Cycling Stretches

Before Riding

Note: If you've had any recent surgery, muscle or joint problems, please consult your personal health-care professional before starting a stretching or exercise program.

How to stretch: Do a light warm-up of walking or jogging for several minutes prior to stretching. Stretch slowly without bouncing. Stretch to where you feel a slight, easy stretch. Hold this feeling for 5 to 30 seconds. As you hold this stretch, the feeling of tension should diminish. If it doesn't, just ease off slightly into a more comfortable stretch. The easy stretch reduces tension and readies the tissues for the developmental stretch.

After holding the easy stretch move a fraction of an inch farther into the stretch until you feel mild tension again. This is the developmental stretch, which should be held for 5 to 30 seconds. This feeling of stretch tension should also slightly diminish or stay the same. If the tension increases or becomes painful, you are overstretching. Ease off a bit to a comfortable stretch. The developmental stretch reduces tension and will safely increase flexibility.

Hold only stretch tensions that feel good to you. The key to stretching is to be relaxed while you concentrate on the area being stretched. Your breathing should be slow, deep and rhythmical. Don't worry about how far you can stretch. Stretch relaxed and limberness will come as one of the many by-products of regular stretching.

In the illustrations with each stretch, the dotted areas are those body areas where you will most likely feel the stretches.

1. After stretching your quads, sit with your right leg bent, right heel just to the outside of your right hip. Practice tightening the buttocks on the side of the bent (right) leg as you turn the hip over. This will help stretch the front of your hip and give a better overall stretch to the upper thigh area. After contracting the butt muscles for 5 to 8 seconds, let them relax. Then continue to stretch quads by slowly leaning back (stretch #4) for another 15 seconds.

2. Put the soles of your feet together with your heels a comfortable distance from your groin. With your hands around your feet slowly contract your abdominals to assist you in flexing forward until you feel an easy stretch in the groin. Make your movement forward by bending from the hips and not from the shoulders. If possible, keep your elbows on the outside of your lower legs for greater stability during the stretch. Hold a comfortable stretch for 20 to 30 seconds.

3. Bend your leg and, with your opposite hand, pull that bent leg up and over your other leg as shown. Turn your head to look toward the hand of the arm that is straight (head should be resting on the floor). Make sure the back of your shoulders are kept flat on the floor. Now, using your hand on your thigh (resting just above the knee), pull your bent leg down toward the floor until you get the right stretch feeling in your lower back and side of the hip. Keep your feet and ankles relaxed. Hold a comfortable stretch for 30 seconds, each side.

CYCLING STRETCHES c1999 by Bob Anderson, illustrated by Jean Anderson, Stretching, Inc., has been reprinted by permission. For a free catalog of Stretching Inc. publications/products, visit www.stretching.com or call 800.333.1307, Box 767, Palmer Lake, CO 80133. CYCLING STRETCHES is available as a laminated 8 1/2- x 11-inch sheet, 22 1/2- x 34-inch poster, laminated, paper, or paper/folded, a 4- x 4 1/2-inch booklet and as a routine included in their book, STRETCHING.