Comments on: Stretching before the commute

By: Fritz

Fritz — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 07:44:41 +0000

“turn and burn” — heh. Different context than I’m accustomed to hearing the phrase.

By: Warren T

Warren T — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 03:51:18 +0000

I’d never even considered it. Since I start my morning ride accompanying my 11 year old to his school, I consider that first half mile to be my warm up; he averages only around 8 MPH. Once he is at school I turn and burn.

By: Ahd Child

Ahd Child — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 00:31:46 +0000

I hop and go so fast that I don’t even have time to spell “hop” correctly

By: Ahd Child

Ahd Child — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 00:30:28 +0000

Hap and go

By: Al

Al — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 19:36:41 +0000

I’m like Fritz, hop and go – even during the severe cold of the past couple days.

By: Fritz

Fritz — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 17:53:45 +0000

I hop on the bike and go. No stretching beforehand.

HH is right — stretching before exercise has no effect on injury. Stretch afterwards to decrease pain and soreness.

By: Val

Val — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 17:51:22 +0000

Haven’t been keeping up with the studies, but I have to stretch, or I become immobile. On long rides (70 miles or more) I try to go through a 5 minute stretching routine at every rest stop, which works much better than sitting down immediately and then trying to get back on the bike five or ten minutes later, as I see so many riders do. For commuting, I don’t do anything special, but I always stretch thoroughly before breakfast, and again before retiring. My philosophy is that I want to be able to touch my toes, etc. when I am in my 80s, and the best way to insure that is to do it every day between now and then. Use it or lose it, right?

By: HH

HH — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 16:48:57 +0000

While I do not have reference sources handy, but recent studies have shown that stretching BEFORE an exercise is NOT beneficial. In fact, it could be bad because you are likely to stretch a cold muscle. The most important thing before exercising is warming up… that means ride easy and let the muscles gradually warm up to the rigors of the exercise.

From what I understand, the current science shows that stretching AFTER the exercise IS still consider beneficial, which should be done after a cool down period.