Tom Danielson's Core Advantage—Core Strength for Cycling's Winning Edge

Tom Danielson's Core Advantage offers cyclists a core strengthening program to make every bike ride faster and painfree. This comprehensive approach shows the 50 essential core workout routines that will build strength and endurance in the key core muscles for cycling—no gym membership required.

For years, professional cyclist Tom Danielson battled back pain that hurt his race performance and made riding his bike painful. Personal trainer Allison Westfahl cured Danielson's back problems with a core training program that has become Danielson's secret weapon for climbing and time trialing. Rather than focusing on leg strength alone, Danielson's total-body strength routine boosts his performance, helps him recover from injuries, and gives him an edge in the peloton.

Tom Danielson's Core Advantage shares three core strength plans so any cyclist can enjoy faster, longer rides. Beginner, intermediate, and advanced training plans will help bike racers, century riders, and weekend warriors to stabilize the upper body, improving cycling efficiency and reducing the fatigue that can cause back and neck pain.

Cyclists will use their own body weight during exercises for the lower back, hips, abs, chest, and shoulders to build strength in these critical areas. Danielson models each exercise in clear photographs. Diagrams of key muscle and bone structures explain the goals of each workout.

Riding a bike takes more than leg strength. Now Tom Danielson's Core Advantage lays out the core strengthening routines that enable longer, faster rides.

Tom Danielson is a professional cyclist with Team Garmin-Barracuda. Danielson won the national collegiate mountain biking championship riding for Fort Lewis College. He began his pro road cycling career riding for Team Mercury and then Team Saturn. Danielson won the Tour de Langkawi, Nature Valley Grand Prix, the Cascade Cycling Classic, Tour de Toona, and the Mt. Washington Hill Climb. In 2004, Danielson signed on with the Italian squad Fassa Bortolo and then Discovery in 2005 when he won the Tour de Georgia. While riding for Discovery, Danielson won a stage of the Vuelta a Espana.

Allison Westfahl is a certified personal trainer and founder of The Athletic Edge, a fitness consulting company based in Boulder, Colorado. She holds an MS in Exercise Science and is a certified USA Triathlon coach. Westfahl has worked as a personal trainer to amateur and youth athletes as well as elite cyclists Tom Danielson, Ryder Hesjedal, Timmy Duggan, Blake Caldwell, and Mike Friedman. Westfahl was named the youngest ever Director of Personal Training at the prestigious Flatiron Athletic Club, named in 2006 by Men’s Journal as the Best Gym in America. She has contributed to the Denver Post and Bicycling magazine.