Hip or lower back stretches

[><\(\(\(\(º>]

Riding on the road makes the muscles above my hips/ lower back feel really tight (Happens the most
when riding into a head wind while seated). I cannot find an appropriate stretching exercise to
avoid this power sapping feeling.

What am I doing wrong ? I 've tried the knees to chest stretch, the lunge, and none of them stretch
me out enough.

Please help me before I give up and go sell my bike for a kerosene powered scooter.

--
Tony

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[K&C Russell]

"><((((º>" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Riding on the road makes the muscles above my hips/ lower back feel really tight (Happens the most
> when riding into a head wind while seated). I
cannot
> find an appropriate stretching exercise to avoid this power sapping
feeling.
>
> What am I doing wrong ? I 've tried the knees to chest stretch, the lunge, and none of them
> stretch me out enough.
>
> Please help me before I give up and go sell my bike for a kerosene powered scooter.
>
> --
> Tony
>
> [email protected]
>
> Remove the fish to reply --= This is a fish anti-spam device =--
>
> `·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º>
>
> Tony,

Work on your stomach! Your hips are probably rocking forward because your stomach muscles are tired
and thereby putting pressure on your lower back. Try "crunches" etc with a twist to work the side as
well as the front.

Don't give up yet!

Kevin

 

[Hippy]

"><((((º>" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Riding on the road makes the muscles above my hips/ lower back feel really tight (Happens the most
> when riding into a head wind while seated). I
cannot
> find an appropriate stretching exercise to avoid this power sapping
feeling.
>
> What am I doing wrong ? I 've tried the knees to chest stretch, the lunge, and none of them
> stretch me out enough.
>
> Please help me before I give up and go sell my bike for a kerosene powered scooter.

Stretch your hamstrings? Sit on the floor with your legs together - extended out in front of you,
knees slightly raised, toes pointing up, straight back. Lean forward, bending at the hips, not the
lower back. You should feel a stretch in your hamstrings.

I also do one where you kneel on one leg and extend the other in front of you with foot flat on the
floor. Slight bend in the knee, bend forward at hips again and you should feel the same stretch.

I also occasionaly do a glute stretch, but it's too tricky to explain so I'll let you find an
exising description.

Try doing a google search for bicycle stretching or cycling stretching. I've done this before and
found many useful links.

http://www.ultracycling.com/training/flexibility.html
http://www.ultracycling.com/training/howard_stretches.html http://www.cptips.com/stretch.htm
http://bicycling.about.com/library/weekly/aa032499.htm http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html#back
http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=cycling+l ower+back+pain&meta=

hth hippy

 

[><\(\(\(\(º>]

Awesome, thanks Hippy !

--
Tony

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"hippy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "><((((º>" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Riding on the road makes the muscles above my hips/ lower back feel
really
> > tight (Happens the most when riding into a head wind while seated). I
> cannot
> > find an appropriate stretching exercise to avoid this power sapping
> feeling.
> >
> > What am I doing wrong ? I 've tried the knees to chest stretch, the
lunge,
> > and none of them stretch me out enough.
> >
> > Please help me before I give up and go sell my bike for a kerosene
powered
> > scooter.
>
> Stretch your hamstrings?
> Sit on the floor with your legs together - extended out in front of you,
> knees
> slightly raised, toes pointing up, straight back. Lean forward, bending at
> the
> hips, not the lower back. You should feel a stretch in your hamstrings.
>
> I also do one where you kneel on one leg and extend the other in front of
> you with foot flat on the floor. Slight bend in the knee, bend forward at
> hips again and you should feel the same stretch.
>
> I also occasionaly do a glute stretch, but it's too tricky to explain so
> I'll let you find an exising description.
>
> Try doing a google search for bicycle stretching or cycling stretching.
I've
> done this before and found many useful links.
>
> http://www.ultracycling.com/training/flexibility.html
> http://www.ultracycling.com/training/howard_stretches.html
> http://www.cptips.com/stretch.htm
> http://bicycling.about.com/library/weekly/aa032499.htm
> http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html#back
>
http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=cycling+l
> ower+back+pain&meta=
>
> hth
> hippy

 

[amirm]

In addition to what others explained, I have two points to throw in (based on my own experience):

1. The pain will gradually fade away as the flexibility, and also muscle fitness, increases. The pain is mainly due to tendons being constantly pulled by the contracted/stiff muscles.

2. You need to give your muscles recovery time, or otherwise the pain persists for a longer time. Pushing constantly could even have an adverse effect on the skeletal and cardiovascular fitness. I was reading a sports medicine text book the other day, and it confirmed what I learnt myself (the hard way!). What I do myself is pushing hard on alternate days, and riding at a relaxed pace in between. I commute every day. That means pushing on even days and easy riding on odd days and joy ridings over weekends. It works perfectly for me. My average speed on hard ride days has increased since I switched to this routine.

Originally posted by ><\(\(\(\(º>
Riding on the road makes the muscles above my hips/ lower back feel really tight (Happens the most
when riding into a head wind while seated). I cannot find an appropriate stretching exercise to
avoid this power sapping feeling.

What am I doing wrong ? I 've tried the knees to chest stretch, the lunge, and none of them stretch
me out enough.

Please help me before I give up and go sell my bike for a kerosene powered scooter.

--
Tony

[email protected]ISH

Remove the fish to reply
--= This is a fish anti-spam device =--

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[Euan B Uk]

>>>>> "amirm" == amirm <[email protected]> writes:
amirm> That means pushing on even days and easy riding on odd days and joy ridings over
amirm> weekends. It works perfectly for me. My average speed on hard ride days has increased
amirm> since I switched to this routine.

I'm new to cycling (four months), but the same is true of running. I started running with a heart
rate monitor in 2000 and kept below ((Heart Rate Max - Resting Heart Rate) * .7 + Resting Heart Rate
) on easy days and did what felt good on hard days. Result, in six months my resting heart rate went
down from 65 to 55. It's currently 42. Oh, my commute time from Highett to CBD has dropped from 44
minutes to 38 minutes.

Just my opinion, but a heart rate monitor's worth its weight in gold if you cycle every day.

--
Regards Euan

 

[amirm]

I agree completely that HRM is a very well worth tool if anyone does any exercise for fitness. Unfortunately, I started using it only from 6 months ago. Before, I never believed in it. I used cadence as a practical indicator, but it's nowhere near HRM.

Yeah, when pushing, I keep my heart rate between 160 and 170 with short bursts (depending on the terrain) to ~185 (my max rate is 186). Although it seems easy to go over that, I just ease off to drop the rate. On easy days, I keep my heart rate between 120 and 130, and short challenging terrain pushes the rate to 150. The good thing is that I am not feeling tired all the time any more.

Originally posted by Euan B Uk
>>>>> "amirm" == amirm <[email protected]> writes:
amirm> That means pushing on even days and easy riding on odd days and joy ridings over
amirm> weekends. It works perfectly for me. My average speed on hard ride days has increased
amirm> since I switched to this routine.

I'm new to cycling (four months), but the same is true of running. I started running with a heart
rate monitor in 2000 and kept below ((Heart Rate Max - Resting Heart Rate) * .7 + Resting Heart Rate
) on easy days and did what felt good on hard days. Result, in six months my resting heart rate went
down from 65 to 55. It's currently 42. Oh, my commute time from Highett to CBD has dropped from 44
minutes to 38 minutes.

Just my opinion, but a heart rate monitor's worth its weight in gold if you cycle every day.

--
Regards Euan

 

[Euan B Uk]

>>>>> "amirm" == amirm <[email protected]> writes:

amirm> Yeah, when pushing, I keep my heart rate between 160 and 170 with short bursts (depending
amirm> on the terrain) to ~185 (my max rate is 186). Although it seems easy to go over that, I
amirm> just ease off to drop the rate.

Pardon me if I'm mis-interpreting this, but do you mean that it's easy to go over you MHR of 186?

If so then 186 is not your MHR. If it was you wouldn't be able to go over it!

The 220-age is grossly inadequate. Formula's exist which take in to account lean body mass, resting
heart rate etc but the best way is to do a stress test and find out what your real MHR is. If
you've any health concerns get it done professionally, otherwise go for a gentle half hour warm up
and then do hill reps till you feel like you're going to puke. The max HR you record on that effort
is you MHR.

--
Cheers Euan

 

[Hippy]

<[email protected]> wrote in message news[email protected]...
> If so then 186 is not your MHR. If it was you wouldn't be able to go over it!
>
> The 220-age is grossly inadequate. Formula's exist which take in to account lean body mass,
> resting heart rate etc but the best way is to do a stress test and find out what your real MHR is.
> If you've any health concerns get it done professionally, otherwise go for a gentle half hour warm
> up and then do hill reps till you feel like you're going to puke. The max HR you record on that
> effort is you MHR.

When I got my HRM I thought 183! Wow! That's gotta be my max! Then I raced a bit... 193! Wow, My
really max! Then I was running a few k's and finished racing my (fast) boss - 197bpm! Wow, THIS MUST
be my max! Surely it can't go higher. Anyway, 6 months after that, in a VERY fast sprint after a
VERY hard race, after a week of rest... 213bpm.

MaxHR is apparently quite hard to pin down.. ;-)

hippy

 

[amirm]

Hi Euan:

Cannot explain why is that, but I had a stress test done by a cardiologist, and he calculated my max HR to be 186. I don't think that the max HR is the limit that heart can go, but according to my specialist, max HR is the limit for safe exercising. That would mean that heart can beat faster than that, but it's pushing too much. It, therefore, can be compared to the rev limiter in cars. An engine can rev above the rev limit, but it's harmful for it. That's why I try not to go over 186. However, when I get to around 185 I can still see the room to go further. I hope I did not confuse you this time.

As hippy examplified above, it's hard to find the actual max limit for the heart's ability to beat. I would say the only person who could tell (out of real practice) is someone who passed the limit and his/her heart failed! That would be hard for that unfortunate person to report back, though

Cheers,
Amir.

Originally posted by Euan B Uk
>>>>> "amirm" == amirm <[email protected]> writes:

amirm> Yeah, when pushing, I keep my heart rate between 160 and 170 with short bursts (depending
amirm> on the terrain) to ~185 (my max rate is 186). Although it seems easy to go over that, I
amirm> just ease off to drop the rate.

Pardon me if I'm mis-interpreting this, but do you mean that it's easy to go over you MHR of 186?

If so then 186 is not your MHR. If it was you wouldn't be able to go over it!

The 220-age is grossly inadequate. Formula's exist which take in to account lean body mass, resting
heart rate etc but the best way is to do a stress test and find out what your real MHR is. If
you've any health concerns get it done professionally, otherwise go for a gentle half hour warm up
and then do hill reps till you feel like you're going to puke. The max HR you record on that effort
is you MHR.

--
Cheers Euan