Stretching

Have you 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.
  • Several muscles in your body 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 do after training and racing.

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 flexor and psoas
  4. To increase the stretch, lift your left arm up over your head pushing your hip outwards
  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 (knee away from the wall further if you are less flexible)
  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
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
  1. Sit on a chair and lift one leg onto the top of the other leg
  2. Lean body forward putting pressure of your arm into the inside of your bent leg
  3. You should feel a stretch through your glutes
Hamstring stretches
  1. Whilst standing up straight, put one leg up on a table or chair, just below hip height (for those less flexible).
  2. Keep your back straight and gently lean forward
  3. You should feel your hamstring stretching
  1. Sit on the floor with one leg out in front of you and your back straight
  2. Reach forward towards your toes
Calf stretch with straight leg
  1. Stand with one leg on the edge of a step, preferably holding onto something,
    and your other 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
Calf stretch with bent leg
  1. As above but keep both legs bent
 As above but with both legs bent
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
  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
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
  1. Lie on the ground with both legs bent in the same direction
  2. Keep knees down on the ground
  3. Lean back and you should feel your quad stretching
Bicep
  1. Stand with one arm bent back behind your head
  2. Point elbow upwards and clutch with other hand
  3. Pull elbow back behind you
Shoulders
  1. Stand with shoulders back and arms behind your back
  2. Link your fingers together or clasp one hand in the other
  3. Pull your shoulder blades together and lift arms outwards keeping arms straight
Back and arms
  1. Stand with feet shoulder width apart
  2. Grab onto a bar or bench
  3. Push back downwards to feel a stretch down arms and back
Back
  1. Stand with one foot crossed over the other
  2. Grab onto a bar or bench
  3. Push hip outwards to feel the stretch up the side of your back
Down Dog
  1. Start position is on your hands and knees
  2. Hands and feet shoulder width apart
  3. Lift hips upwards pushing arms and hips back, and heels pushing down towards the ground
  4. Keep head tucked down looking at your toes
  5. To increase your hamstring stretch, take one leg off the ground