rsbob 

Will try a different browser. Thanks.

Eric F 

Alternately, do a search on YouTube for "Dylan Johnson Stretching".

big john

Me too.

rsbob 

It was Safari. Switched to You (a newer AI browser), and no problemo.

Really like the Dylan videos backed by science. Watch them semi-regularly but didn ‘t catch that one.

So what is one supposed to do after a hard effort with super stiff muscles - have a massage, soak in a hot tub?

Eric F 

I like Dylan's stuff, too.

There may not be any measurable performance gains, but my muscles tend to like some stretching after a hard effort (usually a few hours later). Massage has also been helpful for me. I can only talk about my experiences with my own body, however.

livedarklions

I was never stretchy, quite the opposite. I was always being told that the more I stretched, the more I'd overcome this lack of flexibility. It never worked, but it was a good way to make everything hurt more. I can go into a decent tuck if I need to, that's all I care about.

livedarklions

True of us all. It would be fun to come up with a conspiracy theory about liars promoting stretching, though, but that's my inner troll talking.

Calsun

I have learned to start out at a slow pace for the first 15-20 minutes of a ride to warm up my muscles and connective tissues. It also helps with my overall aerobics and I am far less likely to "blow out" on steep grades. It is just the way my body works best.

staehpj1

I do not do stretches before and after riding. If the ride is intense I do believe in warming up and cooling dowm. I also find that there are a couple stretches I need to do once per day to maintain my lower back. Nothing much, 30-90 seconds per day avoids lots of pain for me.

wolfchild

A lot of people confuse stretching and warm up and think that it is the same thing, when it is not. Those are two different things. Stretching is not a warm up...The best way to warm up is to start doing the actual movements or activity which you plan on doing. In the case of cycling, the best way to warm up is to get on your bike and start riding.

rsbob 

Yeah, at 6’2.75” (now 6’1”) I had the least amount of flexibility of anyone I knew and stretching only hurt and never increased it. Maybe when I hit 6’0” I might be able to touch my ankles.

rsbob 

You mean, “Big Stretch” which promotes its poison to create confusion, torn muscles and decreased performance? And then there is their chief competitor, “Big Warm up” which tries to insidiously waste people’s time by having them think that doing everything in slow motion promoting intellectual enlightenment, healthy muscles and fresher breath.

Trakhak

Probably better than stretching stiff muscles---that sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Maybe you're overdoing it, if your muscles end up in that state.

(What follows is off-topic here, but there's some information that might be of interest for figuring out how to train productively without overdoing it to the point where you're suffering from muscle soreness.)

I've just this week started using Xert, which is one of the many programs available to control a smart trainer.

No video game graphics, some look-at-scenery-while-you-ride stuff available, but that's about it for amusement. Xert's main thing is that, on the basis of the usual data (height, weight, age, etc.) plus your choice of a variety of fitness goals, the software monitors your response to the changing resistance levels you're working against in real time and adjusts the work load accordingly (i.e., incrementally greater resistance or lesser resistance is applied, interval length is adjusted, etc.).

What I've learned in the three days since I began using it: my usual hard efforts on my bike have been insufficiently hard and too lengthy, and the recovery rides I thought I'd been doing at reasonably low effort levels have been too hard and (therefore) too lengthy---or, putting it another way, the time I've spent riding at genuinely low enough effort has been insufficient.

Case in point: I did a 45-minute interval-based recovery ride on the trainer this morning. The workout included one 30-second effort at about double my FTP and then a bunch of efforts with decreasing wattage levels and durations interspersed with recovery periods of lower and lower wattage levels and ever-increasing durations. Xert then told me that my cumulative training volume value is currently toward the upper end of the acceptable range and that I should wait about 2 days before doing my next hard interval-based workout.

Then I went out on a shopping ride for 2.25 hours at what felt like a very easy pace. But after I put the values for that ride into Xert, the recommendation changed: now I'm supposed to wait 4 days before doing a hard interval workout. Oops.

The point is that, if you're experiencing sore muscles from cycling, you'd almost certainly profit from considering adopting a workout program that resembles the 80% very easy/20% hard programs that have become common in endurance training.

kayakindude

I stretch to pull the charger cord out of my ebike battery and again stretch after the ride to plug the cord back into the battery.

big john

lol

Eric F 

If you're tearing muscles when stretching, you're doing it wrong. Just sayin'. This is the truth that Big Spa won't tell you.

livedarklions

I think everyone on this thread is pretty clear on the difference between warm ups and stretching. But dynamic stretching is an attempt to combine the two, and for whatever reason, it seems to work for at least some people.

I don't really do warming up when I ride, I just get on with it, as fast out of the gate as I can manage. Don't know if it's "the best way", I just know it's my way because it works well for me.

rsbob 

Got back on the trainer today to see if my pull would be aggravated or if it would be ok. Decided to do an uncharacteristic slow warm-up for 10 minutes at 1.0 Watt/Kg. No issues, so went to 1.5 then 2.0 and after 20 mins 2.4 where In held it for the duration of the hour. At the conclusion I did an uncharacteristic cool down for 10 minutes going back to 1.0 and felt fine.

Have intervals on the schedule so will try the same warm up and cool down process and see how it goes.

beng1

It depends on who you are. There is research that shows regular stretching makes young top athletes slower. I am an old man and the best policy for me is to just be aware of that and look at what I am doing. When I get into an activity I don't stretch, I just move into it slowly and gradually. If you go from sitting on your butt to sprinting into an activity, no matter what age you are you have screwed up.

That being said I like the idea of being flexible, maybe because I never was and always envied those who could bend like Gumby. I stretched a lot when I was in track in HS in the 70s, but warming up was still necessary before running full-tilt even though I stretched ever day.

In the end I don't think it matters what you do as long as you ease into it. Also if the activity is something new, that you do not do regularly, of course you are going to encounter some bumps in the road.

livedarklions

Sounds like good progress!

My feeling about this is a little trial and error is worth about 10k contradictory posts and articles telling you what definitely will or won't work. Online info suggests things to try or perhaps to avoid, we have to figure out what works for ourselves.

prj71

I never stretch before or after a ride ever.

But I do a little bit of yoga stretching during the week between rides which seems to have helped.

kayakindude

Like some have mentioned, Yoga was a game changer for me as I moved into my 40's and on. I was a distance runner and was one who always struggled to touch my toes.

I gained amazing flexibility through yoga just doing one class a week and I'm pretty sure it protected me from the muscle injuries my friends suffered doing similar activities.

Now here's the funny thing. Once the pandemic hit I went without it for over three years, but I never lost the flexibility gained, still no problem grabbing my toes from standing. You would think that would have reverted.

Lombard

Yes. One must not confuse the two. Static stretching is what is not good before exercise. Dynamic stretching is.

Let's face it. We love to bike and we don't care for all these other exercises we must do. But as I get older, I find if I want to be without pain, I must do stretches. To the naysayers here who say stretching is a waste of time, lucky you that you don't need to do them. If it keeps me out of pain, it is not a waste of time.

Whoa Nellie! If a stretch hurts, you are overdoing it and it is clearly possible to overstretch. You should feel a nice stretch, never pain. Or maybe the particular stretch is not right for your condition or your body. If it hurts when you do it, don't do it.

rsbob 

I decided today after a 50 miler to “stretch” In a hot bath. Just about fell asleep.

DonkeyShow

sleep is great for recovery. Make it a salt bath next time and you got a winner.