How to stretch

Often wondered how to stretch and what muscles you should be stretching?  Even wondered why people tell you to stretch after you exercise?

There are many benefits to stretching.

  • Ideally, you want to be flexible enough to comfortably ride in the drops or on your aero bars when you race, without significant discomfort.
  • Various muscles in your body often become tight after training and racing.  Stretching helps loosen tight muscles and can improve muscle recovery.
  • Frequent stretching can help avoid injuries caused by tight muscles

Here are a number of stretches that you can try doing after you train and race:

Hip Flexor stretch
  1. Kneel on your left knee, with your right leg bent in front of you
  2. Push your hips forward, keeping your body upright
  3. You should feel a stretch through the front of your hip
  4. To increase the stretch, lift your left arm up over your head
Photos coming soon
  1. Put your right knee under the pillow quite close to a wall, and bend this
    leg so your calf and foot are resting up the wall
  2. Your left leg should be bent at about 90 degree with your foot flat on the floor
  3. Push your hips forward and you should feel your hip flexors stretching
 Photos coming soon
Glut stretches
  1. Sit on the floor with your left leg straight out in front of you
  2. Place your right foot on the left side of your left knee
  3. Hug your right knee with your left arm and twist towards the right
  4. You should feel your right glute (butt) stretch
 Photos coming soon
  1. You can vary the above stretch by starting with a bent left leg
  2. Sit on the floot, bend your left leg so your left foot is almost touching your right glut
  3. Then as above, place your right foot over your left leg and twist to the right
 Photos coming soon
Hamstring stretches
  1. Whilst standing up straight, put one leg up on a table or chair, just below hip height.
  2. Keep your back straight and gently lean forward
  3. You should feel the back of your leg (hamstring stretching)
 Photos coming soon
  1. Sit on the floor with both legs out in front of you and your back straight
  2. Reach forward towards your toes
 Photos coming soon
Calf stretch with straight leg
  1. Stand with your left leg on the edge of a step, preferably holding onto something,
    and your right leg slightly forward, for balance
  2. With your left leg straight, push your left heel down over the edge.
  3. Hold for 10-20sec
  4. Change legs and repeat
 Photos coming soon
Calf stretch with bent leg
  1. Stand with your left leg on the edge of a step, preferably holding onto something,
    and your right leg forward, for balance
  2. With your lleft eg bent, push your left heel down over the edge.
  3. Hold for 10-20sec
  4. Change legs and repeat
 Photos coming soon
Aductor stretch
  1. Sit against a wall with your legs bent and bottom of your feet touching together
  2. Put your hands around your feet with your elbows on the inside of each knee
  3. Gently push on your elbows so your knees are being pushed closer to the floor
 Photos coming soon
Quad stretch
  1. Stand on both feet and hold on to a table or doorway
  2. Bend your right leg back behind you and hold your foot with your right hand
  3. Push your hip forward and feel your quad (thigh muscle) stretch
 Photos coming soon
  1. Lie on the ground on your back resting on your elbows
  2. Bend your right leg so you can hold your right foot with your hand
  3. Lean back and you should feel your quad stretching
 Photos coming soon