As I get older my body gets better at reminding me to warm up before I do anything remotely athletic ... and stretch afterward.
Those of us over 30 or so (I'm over 55) were likely taught to 'cold stretch' before athletics, which has since been pretty well shot down in recent years by those advocating doing an 'active warm-up' before exercise instead of stretching. It seems stretching reduces muscular strength, which you of course don't want; and, if your muscles are too cold, you may end up pulling something -- a horrible way to start a bike ride or whatever you set out to do. But I've found that I still need to stretch some about 5-7 miles into a ride, particularly my lower back and hamstrings. So, what has worked for me is to jump rope, do some body weight squats, lunges, light kettlebell swings, and maybe good ol' jumping jacks for about 5-10 min's to warm up my muscles before a ride ... then ride about 5-7 miles ... and *then *do some light stretching of my hams, glutes, and hips. Doing the light stretching after riding a while, giving the muscles a chance to warm up, really increases my flexibility, feels great, and sets me up to be way more comfortable for the rest of my ride, no matter how long it ends up being. When I'm back home, I spend at least 15-20 minutes stretching out while my body is still warm. Approaching warm-ups and stretching like this has kept me in the game without pain or injuries for the past 12 months, and I rarely feel the tightness I once did after riding. Years ago a chiropractor friend recommended this book on stretching, so I thought I'd pass it along in case it may help some of you. It's really the best I've seen on the subject: Stretching <https://www.amazon.com/Stretching-30th-Anniversary-Bob-Anderson/dp/0936070463/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1524433738&sr=8-4&keywords=stretching>, by Bob Anderson (I see it's now offered as a 30th anniversary edition, so he must be helping a lot of people....) Here's my Sam, patiently waiting as I stretch at the 6-3/4 mile mark this morning. This is a convenient place to stop and stretch because that concrete block wall steps down behind where I'm taking this photo to a level where I can extend a leg straight out, rest my heel on a block, and slowly, easily s - t - r - e - t - c - h those warmed-up hamstrings and back muscles. <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Z67SFVlqj-E/Wt0IP5iIE8I/AAAAAAAABaY/puhhLFclFtcX4-hqMs_vX9Q4RwwvzO7MQCLcBGAs/s1600/Neuse_River_Trail_Soccer_Park_rear_quarter.jpg> Here's to flexibility and pain-free rides! Tom -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
