Exercise ?

I stretch my leg and back muscles only a little before getting on the bike. Once on, I warm up for about a mile before I start any serious riding. I have seen reports that too much stretching or exercising proir to riding is actually counterproductive.

I don't do anything. I start out slow and build my cadence and resistance as I go.

Off the bikes-

I weight train 3X a week with a combination of powerlifting, Olympic lifting, boulder work and to a lesser extent some bodybuilding movements.

I also do a lot of flexibility work.

I almost always stretch my legs before biking.

davemac said:

Many people everyday swear they are going to lose weight and they get on their bicycles and go real fast for 5 minutes. They rush into their homes to see what they lost. 99% of them lost 5 minutes.

My thread is what excersizes do cyclists do before they mount up? Do some do stretches and then get on their bikes? Do some do a 5 minute drill before riding?

So again, what excersize do you do before riding?

It tends to depend on the distance that I'm going to do, if i'm only going for a quick cycle into town then I don't bother doing any preparation but if I'm intending on doing a big cycle then I warm up and warm down otherwise I know it'll hurt the next day.

Before every ride I stretch my shorts and flex the velcro on my shoes. Then I loosen up and stretch by voguing. Strike a pose!

stretching is in my opinion the most important thing to do before any form of excersize and it'd be a safe bet to say that i'm not alone on that either anywhere in the sports world. i run and ride and stretch all throughout either if i feel i need to, not just beforehand.

Quoted post said:

...stretching is in my opinion the most important thing to do before any form of excersize and it'd be a safe bet to say that i'm not alone on that either anywhere in the sports world...

Maybe not as safe a bet as you think:

Does stretching before or after exercise prevent injuries and soreness? - The Boston Globe
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html
When to Stretch - Why Experts Recommend Athletes Stretch After Exercise
Stretching before exercising doesn't prevent injuries - baltimoresun.com
Stretching before exercise: do you need to? - Health & Wellbeing

That's a tiny sampling of the published work on the myth of the necessity of stretching, particularly prior to exercise. No, you're probably not alone in your belief as old myths die hard but believing something doesn't make it true....

-Dave

i never specified as to how long i stretch for beforehand. it's not for a long time as i came to the conclusion on my own and long ago in a galaxy far, far away that stretching after warm up is the best, like your article states.

i could have been more specific the first time. maybe two minutes before, up to twenty to thirty minutes after the blood is pumping. if the blood is not pumping and i stretch when i'm cold so to speak, it actually feels as if i'm ripping my muscles instead of stretching them.

roadhouse said:

i never specified as to how long i stretch for beforehand...

Neither do any of the articles linked, they don't say two minutes is good and four is bad. They all basically say that stretching has not been shown to reduce injuries or post exercise muscle soreness and that stretching actually reduces peak muscle strength which isn't particularly relevant to cyclists but not great for strength athletes like power lifters.

They do recommend warming up first if you insist on stretching. That's a long way from your statement:

roadhouse said:

stretching is in my opinion the most important thing to do before any form of excersize...

Perhaps you meant to say 'I like a little stretching before workouts even though it hasn't been shown to be important' or something like that?

Not really trying to bust your chops, but this is exactly how myths perpetuate. We learn something early on from a coach, parent or team mate and hang onto the belief even after it's been thoroughly debunked and pass it on to others and the cycle continues. In evidence based coaching circles it's referred to as 'information entropy', it's common but unfortunate when so much good information is a couple of PubMed searches away.

-Dave

daveryanwyoming said:

Neither do any of the articles linked, they don't say two minutes is good and four is bad. They all basically say that stretching has not been shown to reduce injuries or post exercise muscle soreness and that stretching actually reduces peak muscle strength which isn't particularly relevant to cyclists but not great for strength athletes like power lifters.

They do recommend warming up first if you insist on stretching. That's a long way from your statement:Perhaps you meant to say 'I like a little stretching before workouts even though it hasn't been shown to be important' or something like that?

Not really trying to bust your chops, but this is exactly how myths perpetuate. We learn something early on from a coach, parent or team mate and hang onto the belief even after it's been thoroughly debunked and pass it on to others and the cycle continues. In evidence based coaching circles it's referred to as 'information entropy', it's common but unfortunate when so much good information is a couple of PubMed searches away.

-Dave

what i meant to say is that i stretch whenever my body tells me. thanks for the hook ups on those articles though, they'll come in handy to everyone who's busy losing to me. 🙂

I'm getting back into biking, but right now I work out with resistent bands, free weights and kettlebells and body weight exercises 3x a week, and I put the bike on the trainer 3x a week, which afterwards I do 15 minutes of swings using my kettlebells. it really helps stretch me out, works out the hips, glutes, and spine. I'm hoping to take the bike out this weekend if it doesn't rain.

I do some flexibility exercises now and then, but when I'm going for a ride on my road bike, I just get on it. It doesn't matter if it's a long or a short ride. I just start out moderately for the first 15-20 minutes. I've been doing it that way for 39 years.

Yeah that's true. I heard someone talking about how he would ride his bike. He didn't look like he did much else. Riding a bike is one thing but there is so much more that goes with it. Its how you eat that has more to do with it. If you always eat all kinds of [censored] and just ride you bike even 3 or 4 times a week. This is not going to work. Its a lifestyle its not something you just think is going to happen from a 20 minute bike ride here and there.

JSWin said:

Yeah that's true. I heard someone talking about how he would ride his bike. He didn't look like he did much else. Riding a bike is one thing but there is so much more that goes with it. Its how you eat that has more to do with it. If you always eat all kinds of [censored] and just ride you bike even 3 or 4 times a week. This is not going to work. Its a lifestyle its not something you just think is going to happen from a 20 minute bike ride here and there.

This goes for pretty much any sort of exercise. Healthy diet is a huge asset to the good training regime and very important for staying in shape.

As far as exercises before riding a bike goes, I do stretching (unlike most man I tend to be really flexible with my legs and I like to keep it that way) and I also do some squats without the weights. If I'm really in a mood I might run a little, but nothing too serious, just to get blood running through my legs.

I do some stretching on the first few minutes of my exercise focusing on my legs and arms then my back. Then I will do a little bit of warming up to condition and prepare my body for the ride.

Before I mount on my bike, I do some stretching of my back, necks, limbs and torso. These are the parts of my body that are stressed and impacted when I am cycling. I do not go biking without stretching first, because my muscles hurt more after the ride and they feel very stiff and difficult to move. Before and after stretching is very important to avoid injury and muscle pains. Stretching also circulates the blood before a heavy physical activity like cycling, so it kinda like readies the muscles and our body for some activity.

I stretch my body, usually do some stretching exercises for my legs and hands. I run on the spot or around the house one or two cicles before I sit on my bike.. If I don't stretch out before the ride, my body feels numb afterwards, and I get tense muscles. I guess you have to warm your body prior to any such endevour, no matter if you ride a bike, or exercise at the gym, or play basketball. Warming up is essencial.

Always stretch out before riding. But do dynamic stretches that will warm up your body and stretch your smooth muscle at the same time, like jumping jacks, hip flexor stretches, knee to chest, high kicks. You want you heart rate to be accelerated and also for you to get a larger range of motion into your joints and muscles making for a more advantageous set up for cycling or anything other physical sport.

I don't do any stretches or any sort of warm-ups before riding. I just get on my bike and ride until I feel the need to go home.

Unrelated to cycling, but I really want to get into weight lifting but am having a difficult time in working out where it is I should start and what routines I should do. The eating healthy thing too is something I really need to get into.