Hip or lower back stretches

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

ISH

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"((((º" wrote in message
...
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

ISH

Remove the fish to reply
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`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸((((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

"((((º" wrote in message
...
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...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=e...ff&q=cycling+l
ower+back+pain&meta=

hth
hippy

Awesome, thanks Hippy !

--
Tony

ISH

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"hippy" wrote in message
...
"((((º" wrote in message
...
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...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=e...ff&q=cycling+l
ower+back+pain&meta=

hth
hippy

\(\(\(\(º wrote:
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
ISH
Remove the fish to reply --= This is a fish anti-spam device =--
`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸((((º

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.





--

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

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.




--

"amirm" == amirm writes:

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

wrote in message news
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

Euan B Uk wrote:
"amirm" == amirm writes:
amirm Yeah, when pushing, I keep my heart rate between 160 and 170
amirm with short bursts (depending on the terrain) to ~185 (my max
amirm rate is 186). Although it seems easy to go over that, I just
amirm 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

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.




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