Stretching Exercizes?

mphew1 said:

Hi,

I'm a regular commuter (20km each way every day) and I was wandering if anyone knew of any stretching excercizes that I could do to ensure that I don't sprain anything. When I was very new to commuting a fellow cyclist mentioned something and told me to search the web on it, I have not had any luck at all. Could anyone please help.

Thank you.

I think you'd need to fall off to sprain something, but your muscles can get really tight. I usually stretch quads, hip flexors, calf muscles and shoulders after getting to work.

This site is the third one on google when searching for cycling stretches.

I always stretch my quads and hamstrings if nothing else, tight hamstrings are no joke! To stretch the quads, standing on one leg, bend the knee and take hold of the foot behind your butt cheek. Keeping the knees together, get a good stretch through the front of the thigh, tilt the pelvis forward to intensify the stretch. To stretch the hamstrings, bend over forwards, bend the knees slightly and grasp the calves with both hands. Gently straighten the legs, but don't force it, stretch within your own comfortable range. You can get a nice calf stretch on your bike. Put one foot down on the ground and pedal the other crank to the bottom. Tilt the pedal back angling your toes upward stretching through the belly of the calf muscle. The stretch can be intensified if you lean the upper body over the handlebars. Obviously repeat on the other side for the individual leg ones! Hip flexors can be stretched by kneeling on one knee and leaning forward, keeping the back upright. Try searching the net for pictorial diagrams.

SB

Warm-up exercises before cycling; stretching exercises after.

I realize that this thread is a couple of months old. mphew1 asked ". . . I was wandering if anyone knew of any stretching excercizes that I could do to ensure that I don't sprain anything. . . ."

I would like to point out that I am in no way shape or form an expert in this area, but I would like to bring up a couple of commonly ignored definitions. A "STRAIN" is an injury to a muscle in which the muscle fibers tear as a result of overstretching. Strains are also colloquially known as pulled muscles. A "SPRAIN" is an injury to a ligiment. I have already admitted that I do not know what I am talking about, but I believe that stretching exercizes will stretch muscles and prevent strains. I do not believe that stretching exercizes will prevent sprains.

OK, whoops, maybe I should have said injure myself. I'm usually the pedantic one, however I now feel humbled. Thank you all for your input. I will try to avoid STRAINS (both physically and in written form) in the future. Now streeetch.

mphew1 said:

OK, whoops, maybe I should have said injure myself. I'm usually the pedantic one, however I now feel humbled. Thank you all for your input. I will try to avoid STRAINS (both physically and in written form) in the future. Now streeetch.

The definitions of "pedantic" at Dictionary.com are

1. ostentatious in one's learning.
2. overly concerned with minute details or formalisms, esp. in teaching.

and it quotes the definition from American Heritage Dictionary as

Characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules.

I did not intend to be ostentatious of my learning.

I grew up as the third son of one of the first female BS Chemical Engineers from the University of Oklahoma and of a PhD Chemical Engineer. I was an EMT for five years and I have been a nuclear power plant worker for twenty years. I apologize if I seem to be overly concerned with minute detail, but I have always lived in realms that tend to harp on the use of the wrong term.

That was before I suffered a massive brain injury. . .