A frequent question I receive in my inbox is why I don’t include stretching in my article with 5 Simple Tips for a Better Recovery.
Here is one of the emails I have received recently:
“I have got my personal experience over 20 years that clearly shows that I recover far quicker when I stretch than when I do not, but perhaps that is just my particular physiological make-up?”
I can’t say what is right and wrong here. However, if your personal experience is that stretching helps you (and you don’t want to change your habits), there is no need to read further.
First of all, it’s a short article with five practical tips you can use to optimize your recovery after training and cycling races. And these tips are time effective, too. No extra work by implementing these tips in your post-exercise routine.
Stretching your muscles take a while, and from the point of time effectiveness, your overall performance would improve more with additional training or cool-down pedalling.
Secondly, stretching is very undocumented. There has recently been a comprehensive Cochrane review that concluded that there is no evidence that stretching reduces muscle soreness.
Ok, let’s look at why this article about the effects of stretching is worth reading.
A Cochrane Review is a database of systematic reviews and meta-analyses that summarize and interpret medical research results. The Cochrane Library aims to make the results of well-conducted controlled trials readily available and is a critical resource in evidence-based medicine (reference: Wikipedia).
This review aimed to determine the effects of stretching before or after exercise on the development of delayed-onset muscle soreness. Please notice that delayed-onset muscle soreness should be differentiated from the soreness immediately after exercise due to fatigue.
Many riders stretch before or after (or before and after) road cycling. Usually, the purpose is to reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness, optimize performance (flexibility) or reduce the risk of injury.
So how do you experience delayed-onset muscle soreness? In my younger days, when I played badminton, it was almost sure that my legs were painful in the initial days following the first training session each season. It also happened in the first week after my first (and probably last…) marathon. After that, my legs were stiff, and walking downstairs was a nightmare.
But I have rarely experienced this phenomenon following regular cycling training.
Why? Delayed-onset muscle soreness is usually caused by unaccustomed exercise” “, especially in physical activity that includes eccentric muscle contractions. So that explains why the initial weight lifting sessions always hit your legs like a train (Eccentric muscle contraction happens, e.g., during the lowering phase of squat or landing phase of running.)
Typically your legs begin to be sore within the first day after severe eccentric muscle work and peak in intensity at around 48 hours.
Therefore, if you are a dedicated cyclist, you will very likely discover this phenomenon if you switch to intensive running from one day to another or if you begin to lift weights. But if you are accustomed to running, e.g., a triathlete, you will not discover delayed onset muscle soreness unless you run at extreme distances.
Micro-trauma on the muscle fibers results in local inflammatory activity, which is the most prominent explanation. But there is probably also a neural component involved in this process. I believe this neural component can partly explain why triathletes can run without experiencing delayed muscle soreness as cycling-only athletes would.
Some riders stretch before riding as part of their warm-up routine. However, after training sessions and cycling races, most riders stretch to reduce muscle pain and speed up recovery.
There are different ways to stretch muscles:
The best available evidence indicates that stretching does not reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness.
The most extensive study in the Cochrane Review showed a minimal reduction (four points out of 100) in muscle soreness 48 hours after exercise. However, the other 11 studies could not support stretching to prevent sore muscles.
So the conclusion was that stretching does not reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness. And I would say that even if there was a minimal pain reduction, like four points out of 100, it is still so small that in a mirror of time effectiveness, instead, you should focus on other parts of your training routine to optimize your performance.
So yes, you can avoid running and weight lifting and say no when your friends ask you for help with relocation, gardening, etc. And then there is no need to be worried about delayed-onset muscle soreness.
However, there are a few other practices you can benefit from. E.g., many riders experience that stretching (or massage) may give a transient relief of soreness IF delayed-onset muscle soreness eventually does occur. Also, there may be arguments to implement stretching to reduce the risk of injury. However, very few cyclists should implement stretching to optimize their cycling performance (only if flexibility limits their performance).
Many riders and triathletes do stretching as a ritual after exercise because they have been doing so for many years.
You may think, “I have my personal experience over 20 years that clearly shows that I recover far quicker when I stretch…”
Here is my advice to you:
Don’t fix it if you believe you have a winning training routine.
The current evidence does not support any positive or negative effect of stretching on the risk of injury, performance, or well-being.
Finally, after the next hard training session, I have a little experiment for you to provide more knowledge about stretching: Try stretching your left leg and NOT the right leg. Did you notice any difference?
Please leave your comments and experiences below. Thank you.
Reference: Stretching to prevent or reduce muscle soreness after exercise (Cochrane Review)
Herbert RD, de Noronha M, Kamper SJ
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Interesting study. I have always been told to do 20sec static stretching of each muscle group after exercise (mostly legs). I've done that for years. I like the feeling, but your article makes me think that I might be cheating myself to believe that this really helps me.
I have found that I could get delayed-onset muscle soreness when I sleep very little (less than 6 h), even if I am familiar with the exercises that I perform. Quite funny, but it has been a matter of fact for a couple of times during the last few weeks.
i am absolutely sure that streching increases climbing performance and delays tiredness during long rides.
Can't really see any differences in my recovery. I use stretching as a mental recovery after a hard workout. I like the feeling.
Another great article. I've just spent 4 days training on my climbing in Tenerife. Some of the toughest and sustained climbing I've ever done on a bike. My routine doesn't involve stretching. I warmed up and cooled down slowly and my legs felt as fresh on day 4 as day 1. Best advice: when asked to help friends with unaccustomed tasks that use muscles not used to working.....SAY NO!
Hej Jesper.
Thanks for your article..
A lot (10%) of (older) cyclist like me suffer from pain in the gluteal region ( Piriformis syndrome) . Stretching the piriformis muscle relief the pain and iskias pain. I think that you agree that this type of stretching works.
Hej Finn,
Thanks for commenting.
Yes, you're right. The Piriformis syndrome is a quite different story.
My main point was that if you perform an eccentric, unaccustomed exercise, your legs will experience delayed-onset muscle soreness. And stretching will not change that picture.
Though, it should be noticed that there might be a long-term benefit from regular stretching. Making you more resistant to developing DOMS. We don't know.
Jesper
I agree with you. Stretching has been a built in mechanism since the word gym was introduced to me in grade one. I do not stretch before a road or gym ride. However being 50+ I do have one hip that needs to be stretch before any type of physical activity.
I use the warm up and cool down ride to assist with preventing muscle fatigue. This works for me.
As a novice ride I have only experience muscle fatigue when lifting weights. A form of exercise I had not done before.
I have to agree, in cycling we use concentric muscle action, not eccentric which typically is what causes DOMS. Plus, in cycling we are pedaling in a limited circle that doesn't use the full range of motion thus we are unlikely to pull a muscle when pedaling. This isn't to say that stretching doesn't have benefits but in cycling we have less likelihood of DOMS and of injury during the exercise that other sports (e.g. impact sports) have.
Hi J,
Thanks for the article, just a question, i just started doing weights, i usually push a big gear on the bike, so didn't think pushing weights would hurt so much, so i guess the reason my legs are so sore is that i don't use these muscles in riding? So that begs the question, is lifting weights any good for cycling?
Craig