I’ve tried is adding a 16mm pedal axle spacer so I can have my toes pointing out more without my heel hitting on the chainstay.
I think it’s helped, but only a bit. I’ve got some cleat wedges arriving tomorrow, I’m hoping if I tip my foot to the outside edge by a degree or two it’ll help keep my knee tracking straight, and then the other problems will go away.
(And hopefully I can get rid of the 16mm spacer)
Any experience/thoughts? (Beyond “get a proper bike fit” - nice idea and I should but I don’t have the time or want to spend the money right now)