Originally Posted by
PeteHski
I've tried stretching, I've tried yoga (badly!), I've tried foam rolling (hated it) and I've tried using a massage gun. I just don't seem to get on with any of that kind of stuff. I'm probably just too impatient to do it properly and that leads to more problems than it solves - for me at least. Warming up on the other hand I think is really important before a hard effort, especially as you get older. So I try my best to at least do that, along with a few token stretches now and then. The only time I've had muscle pulls in recent years is actually from attempting to stretch.
Thanks for mentioning warming up, which seems to become increasingly important for some of us as we age. Gently moving joints and muscles through the normal range of motion while getting the cardiovascular system up to speed---makes sense to me.
Funny---when I began bike racing as a 13-year-old kid, in 1964, I never seemed to have to warm up. Or, at least, the older (16-to-19-year-old) guys in the club would occasionally tell me to slow down at the beginning of a ride: "Don't you ever have to warm up?"
I should have said, "What do you mean? I am warming up!" (Hadn't yet learned how to be a smart-ass.)