Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - best muscle stretches and/or warm up

used the search bar and found a poll surveying who actually stretches before riding...
so anyway
the objective of this thread is to find the best stretches, and warm up and cool down exercises...
after practicing seated skids, my legs are pretty beat.

so far starters, of course i'm already thinking:
quadriceps stretches, holding ankle in hand to stretch thigh area while standing on other foot.
calf stretches,

shoulder and back stretches???maybe?

and what else.

Piriformis Stretch - or pigeon in yoga (I think)

http://www.drbackman.com/piriformis-muscle-stretch.htm
I'm a fan.

used the search bar and found a poll surveying who actually stretches before riding...
so anyway
the objective of this thread is to find the best stretches, and warm up and cool down exercises...
after practicing seated skids, my legs are pretty beat.

so far starters, of course i'm already thinking:
quadriceps stretches, holding ankle in hand to stretch thigh area while standing on other foot.
calf stretches,

shoulder and back stretches???maybe?

and what else.

If you are going to stretch pre-ride - just make sure you warm up the muscles FIRST. If not, you are risking injury.

... Brad

If you are going to stretch pre-ride - just make sure you warm up the muscles FIRST. If not, you are risking injury.

... Brad


+1

Sex before you ride does wonders for the muscles, no doubt about it, you are warming them up!:thumb:

Arm Stretches: reaching over to whack alarm clock. reaching down to pet dog. stretching over dog to get at leftover pizza in box on floor. reaching way up high for the water bottles you keep putting on top shelf even though you have to stand on tiptoe and stretch every fiber in your body to get them.

Back stretches: bending over to put on shoes. bending over to pick up burrito before 5 second rule kicks in. Twisting back around to turn on rear blinkie on bike. bending down to strap pants leg down.

Good to go.

+1

Sex before you ride does wonders for the muscles, no doubt about it, you are warming them up!:thumb:

good one, caligula

You really don't need to stretch before riding. At least not if your bike fits.

i don't stretch before riding, i stretch when i rest or when i arrive at my destination

different schools of thought on stretching for anything.

a lot are saying now that you should stretch after, not before.

IDK. I run up and down steps before I ride to get my heart rate up.

Bird dance before every ride

Bird dance before every ride

Same here. 5 minutes of the various chicken dances from Arrested Development never fails to limber you up and get that blood a-flowin'.

a lot are saying now that you should stretch after, not before.


yeah this is what i learned as well. i do a full stretch routine AFTER i ride, if it's over 25 miles.

carrying my bike down 3 flights of stairs helps get my heart rate up before i ride, and i also generally start off slow for the first 10 min of my ride to get warmed up.

Cycling doesn't require your joints to go into their extreme ranges of motion, so I don't see the usefulness in static stretching. Most people do it because others have always done it. What seems to be more effective is dynamic movement (chicken dances, etc. :thumb:) such as leg kicks, bodyweight squats, actively flexing and extending the knee of one leg while you're standing on the other leg. Getting more blood flow, increasing internal temperature and decreasing tissue viscosity (from a proper warmup) seem more useful.

A study a few years ago showed that runners who engaged in static stretching did not prevent any more injury than those who didn't. Take that for what it's worth, but I stretch AFTER I ride (when I remember).