Best cycling stretches article.

malla

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/runningworkouts/tp/BestCyclingStretches.htm

Just thought people would appreciate this
seems like whoever wrote it has a clue about how stuff works, but i could be wrong, makes a change from people just saying you should stretch your hamstrings and quads imho..

projectsome

I will take a gander later

OH NO Dan

I never really stretch before a ride. Just make sure i warm up for the first part of the ride. Id get some right looks in the car park doing the "Hip Flexors and Psoas Stretch"

Daz555

Hamstrings are the ones for me. Cycling definitely causes my hamstrings to tighten and I can feel it when I play footy a few days after a long ride.

J55TTC

OH NO Dan wrote:

I never really stretch before a ride. Just make sure i warm up for the first part of the ride. Id get some right looks in the car park doing the "Hip Flexors and Psoas Stretch"

I agree, and I doe the same for running. For the first 5 minutes just go nice and easy.

I used to stretch before running all the time and I had loads of niggling aches etc. Since I started walking for 5 minutes first Ive been problem free. So, I apply the same theory to riding.

This doesnt mean stretching isnt good for you though, differnt strokes for differnt folks and all that.

paul.skibum

I stretch quads, hams, calf and try to do a standing version of the glute stretch featured there (one ankle on other knee, sit down into stretch while applying pressure to knee thats hooked up - thats a bad explanation!)

stu8975

I dont really stretchy any more, doesnt stop the aches the next day, now after a long hard ride, about 3mins in a cold bath, your nads briefly disappear but no achy achy the next day. the sudden coldness causes your muscles to contract and helps disperse any lactic acid build up (which is what most aches are caused by)...this method isnt a solution for a 'sore @rse' the next day though..lol

.blitz

If I stretched before a ride I would be too knackered to carry on It takes me about 10 miles to 'warm up' these days. Any sprints (ha!) or out-of-the-saddle moments before then and I may as well go home.

papasmurf.

I prefer like others here a low intensity build up ratyher the streching, which i find much more beneficial after exercise

26 to Life

streching probably doesn't help performance or prevent injury but a warm up at 50% of the intended workload does.

meesterbond

That meta study doesn't prove that stretching doesn't improve performance, only that there was no signficant link between stretching and reducing injuries... plus it was focused on body building which uses muscles in a pretty specific (explosive) way.

That said, you shouldn't try and stretch cold muscles anyway... ideally, you should probably ride for 5-10 mins to warm up before doing any stretches.
Although if I was to suggest that 10 mins into a ride we all dismount and lie down for a Piriformis Stretch I'd probably get a slap...

Daz555

Remember that as you get older you lose flexibility and a good stretching regime is very important if you are to retain the anything close to the range of motion you had when you were 20. Range of motion not so important in cycling perhaps but in many sports it is critical.

As for myself, when cycling I only stretch after a ride. When playing footy I warm up then stretch, and then stretch again when game/training is over.

26 to Life

meesterbond wrote:

That meta study doesn't prove that stretching doesn't improve performance, only that there was no signficant link between stretching and reducing injuries... plus it was focused on body building which uses muscles in a pretty specific (explosive) way.

OK you've got me, I used a crappy study. There are a few out there like this, but I'm working and didn't bother reading comprehensively. They're out there if anyone is interested in reading them, use the google.

Also, if you'll excuse me going off topic, I'd respectfully submit that bodybuilding lifts (predominantly isolations) are no more explosive than cycling. Olympic lifts, yes. BB, no.

meesterbond

26 to Life wrote:

OK you've got me, I used a crappy study. There are a few out there like this, but I'm working and didn't bother reading comprehensively. They're out there if anyone is interested in reading them, use the google.

Also, if you'll excuse me going off topic, I'd respectfully submit that bodybuilding lifts (predominantly isolations) are no more explosive than cycling. Olympic lifts, yes. BB, no.

No, not a crappy study (to be honest it actually looks like a pretty good one), although the page you linked to doesn't make it particularly clear as to the author's bias towards one sport...

You're absolutely right on the second point - I was thinking of short Eastern Europeans in lyrca mankinis lifting twice their own bodyweight rather than the more repititous, slow and steady lifts in the gym... my mistake.

malla

quite a few replies, no bad thing:).



my only bike for the time being is a old specialized hybrid thing (well i see it as a hybrid..)

KonaKurt

Yes malla, it's a good useful link.

You don't necessarilly have to do alot of exercises before cycling, but I always do a quick few to loosen up. Especially Hamstrings and knees.

I think alot of strain injuries are easilly preventable, with just a few simple stretches.

KK.

Northwind

I think the case against stretching preventing injury is pretty good... But that's not the point, I'm personally convinced it does reduce discomfort and post-exercise cramping, which is a good enough reason to stretch out for me. And of course losing flexibility almost certainly does increase the risk of injury in crashes etc, and nobody doubts that cycling causes most riders to "tighten up"- hands up if you can't touch your toes?