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Do you stretch before a ride?


Randomguy

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Not always but usually, I do brief, light stretching.

When I get cramps, they're most usually in my calves, so I usually do a calf stretch for 30 sec. each leg.  grabbing hold of a tree, signpost, etc. and extending on leg back and straight so it's stretched for 30 seconds. I may so do Superman stretches with each leg, where you grab and ankle with your same-side hand, stand on the other foot, and reach your other hand out horizontally and balance.  Maybe also some toe touches and some side-to-side stuff and that's it.

Why?  There have been passionate "studies" done that claim stretching is good or bad.  I'm going by experience.  When I coached high school track, cross country, and softball, I had my teens do stretches for about 10-15 minutes, led by the team captains, and we coaches did them too. Not only were they a good way to see if my kids had injuries they were hiding from me, my teams had fewer injuries than most other teams as the season dragged on.

None of my Ace, All-County, college scholarship, 60 mph, windmill pitchers ever missed a game due to strained muscles, though I admit than in all the sports I coached, the the taping techniques I learned in a college-level Care and Prevention of Athletic Injuries course were used a lot.

I don't know if stretching had a lot to do with fewer injuries but if it ain't broke, why fix it?  We also ran more in softball than other teams and when the weather got hot, we weren't wilting like other teams by the 5th inning and weren't cramping up, etc. when running bases or in the outfield. Not feeling exhausted surely helped cut down on injuries, too.

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...I have this routine that works for me. I start out on the bike cold, but relatively slow, gradually build speed over the first 6 or 8 miles. then I stop at the bridge over the American river where the swallows nest every year, and I stretch there, do  a little Tai Chi. Then back on the bike and continue the ride at speed however far I'm going until I get home. Sometimes instead of riding at speed, I do intervals.

If I don't do this, all my old injuries start to tighten up. Eventually, I will be in too much pain to ride.

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Me...  I never stretch before a ride.  I just take it easy for a while until I warm up.

2 hours ago, Square Wheels said:

Not before or after.  Run, ride, neither.

I would have expected something like this...

Stretch before a ride? NO. I already have too much to do before I can ride my bike.

  • Haha 1
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