Stretches and warm up exercises

[Yellow Fang]

I've just been watching some young ladies do some warm exercises for hockey practice

Anyway, they were doing high skips, lunges, that sort of thing. At my running club, we do the same sort of exercises. I don't see the point of it. We also do loads of stretches at the end, sometimes for another fifteen minutes. Do they actually do any good? They don't seem to do me any. We also do them in circuits, but I don't mind those so much because any time spent warming up is time we're not killing ourselves in circuits.

 

[Trevrev]

I'm led to believe, stretching before excercise does more bad than good.
Stretching cold muscles can cause injury. Just a gentle warm up then off you go.
I always do all my stretching after my runs, when the muscles are nice and hot.
I know it used to be said that you must stretch before exercise but times have changed and now it's poo-pooed.

 

[smokeysmoo]

It's all about warming and stretching the muscles to limit the risk of injury when you start your excercise of choice, (but I know you knew that).
I used to warm up and warm down when I did circuits but as you also know, circuits are a b@st@rd and need respect, but I've never done it for cycling, or my weekly run or my weekly badminton match. I would do a short warm up and some warm down stretches if I was going to run 10KM or further, but that's because my body isn't used to that distance.

 

[deanE]

You were watching young ladies doing warm up exercises -high skips etc, and you can't see the point of it. You have been sitting on that saddle too long.

 

[Yellow Fang]

You were watching young ladies doing warm up exercises -high skips etc, and you can't see the point of it. You have been sitting on that saddle too long.

You get a better view of their thighs when they're playing. The best thing about traditional girls' team sports like netball and hockey are those skirts. Even better than beach volleyball kit imo. But anyway, let's not get diverted.

 

[Dave7]

I'm led to believe, stretching before excercise does more bad than good.
Stretching cold muscles can cause injury. Just a gentle warm up then off you go.
it used to be said that you must stretch before exercise but times have changed and now it's poo-pooed.

I can't imagine footballers doing all those warm up/stretch excercises pre match if they are now poo-pooed.........and they have the best trainers & physios available.
I always stretch before & after....it is my (unproven) belief that if done correctly i.e. not overdone-they can help prevent injury during excercise e.g. golf or cycling.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I can't imagine footballers doing all those warm up/stretch excercises pre match if they are now poo-pooed.........and they have the best trainers & physios available.
I always stretch before & after....it is my (unproven) belief that if done correctly i.e. not overdone-they can help prevent injury during excercise e.g. golf or cycling.

Be that as it may the recent studies have shown stretching makes not one jot of difference to injury prevention.

Your faith in footballers is quite touching.

 

[amaferanga]

I can't imagine footballers doing all those warm up/stretch excercises pre match if they are now poo-pooed.........and they have the best trainers & physios available.
I always stretch before & after....it is my (unproven) belief that if done correctly i.e. not overdone-they can help prevent injury during excercise e.g. golf or cycling.

Cycling is a very different sport to football though. Just get on your bike and ride normally for a bit before pushing hard and you'll be fine. Stretching after cycling is good though. I do think it helps with recovery, but I rarely remember to do it....

 

[Arsen Gere]

Cycling is a constrained exercise so muscle injuries are quite rare, the bike stops you getting impact injuries and over stretching muscles.
However running is a different matter. I've been injured several times running. Stretching every night in front of the tele has stopped the injuries.
I warm up before races because I hate the first 5-10 minutes of getting going if I don't. I find it a lot harder than not warming up. I don't stretch before events though, only after.

 

[VamP]

Agree that running has different stretching requirements. Unless I spend at least ten minutes stretching before a run I am asking for trouble. Usually quad cramps. That'll teach me to prioritise cycling over running.

Best warmp ups for bike riding, involve ...erm, bike riding. Build up slow, but I do include a couple of flat out sprints about 20 minutes before race start to 'open up the legs'. Essential in CX racing where the start is full-on. Less so in road racing.

 

[Dave7]

.
Your faith in footballers is quite touching.

I hope you are not insinuating that professional footballers are anything but genuine & honest

 

[Scilly Suffolk]

Warm-up before exercise; stretch after.

Stretched muscles are weaker than if they haven't been stretched and very few injuries occur within the normal range of movement, so would happen regardless of what stretches have or haven't been done.

For cycling, riding at a moderate pace is a perfectly good warm-up; there's no need to do anything else unless you want to.

If muscles aren't stretched-out after exercise, they can become very tight and then you risk injury.

 

[Hicky]

Warming up before exercise does a few things like raise your heart rate in preperation for work, also kickstarts the liver into producing glycegens(sp?) and getting the fuel going along with getting the blood flow to the muscles.
Depending on the activity then the warmup should be tailored to suit, included in the warmup should be limb opening movements especially if done first thing in the morning ie neck/shoulder and hip mobility.

Cooldown, lowering the heartrate, allowing the muscles to return to a rest state(imagine jumping off a treadmill after a hard sesh or the scene in "run fat boy run" after the spinning class falling down the stairs).
Stretching, 20 seconds(min) at the point of resistance but not pain then 5s more slightly beyond on each individual stretch.
Stretch the whole body areas but concentrate more on the muscles used....all of this aids recovery and fights off DOMS(delayed onset muscles soreness/stiffness) and usually prevents injury.

All of the above is probably blindingly obvious to 99.9% and is off the top of my head from my recent forces fitness course.

 

[paulw1969]

any suggestions on cycling specific stretches that can be done soon after getting off the bike after a ride people?
i did try a few stretches last night after my ride out....didn't seem to make much difference....still ached like hell this morning.

 

[Yellow Fang]

All of the above is probably blindingly obvious to 99.9% and is off the top of my head from my recent forces fitness course.

It's not blindingly obvious to me. I consider them mostly a waste of time. Warm up during the first rep. Stretch calves afterwards to alleviate achilles heel problems, otherwise I'm not convinced most of those stretches are doing anything. For all the stretches and warm up exercises I've done, they've never stopped me developing the dreaded patella femoral problems. Whenever I visited the physio, they always gave me exercises we don't do in my running club.

I don't mind them so much in circuits. I think that is partly because the classes are led by professional trainers, who take you through them one after another without stopping everyone for a minute between each to explain how to do the next. I find all that stop-start tedious.