Anyone else find standing exhausting?

neeb

So I'm pretty fit on the bike and can do long, fast rides without issue. I can also walk for miles quite comfortably and average around 8000 steps per day on top of the cycling. But for some reason I seem to find standing more exhausting than most people, including completely unfit sedentary types. What's going on there? The classic thing is if I'm at one of those cheese and wine events where I'm standing around for an hour or two. The muscles in my lower back just cramp up after 30 minds or so.. Is it something to do with being trained for cycling or simply a case of not being trained for standing?

webboo

You need to stand up straight man or madam.

StillGoing

Don't ask me what the name of the muscles are, but after a similar problem, my physio advised that the hip flexion muscles to the front of the leg, become shorter with a lot of sitting at work, riding a bike etc. One of the main muscles to the front of the leg (Sartorius I think) is attached to the lower back and wraps around the outside of the thigh to the front. These muscles if tight, pull on the lower back when standing.

https://www.getbodysmart.com/ap/muscula ... /image.gif

https://youtu.be/Bu5Q42czTG8

neeb

philthy3 wrote:

Don't ask me what the name of the muscles are, but after a similar problem, my physio advised that the hip flexion muscles to the front of the leg, become shorter with a lot of sitting at work, riding a bike etc. One of the main muscles to the front of the leg (Sartorius I think) is attached to the lower back and wraps around the outside of the thigh to the front. These muscles if tight, pull on the lower back when standing.

https://www.getbodysmart.com/ap/muscula ... /image.gif

https://youtu.be/Bu5Q42czTG8

Thanks for that.

P.S. I suggest we both just take a step back from the politics in that other thread.. can of worms..

bristolpete

I 'stand' up all day in my occupation and I can tell you something in that being on the feet all day hammers to legs and actually robs me and I suspect other riders of FTP / top end power/ lowers the threshold.

In August I had two weeks off and in week two did 235 miles over 6 days and felt great. It is a funny thing to explain and ultimately, I think that standing up slows down the recovery process. Over the years I have learnt to use compression socks, stretching, foam roller and the usual other caveats of bike riding such as rego, hot baths etc etc. The paradox is the comic and other magazines say that standing much better than sitting though when my quads are screaming after 'fast tuesday' on a weds, I would love to be sat at a desk sometimes recovering. But for you sounds like a bit of stretching is required ?

reacher

well, i'm on my feet all day doing a manual job and it does me no harm at all in fact if i'm not working i will find something to do like in the garden or some other type of work that gets me on my feet, have done all my working life. Thats every day including weekends and i do a lot of training as well. I actually cant think of anything worse than being sat down for long periods, the time it takes to drink a coffee is about my max.

neeb

Interesting observations all, thanks.

I'm guessing that you adapt to what you do most of the time - if you are mostly sitting at work it's going to be more tiring to stand, and perhaps for some people if you're standing all day it's sitting that becomes uncomfortable..

What I find interesting is that walking briskly for me is actually much less tiring than standing - I mean literally, for the same time expended. I can walk for an hour or two and feel fresh as a daisy but if I stand for an hour my lower back cramps up and I feel generally fatigued.. It's true that I'm sitting most of the time at work, and when I'm not I'm walking - so again, I guess I just don't stand much. Hardly surprising my body isn't used to it.

Interesting question whether it would be better for cycling performance to stand more or not. I suspect there's a happy medium, a level of daily standing that's good for certain stabilisation muscles but if exceeded becomes fatiguing. As far as I know the pros are encouraged to put their feet up on rest days, but it's hardly comparable because they spend so much more time than the rest of us do on the bike.

reacher

More to do with age for me, I know that if I stop doing physical activity and sit for long periods then eventually those periods of sitting will get longer and the physical activity will become harder, it can create somewhat of a problem in that lots of training does however need quite a lot of recovery and rest though. But in answer specifically to the question, actually standing still in one spot, which is something I rarely do, I do find uncomfortable it's strange you should say that though because when I gave it some thought I have noticed the same, at partys and events these somewhat unfit and quite large people do seem to be able to stand about all night

norvernrob

neeb wrote:

So I'm pretty fit on the bike and can do long, fast rides without issue. I can also walk for miles quite comfortably and average around 8000 steps per day on top of the cycling. But for some reason I seem to find standing more exhausting than most people, including completely unfit sedentary types. What's going on there? The classic thing is if I'm at one of those cheese and wine events where I'm standing around for an hour or two. The muscles in my lower back just cramp up after 30 minds or so.. Is it something to do with being trained for cycling or simply a case of not being trained for standing?

Standing is rubbish. I'm a postie and obviously walk for hours every day, but when I'm doing a Lego exhibition I have to keep sitting down because standing there knackers my back and legs after an hour or so.

CptKernow

Walking slowly does it for me. Might as well have been riding at race pace the way I feel afterwards!