Improving flexibility - any success stories?

tazmon

Hi

I'm a 42 year old (11st 7lb/73kg) recreational rider and ride a Scott CR-1 with spacers under the stem. I would like to get lower on the bike but I am cursed with terrible flexibility - I'm 5ft 8ins with a 30ins inseam and when I try to touch my toes I'm about 8ins away!

Has anyone managed to improve their flexibility? Is it even important or should I just accept that it is what it is and focus on something else - there is lots of scope for improvement in all aspects of my riding or I could lose a few kgs!!

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Cheers

imposter2.0

I can't touch my toes either (probably could if I ever did some stretching), but I still have a flat back when on the drops. Might be useful to post some pics of your position - as not being able to touch your toes should not be a barrier to getting aero on the bike.

tazmon

Will get some pics done later but suspect it will look like I'm riding a shopper!

johnboy183

You could check this topic out...

viewtopic.php?f=40011&t=12947249&p=19153472#p19153472

bobmcstuff

I got the core advantage book for Christmas off the back of recommendations in the above thread. I get lower back ache after being in the saddle for a long time (and when running up hills). Did the first level 1 exercise this morning, seems well put together and targeted.

Yoga will do wonders for your flexibility if you get a good instructor and do it properly... A guy I know from work has made massive improvements in flexibility going to yoga twice a week. Not sure about how useful it would be for cycling specifically but I know there are cycling yoga programs in existence.

jgsi

Very specific cycling stretching and flexilibility vids from Garmin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmHqBYF ... VNoijhHg8y
If you want to get lower on a bike then make a routine off this.. there are other vids in the series, just search on YT and set to work on the bike to implement 'new found' lower flexibility' when it happens over time.
Even though I cant touch my toes very easily , I am onto a negative rise stem for 2015 to drop even lower.
Keep it cycling specific for greater gains.. I'll probably guarantee all the hot women who do hot yoga will have a crap TT position if you put them on a bike ;-)

tazmon

Thanks for the replies

Here are a few pictures of the bike and my position - the Christmas spare tyre is in full effect too!







The bike is a 54 cm.

Cheers

imposter2.0

Could be a lot worse to be honest. Stem could be 10mm shorter and 20mm lower perhaps. Difficult to tell from the pics, but your saddle may also be slightly low...

liter

Your saddle is too high. Try lowering the saddle 1-2cm and maybe back 1cm. That will give you more room to stretch out. You may find that you can then drop the bars lower too.

nigeldoyle

Saddle height looks about right to me. I can't touch my toes either standing up although I can get closer than 8 inches. 53 years old, 80kg 182cm. 58cm frame.

You bike almost looks too small to me. i.e. distance from seat to handlebars. You look to be similar to me, shorter legs but longer body. A bigger / longer frame would allow you to stretch out more.

top_bhoy

I bet the OP is confused now after the last 3 replies :-)

Saddle is too low, high, just about right :-)

Stem is too long...but the frame is too small thus needs a longer stem :-)

Good luck to the OP making a decision based on those widely varying opinions.

tazmon

Thanks again everyone for the replies. I'm happy with the saddle height so will leave alone for now I've ordered the Tom Danielson book and I'll look at dropping the stem if I see improvements from those exercises.

Cheers

imposter2.0

I'm sure the book will be a great read, but you can go lower without it.

xavierdisley

You can see in the second pic that your hamstrings are tight - lots of plantarflexion but without a concurrent full extension of the knee. Flexibility exercises may well help and then allow you to raise the saddle and move it forward a bit, which should be your end goal. If you did that right now you'd get anterior knee pain most likely.

tazmon

Yep tight hamstrings have been an issue for me for years! Do you know of any books/websites with the appropriate exercises?

Cheers

xavierdisley

The youtube vids above are good - it does take time so don't try and put your palms on the floor straight away! And warm up well before doing any stretching. You don't need to be doing anything exceedingly crazy so just focus on the basics.

If you leave the saddle position where it is then over time you'll find whether the stretching has had an effect or not as the bottom of your quads will get a little sore after >1hr rides, that's when you should be putting the saddle up bit by bit.

tazmon

Thanks again to everyone for their advice, I'll report back in a few weeks.

Gav888

Ive been doing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2kv9Lq-Kq0 after each ride and I have progressed quite a bit over several months. Also I have read about PNF stretching, and starting to use that as well.

tangled_metal

Cross train with other disciplines that require flexibility. Yoga is the obvious one. Anyone try Pilates? Might be a bit different but what about Tai Chi? If you are lucky enough to have somewhere near you teaching this as it really is which is based on the slow and fast forms. It is or is based on a martial art afterall. I used to do ju jitsu and the warm up / cool down they had me doing was really good from flexibility as well as the actual discipline as the moves were a dynamic form of stretching too. Back then I got so flexible I could do seemingly impossible stretches. Don't do ju jitsu as you will get injured but tai chi is good (fast form and slow form but leave the sparring out if the instructer lets you).

alihisgreat

The obvious thing that hasn't been mentioned?

To get used to riding in a more aggressive position... you have to ride in a more aggressive position. Therefore as well as all the other stuff, you should make an effort to ride in the drops more -> try and do something like 20 mins out of every hour.

Oh and there are plenty of cycling related yoga routines on youtube to get stuck into - with the added bonus of improving your posture and balance overall since cycling tightens the front of the body a lot too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nI6ddJlh68 - General stretching
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhF5_Ds21TI - post ride
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVyvQm_z6j0 - longer session
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guTJ53FDnQs - deep hip opening (feels amazing if you do it the day after a long ride or hard workout)

You might have to be careful with these though since you're coming from a relatively low base level of flexibility and you're likely to need propping up with bricks etc. in some postures.

tazmon

Thanks for the latest replies, some great advice!

Cheers

diy

The difference between a development stretch and a maintenance stretch is really how long you hold each position for and how much you push it. If you hold it for 10-15 seconds it will maintain the stretch, if you want to develop it then 60 seconds or so will make a difference. I used to teach karate in my early 20s and we had guys taking it up well past 40 and managing to get pretty reasonable flexibility considering.

I put these two together with a friend just before Christmas

I do this one after a ride:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgEbH31FbWs
and this one twice a week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WElIDKxmyQo

she's a bit nervous and we had some glitches with the sound. But she's easy to watch