Stretches & Warmup..
Discussion
First mile or so it stick in the small chainring and spin to get my legs warmed up, after that I just ride as normal.
On the MTB I struggle to warm up properly so I tend to park a couple of miles from where I'm riding and have a steady ride on the road to where I'm going then ride as normal from there.
On the MTB I struggle to warm up properly so I tend to park a couple of miles from where I'm riding and have a steady ride on the road to where I'm going then ride as normal from there.
Worst thing you can do is stretch a cold muscle. 15 minutes gentle riding to get the blood flowing and then stretch if you must - although I don't.
Always stretch after rides though. Calves, hamstrings, quads, adductors/abductors, glutes, shoulder cross, triceps, inside-out hands forward and behind.
Always stretch after rides though. Calves, hamstrings, quads, adductors/abductors, glutes, shoulder cross, triceps, inside-out hands forward and behind.
A bit of gentle leg stretching after a five minute ride around, then 15 minutes to half an hour of fast paced stuff. This is prior to racing the cyclocross bike.
Then two laps or another 15 minutes feeling bloody awful due to lack of a proper warm up, then I'm good to go and spend the rest of the race pushing past people who did warm up but aren't as fast as I am now I have got going. Invariably my third lap is my fastest of the race, it doesn't seem to matter what I do, I'm just not quick in the first fifteen minutes.
Same thing at the Three Peaks race, I passed nearly 100 people between the first checkpoint and the finish. I've warmed up with other riders, who then leave me for dead at the start, only for me to pass them later on. Bloody annoying.
Then two laps or another 15 minutes feeling bloody awful due to lack of a proper warm up, then I'm good to go and spend the rest of the race pushing past people who did warm up but aren't as fast as I am now I have got going. Invariably my third lap is my fastest of the race, it doesn't seem to matter what I do, I'm just not quick in the first fifteen minutes.
Same thing at the Three Peaks race, I passed nearly 100 people between the first checkpoint and the finish. I've warmed up with other riders, who then leave me for dead at the start, only for me to pass them later on. Bloody annoying.
gazza285 said:
A bit of gentle leg stretching after a five minute ride around, then 15 minutes to half an hour of fast paced stuff. This is prior to racing the cyclocross bike.
Then two laps or another 15 minutes feeling bloody awful due to lack of a proper warm up, then I'm good to go and spend the rest of the race pushing past people who did warm up but aren't as fast as I am now I have got going. Invariably my third lap is my fastest of the race, it doesn't seem to matter what I do, I'm just not quick in the first fifteen minutes.
Same thing at the Three Peaks race, I passed nearly 100 people between the first checkpoint and the finish. I've warmed up with other riders, who then leave me for dead at the start, only for me to pass them later on. Bloody annoying.
So warm up for longer?Then two laps or another 15 minutes feeling bloody awful due to lack of a proper warm up, then I'm good to go and spend the rest of the race pushing past people who did warm up but aren't as fast as I am now I have got going. Invariably my third lap is my fastest of the race, it doesn't seem to matter what I do, I'm just not quick in the first fifteen minutes.
Same thing at the Three Peaks race, I passed nearly 100 people between the first checkpoint and the finish. I've warmed up with other riders, who then leave me for dead at the start, only for me to pass them later on. Bloody annoying.
I come to this thread as a 'longtime' previous runner, and only part-time cyclist...both roadie and MTB...but admittedly recreational and probably not as seriously as a lot of the peeps on here.
But anyway, thought I might chime in with my experiences and that, if it helps.
At my 'peak' so to speak, I could run a decent 10k at around 40 minutes, I had what I would definitely describe as above-average all-round fitness, and I was also right near to the end of training for a marathon, with sub 4 hours as my goal and well on target for that - when my basically career-ending knee injury appeared, and rendered me to my now overweight, miserable and depressed body state
But sympathy-inducing whinging aside - looking back to my training days, my comments on stretching and warm-up are thus:
Prior to any activity at all - do not stretch. It is probably obvious to say this - but prior to any activity, you have a selection of cold, rested muscle tissue that is in no way receptive to any kind of stretching, is it? If you try and stretch cold, un-stimulated muscle and ligament tissue - then you are likely to do no more than strain them at best, and cause injury at worst. So don't do it!
But warmup - now yes, that is important. It is probably useful to remember that you are trying to warm up two different and distinct parts of your body. Firstly the muscles themselves that you wish to use and exercise, and secondly your body's 'aeroboic' system - which basically involves your cardiac and systemic circulation, and your endocrine-driven system which will facilitate the supply of energy to your muscles and cardiac system, in the form of aerobic or anaerobic energy, dependent upon what you are doing.
For cycling I would suggest that your general aerobic system is going to be used, which will mobilise glucose energy from your liver and muscles to help you do your workout, alongside a bit of help from stored lipids (fats) depending upon your body type and level of fitness.
As you get fitter and fitter, it takes longer and longer to stimulate and mobilise your aerobic system. By this I mean - you may be familiar with the following feeling: start exercising, get to a point at about 5 to 10 minutes into it, and begin to already feel like it is a battle - high heart rate, high respiration rate, aching limbs. But you carry on, and then after another 5 or 10 minutes go by - suddenly the aching goes, you heart rate and respirations drop massively to a comfortable, controlled level - and things all start to feel very easy, and you feel like you could suddenly cycle hundreds of miles. That feeling is your aerobic system beginning to work.
So, until you easily acquire this feeling - your body is in 'warm-up' stage. Hence, your aerobic system is not supplying an optimal amount of blood supply, glucose energy, or providing perfect conditions for your muscles' cellular respiration and gas exchange. Plus, the core of your muscles and ligaments are not up to their optimal working temperature which provides the best conditions to prevent strains and sprains.
Do you recognise this 'change-over' feeling that I am describing? If you do, then you'll understand the point at which you can swap from carefully warming yourself up, to giving it the large and starting to train properly. If you push yourself too hard too soon, then you'll just hit a wall and risk injury.
Annoyingly, the fitter you get, the longer it takes to kick this system into gear - and I often found it also depended upon the weather. I can recall many training runs out of my house in freezing weather that required anything up to a good 20 or 25 minutes of feeling just basically cold, stiff and painful until my body suddenly pulled it's finger out and all of a sudden everything calmed down, 'the zone' appeared and the 'can do this forever' feeling started up. But until then, it was pointless and a little dangerous trying to push things or stretch things, because nothing was ready for it.
When I got back home though, either after just an hour's graft doing intervals, or 4 hours doing long-distance...no matter how knackered I was, I always found the time and inclination for stretches. At THIS time it is now very beneficial, with warm, soft muscles and ligaments.
Another example: after my first knee injury that wasn't too bad, I had a very limited flexion of my right leg. By careful but persistent and regular stretching after runs, doing it diligently after every single session, I managed to get nearly 100% flexion back in the joint, despite it being full of damaged ligaments and scar tissue. Sometimes the end of a run was with my physio, and with warm muscles he used to really push the joint until it was painful - but it did help to re-gain a lot of lost movement.
Anyway, crikey - I've done my usual 'massive' post reply, sorry!
So, in a nutshell - don't stretch before a work-out, warm up gently until you feel your aerobic system start to make things easy, train hard and THEN stretch lots and lots at the end, with plenty of time devoted to it, don't rush it, and above all use good form!
Hope this all helps!
But anyway, thought I might chime in with my experiences and that, if it helps.
At my 'peak' so to speak, I could run a decent 10k at around 40 minutes, I had what I would definitely describe as above-average all-round fitness, and I was also right near to the end of training for a marathon, with sub 4 hours as my goal and well on target for that - when my basically career-ending knee injury appeared, and rendered me to my now overweight, miserable and depressed body state
But sympathy-inducing whinging aside - looking back to my training days, my comments on stretching and warm-up are thus:
Prior to any activity at all - do not stretch. It is probably obvious to say this - but prior to any activity, you have a selection of cold, rested muscle tissue that is in no way receptive to any kind of stretching, is it? If you try and stretch cold, un-stimulated muscle and ligament tissue - then you are likely to do no more than strain them at best, and cause injury at worst. So don't do it!
But warmup - now yes, that is important. It is probably useful to remember that you are trying to warm up two different and distinct parts of your body. Firstly the muscles themselves that you wish to use and exercise, and secondly your body's 'aeroboic' system - which basically involves your cardiac and systemic circulation, and your endocrine-driven system which will facilitate the supply of energy to your muscles and cardiac system, in the form of aerobic or anaerobic energy, dependent upon what you are doing.
For cycling I would suggest that your general aerobic system is going to be used, which will mobilise glucose energy from your liver and muscles to help you do your workout, alongside a bit of help from stored lipids (fats) depending upon your body type and level of fitness.
As you get fitter and fitter, it takes longer and longer to stimulate and mobilise your aerobic system. By this I mean - you may be familiar with the following feeling: start exercising, get to a point at about 5 to 10 minutes into it, and begin to already feel like it is a battle - high heart rate, high respiration rate, aching limbs. But you carry on, and then after another 5 or 10 minutes go by - suddenly the aching goes, you heart rate and respirations drop massively to a comfortable, controlled level - and things all start to feel very easy, and you feel like you could suddenly cycle hundreds of miles. That feeling is your aerobic system beginning to work.
So, until you easily acquire this feeling - your body is in 'warm-up' stage. Hence, your aerobic system is not supplying an optimal amount of blood supply, glucose energy, or providing perfect conditions for your muscles' cellular respiration and gas exchange. Plus, the core of your muscles and ligaments are not up to their optimal working temperature which provides the best conditions to prevent strains and sprains.
Do you recognise this 'change-over' feeling that I am describing? If you do, then you'll understand the point at which you can swap from carefully warming yourself up, to giving it the large and starting to train properly. If you push yourself too hard too soon, then you'll just hit a wall and risk injury.
Annoyingly, the fitter you get, the longer it takes to kick this system into gear - and I often found it also depended upon the weather. I can recall many training runs out of my house in freezing weather that required anything up to a good 20 or 25 minutes of feeling just basically cold, stiff and painful until my body suddenly pulled it's finger out and all of a sudden everything calmed down, 'the zone' appeared and the 'can do this forever' feeling started up. But until then, it was pointless and a little dangerous trying to push things or stretch things, because nothing was ready for it.
When I got back home though, either after just an hour's graft doing intervals, or 4 hours doing long-distance...no matter how knackered I was, I always found the time and inclination for stretches. At THIS time it is now very beneficial, with warm, soft muscles and ligaments.
Another example: after my first knee injury that wasn't too bad, I had a very limited flexion of my right leg. By careful but persistent and regular stretching after runs, doing it diligently after every single session, I managed to get nearly 100% flexion back in the joint, despite it being full of damaged ligaments and scar tissue. Sometimes the end of a run was with my physio, and with warm muscles he used to really push the joint until it was painful - but it did help to re-gain a lot of lost movement.
Anyway, crikey - I've done my usual 'massive' post reply, sorry!
So, in a nutshell - don't stretch before a work-out, warm up gently until you feel your aerobic system start to make things easy, train hard and THEN stretch lots and lots at the end, with plenty of time devoted to it, don't rush it, and above all use good form!
Hope this all helps!
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
Do you recognise this 'change-over' feeling that I am describing? If you do, then you'll understand the point at which you can swap from carefully warming yourself up, to giving it the large and starting to train properly. If you push yourself too hard too soon, then you'll just hit a wall and risk injury.
I recognise it. I call it my 2 mile wall. Up until I have done 2-3 miles, I could quite happily turn around, go home and have a cup of tea. After 3 miles, I am off and will happily do 50+miles.And then have a cup of tea
Steve
Steve vRS said:
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
Do you recognise this 'change-over' feeling that I am describing? If you do, then you'll understand the point at which you can swap from carefully warming yourself up, to giving it the large and starting to train properly. If you push yourself too hard too soon, then you'll just hit a wall and risk injury.
I recognise it. I call it my 2 mile wall. Up until I have done 2-3 miles, I could quite happily turn around, go home and have a cup of tea. After 3 miles, I am off and will happily do 50+miles.And then have a cup of tea
Steve
Thanks for the replies so far! Better stop cold stretching, oops.
On my daily comute I hammer its from the word go as I have a steep climb or main road straight away , All or nowt!!
On longer rides if on the Double eqiped bike I like to stay off the top ring , if on compact no chance! I do like to ease into longer rides
If I get a stitch its usually around my shoulder and a sign I have been over training a bit
Riding most days helps me the most, the more days off the more I need to warm up
On longer rides if on the Double eqiped bike I like to stay off the top ring , if on compact no chance! I do like to ease into longer rides
If I get a stitch its usually around my shoulder and a sign I have been over training a bit
Riding most days helps me the most, the more days off the more I need to warm up
Disco You said:
gazza285 said:
A bit of gentle leg stretching after a five minute ride around, then 15 minutes to half an hour of fast paced stuff. This is prior to racing the cyclocross bike.
Then two laps or another 15 minutes feeling bloody awful due to lack of a proper warm up, then I'm good to go and spend the rest of the race pushing past people who did warm up but aren't as fast as I am now I have got going. Invariably my third lap is my fastest of the race, it doesn't seem to matter what I do, I'm just not quick in the first fifteen minutes.
Same thing at the Three Peaks race, I passed nearly 100 people between the first checkpoint and the finish. I've warmed up with other riders, who then leave me for dead at the start, only for me to pass them later on. Bloody annoying.
So warm up for longer?Then two laps or another 15 minutes feeling bloody awful due to lack of a proper warm up, then I'm good to go and spend the rest of the race pushing past people who did warm up but aren't as fast as I am now I have got going. Invariably my third lap is my fastest of the race, it doesn't seem to matter what I do, I'm just not quick in the first fifteen minutes.
Same thing at the Three Peaks race, I passed nearly 100 people between the first checkpoint and the finish. I've warmed up with other riders, who then leave me for dead at the start, only for me to pass them later on. Bloody annoying.
As described above it takes me some time to get going, sounds like I'm not the only one.
When i used to swim if i did a pre-warm up "warm up" it would be blood flow exercises ( sling your arms and legs about, do windmills[ with your arms not your penis] and stuff like that in simple terms ) then stretch out in many amazing and painful ways after that.
I never found it beneficial to stretch then do a warm up. If i go out on my bike its generally the same as some have said, first couple mile easy.
I say that but anywhere where i live around is straight up a hill or a hill very soon after you get out of town.
You should warm down after also, just to keep lactic acid levels down, basically ease off the last couple miles to keep the blood circulating with a lower heart rate.
I never found it beneficial to stretch then do a warm up. If i go out on my bike its generally the same as some have said, first couple mile easy.
I say that but anywhere where i live around is straight up a hill or a hill very soon after you get out of town.
You should warm down after also, just to keep lactic acid levels down, basically ease off the last couple miles to keep the blood circulating with a lower heart rate.
JackP1 said:
gazza285 said:
I need the adrenalin of the race itself to push me into action.
Racing for me the same, generally theres no physiological "push" you can get thats as big as the one you have in the race, i can't replicate it.The other reason it's not useful to stretch before something like cycling is that (almost?) all of your muscle power is concerned with contracting the muscle - stretching it out beforehand is potentially detrimental. The exception of course is where you require flexibility rather than contracting power.
On the other hand, after you've spent several hours repeatedly contracting the muscles, the range of motion tends to shorten towards the functional range that you're using, rather than the possible/ideal range of motion of the muscle - which is why you should stretch afterwards (personally very lazy, really should address that..)
WRT warmup, these links may be of interest - I think most folks don't warm up hard enough (not that I ever bother tbh, the first 30 mins or so generally suck, then I get over it..)
http://wattbike.com/uk/blog/post/team_sky_tt_warm_...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3VL5JCqQhQ
On the other hand, after you've spent several hours repeatedly contracting the muscles, the range of motion tends to shorten towards the functional range that you're using, rather than the possible/ideal range of motion of the muscle - which is why you should stretch afterwards (personally very lazy, really should address that..)
WRT warmup, these links may be of interest - I think most folks don't warm up hard enough (not that I ever bother tbh, the first 30 mins or so generally suck, then I get over it..)
http://wattbike.com/uk/blog/post/team_sky_tt_warm_...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3VL5JCqQhQ
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