willydstyle

Ok, so forever when I rode I tried to keep my hips parallel to the ground, which required me to arch my back to reach the bars.

I finally paid for a professional fit, and he said that this is literally the opposite of what I should be doing, which is rotating my hips forward, and "stretching" my torso to keep my lungs open.

I feel like when I rotate my hips forward, I put more pressure on my perineum though.

So I have a few questions:

Do you rotate your hips forward to reach your bars?

If you do, what do you do to keep pressure on your sit bones?

Carbonfiberboy 

Yes, I do. In that position, one does not put pressure on the sit bones, rather on the pubic ramus which is quite a bit narrower. Most people use a saddle with a cutout to relieve pressure on the perineum. No problem other than getting a saddle which works for you.
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willydstyle

OK, so yeah, I definitely feel like I'm sitting on some narrower bones when I rotate my hips forward, but I'm still getting increased perineal pressure, even on my Cambium with a cutout. Maybe it doesn't have an aggressive enough cutout?

Road Fan

Did you tell your fitter about the perineal discomfort? For that I generally consider reducing the saddle height. Another measure is to adjust the saddle angle so the nose is lowered by a millimeter or so.

The latter strategy is to take pressure away from your peri, which is unable to support it or withstand it. By lowering the saddle nose the body weight support is better focused on the sit bones, which can support the body's weight without a problem.

elcruxio

This depends on the rider. There are A LOT of professional riders who ride just like that with an upright hip angle and there are some professionals who ride with a flat back as your fitter has stated and of course everyone in the middle. It really depends on what position feels natural and good to you. Basically it's about spine flexibility and there are different saddles for different riding positions.

Fizik has a pretty good system called the 'spine concept' where the people with high spine flexibility and a more upright hip angle ride a flat saddle such as the Fizik Arione and people with little spine flexibility use the Fizik Aliante which is quite curved in its side profile. The way this works is that the saddle is leveled in such a manner that the nose of the saddle is in a position which doesn't affect the perineum. If your hips are upright the saddle nose can be level with the back but you you're leaning forward a lot the saddle nose must be lower than the sit bone seating area to remove perineal pressure, hence the curved saddle shape where the back is noticeable higher than the front. The cutout isn't all that effective in removing all pressure from the perineum area and is only a helpful addition but the main emphasis should be in removing the nose from the perineum.

As a side note, Fizik is the one who coined the term 'spine concept' but pretty much every saddle manufacturer follows the same system in some way or other. If you look at the lineups they all have saddles which are curved or flat, for example Specialized has the Toupe which is very flat and the Romin which is extremely curved.

The Brooks Cambium side profile seems like it's a flat/medium flat saddle so it's not really good for the riding position your fitter described, even with the cutout. If you want to use it with very a forward leaned position you may need to drop the nose significantly which has it's own issues.

To find your preferred hip angle and riding position I'd urge you to try an exercise while riding where you do a kind of Cat Cow yoga pose on the bike while riding meaning that you briefly try to tilt your hips as forward as they can go, and then tilt your hips as far as they will go. Do this a few times and try to find the hip position that feels most natural to you. It should feel just that, natural, with no pain or tension anywhere.
From there you can start assessing your true hip angle and the saddle shape that'll fit you the best.

I for example absolutely cannot use the curved saddles, at all. There is no way I could ever ride one for extended periods. I require a medium flat saddle as completely flat saddles are then a bit too flat.

Wildwood 

Try a saddle that is literally a 'split saddle', empty between the left & right halves.
Selle SMP.
Sounds weird, but for many it works.
Rotate those hips to get low.
Also, learn to ride on the saddle slightly unweighted. New wonders. Most effective during hard efforts.
Or just lift your butt more.

Carbonfiberboy 

I rotate my hips forward enough to flatten my back. When I do that, my HR is lower than when putting out the same power but with my hips more upright. Flattening your back opens your chest. I like a flat saddle with a cutout, a narrow nose, a smoothly rounded drop between top and skirt, and relatively T-shaped so the inside of my upper thighs don't chafe on the saddle. A good saddle with a cutout will have just enough saddle between the cutout and the saddle's edge so that it doesn't feel sharp. YMMV.

bikebreak

I rotate the hips forward when I use the drops to get lower


I find a fizik arione vs works pretty well, it has a valley in the middle but not a cutout. I am going to try a saddle with a cutout and see if that works better