How To: Essential stretching for cyclists
A regular stretching routine is essential to keeping your body healthy and injury free (click to enlarge).
When you see an athlete who is obviously fit, strong and at the height of their abilities, what do you imagine are the major differences between their daily routines and yours? I bet most of them revolve around taking care of their body: eating healthy, training in a focused manner to improve their skills, recovering from the exercises they do, and maintaining their body through rehab of injuries, massage and stretching. That last one is easy to do regardless of ability or schedule, and can help make a serious difference in muscle use and injury prevention.
A regular stretching routine is essential to keeping your body healthy and injury free. Your muscular strength is important, but flexibility and fluidity also play important roles. If your muscles are tight or have accumulated fatigue, any simple motion will hurt more then it should, and you will have a hard time producing power whether on a mountain or road bike. In addition to this, the act of exercising involves an inherent breakdown of muscle tissues and if you do not recover from this process properly you’re more prone to injury, tightness and limited range of motion.
Here is my stretching routine, which I do before and after rides. I hold each stretch for 10-20 seconds, and I am never straining or going deep into the range of motion of a muscle group. You are looking for the natural tension that the muscle has. Go to that point and then just a hair more. Don’t force anything, and keep an even steady pressure throughout the stretch. If you are especially sore or have a muscle that is tighter then usual, try breathing slowly and add pressure slightly as you exhale until 20 seconds or you reach a “normal” tension.
Calf stretch with a straight knee and then again with a bent knee (click to enlarge).
I start at the bottom of the leg, with a calf stretch. Do this one first with a straight knee and then again with a bent knee.
Hamstrings stretch sitting on the floor (click to enlarge).
Next I stretch my hamstrings, usually sitting on the floor as opposed to bending over, as you can overdo the stretch with gravity. You are looking for rotation at the hips as opposed to arching the back. Do one leg at a time.
Continue to page 2 for more stretching tips from Ben Jacques-Maynes »
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