Warming up - Good article

Caroline_ie

Warm-up Routines

This factsheet is all about warming up. If you want to race hard from the gun, then you need a good warm-up. If you want to race harder for longer, then you need a good warm-up. If you want to survive the first hill, attack, or prolonged effort, you need a good warm-up. If you don't normally get in the groove until the middle of the race, then... you get the message. If you want to race better you need to warm-up better, that dear readers is a fact, not an opinion.

Why warm-up?
For most of us a winter of intense, military-precision-like preparation precludes each season. It's a sad fact, and a terrible waste, that very few of us prepare for individual events with the same gusto and attention to detail.
Your body is a complex machine of muscles, fibres, tissue, bones and juices. Just like any other highly complex, well-tuned machine it works better when it's warm; and warming it is a fine art and one to which you should pay attention.
Ever watched a Moto GP or Formula 1 race? Each pilot has their own individual preparation routines (I could go into neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) but that would take a web site in itself, maybe some other day). Valentino Rossi crouches into a ball, and holds the right toe peg of the bike before he gets on and goes down the pit lane clearing obstructions!
Each professional sports person has a routine that can be anything from putting their left sock on before the right or having their favourite motivational tune on their i-pod, while sipping their specially mixed carb-drink. Everything is planned to happen, nothing is left to chance.
In F1, the warm-up isn't just an opportunity for the drivers to wave to their adoring public. Drivers leave the line like a scalded cat, to warm the tyres. They move the car violently from side to side, to warm the suspension. They go up and down the gears, to test shift response and warm the oil. They accelerate and brake as hard as possible, to put energy into the vehicle to generate heat.
While doing all this, they mentally attune themselves to their surroundings, the environment and those around them. When the race starts they are as ready as they could ever be both physically and mentally. So, what's this got to do with cycling?
Absolutely bloody everything. A thorough warm up is vital to you hitting your event fully prepared. You need to have a heart that's ready to pump blood, muscles and joints ready to accept it, and a nervous system that's synchronised to co-ordinate muscle and reflex responses in the correct order and proportion. You also need to prime your stomach and digestion system to start the glucose drip that you'll need for your race. What's more you need to get your brain in to gear. Especially if it's a time trial.

Cold, Warm, Hot. Bad, Good, Bad
You can have too much of a good thing. Riding at 80% of VO2max for 30 minutes will get all of the above physiological responses working but it would be a terrible warm up. Turning up in your car, placing the front wheel in the bike then doing a 25 mile TT while you're "fresh" is also a terrible warm up. Hot and cold are bad, only warm is good; everything in moderation!
Each event is different. Paradoxically the longer the event the shorter the warm up. You might take an hour to do a proper warm up for a ten lap crit at the track, yet you might just rub a bit of sports balm on your legs for a 125 mile cyclosportive. Just as each event is different, so is each individual. What is a spot on warm-up for one cyclist could see another's legs full of lactic and a heart rate bouncing off max.
Work out what is good for you, Use the first few events of the year to hone your warm up technique. Don't just ride out to the race with your mates then do a few ups and downs of the start and finish straight to arrive on the line panting. That's not a warm up, that's better than nothing but little short of a waste. So if that isn't a warm up, what is?
A Five Stage Warm-up Suggestion
As we've said, everyone's different but the same laws of physics and physiology apply to us all. So do road conditions. During your warm-up check for road irregularities, damp patches under trees and in braking areas. Watch out for oil on the road and farm entrances for "farming-stuff". Ask yourself, "Will those people working in the fields be leaving during our race?" If the horse droppings that weren't there on the last lap have just appeared, where's the horse? There are hundreds of clues to help you if you allow yourself to see them.

Anyway, to the riding. First you need to give your body a good introduction to the efforts to come. That introduction starts with stage one, at least twenty minutes at winter club run pace on the small ring.
Once your heart rate and body temperature has stabilized and you don't feel the cold any more, intensity can increase to stage two. Slip it on the big ring and give it a minute or two at the same speed as stage one. Then, slowwwly increase the speed and gears to finish at the end of five minutes at a good tempo pace. Then it's back on to the small ring to let your body settle down and recover its composure.
Stage three calls for a one minute wind up. Not of your mates but a wind up to cruising speed. Take two minutes to recover then go again for another minute. By now your heart should be in race running mode and you should be breathing rhythmically and have a slight sweat on. You shouldn't be gasping for breath with your heart coming through your chest and you shouldn't have any conscious feeling of heavy legs.
Stage four is dependent on the event you're about to undertake.

Time trials obviously require a different approach than road races and criteriums. For a time trial, you need to ride at your threshold for the duration of the event. So a TT warm up requires a steadily increasing intensity 10 minute ride, building up to lactate threshold in the last minute. For a 10 mile TT you might consider two of these.
Road races require different physiological responses from your body. Although road races normally start easier than a TT when the hammer goes down you need to be ready. You may need to climb a hill, chase a break or launch an attack at an early stage in the proceedings.
So, try three or four sprints of around eight seconds just to get the muscles firing in the right order and to clear the soot from your lungs. Take a good three minutes recovery between each effort, if there is a hill try an 80% interval on the first part, just to see what happens!
Criteriums! Anything can, and usually does, happen on the first lap of a crit. There's always someone in the 53x12 while the rest of the race is trying to get their foot in the pedals. They'll probably come back, but they may not. Whatever happens you need to be ready because if there is a split your race could be over before the end of the first lap.
Try the TT threshold warm up, but obviously your gears will be lower and your cadence (leg speed) higher. After a four of five minute recovery build up to a tempo pace then give it a ten second sprint. Take a few minutes recovery then do a twenty second, chasing a break effort. After a few more minutes recovery try a thirty second, launching an attack effort. There, all race efforts simulated, tested and passed.

Stage five is the same for all events. Take three to five minutes to recover after your last effort. Return to the start and take a last minute swig of your carb drink and, if needed, take a gel or a little food. Remove your non-race clothing and put it somewhere dry, have a final check of tyre pressures, check your pockets for food (in or out depending on the event), check your race bottles, make sure your number is on and in the right place, your helmet is done up correctly, your shoes are set and then clear your mind of all distractions. You've done everything you can to prepare yourself.
Arrive on the line, in the correct gear for starting (very important and often overlooked), composed, warmed and ready to go. Listen to the last minute advice from the organiser and think through what you are going to do in the early stages of the event. A perfect warm-up is worth nothing if you're sitting at the back when the break goes! When the start comes position yourself near the front and whatever happens; enjoy your race!
The Message
The quality of your race is dependent on three factors; your preparation (physical and nutritional), your mental attitude and your pre-event warm-up. If any one of those factors is not 100% spot on, your performance is compromised. You might still win, because someone else is even less prepared, but your individual performance will not be at its full potential.
Like everything else in this website, not all of it will work for you. Take the bits that do work and ignore the bits that don't. You're not going to win every race you enter so choose the less important ones and PLAN a warm-up routine to try. Use the stages above as a starting point. If they work great, if not modify them. Whatever you do, don't just turn up and make it up on the day.
Stages one to three can be done on the way to the event. After you've signed on and done your number, get back on the bike and do stages four and five. Or do one and two, then get your number; the permutations are endless! Don't start your warm-up, get your number then get chatting and forget the final stages. Because when the race starts the effects will at best be minimised and at the worst, lost.
The ultimate message is: plan a routine, try it then modify it until it suits your style. Use non-important races to test and modify the plan. DON'T try a new routine on your most important race of the year. It's been done and it doesn't work. Good Luck.

AstraMonti

Nice read thanks!

tawfeeredux

Interesting read. One thing I'm wondering about & maybe someone here can advise. Does stretching not form part of a cycling warm-up? Coming from a football/running background, I would always have stretched as part of my warm-up routine. When I go to sportives, I usually stretch calves, quads, hamstrings, and glutes. But I notice that very few, if any, others are doing any stretching. Is it not recommended for cycling?

AstraMonti

tawfeeredux wrote: »

Interesting read. One thing I'm wondering about & maybe someone here can advise. Does stretching not form part of a cycling warm-up? Coming from a football/running background, I would always have stretched as part of my warm-up routine. When I go to sportives, I usually stretch calves, quads, hamstrings, and glutes. But I notice that very few, if any, others are doing any stretching. Is it not recommended for cycling?

It's highly recommended, it's just most people either don't understand how good it does or they are too lazy/not interested to do it. Stretching does take some time to be done properly and it's kinda boring, so I can see where they are coming from. But it's not enough for a good warm up. And in contrary with other sports, you have to stretch after you finish cycling as well.

Lumen

tawfeeredux wrote: »

Interesting read. One thing I'm wondering about & maybe someone here can advise. Does stretching not form part of a cycling warm-up? Coming from a football/running background, I would always have stretched as part of my warm-up routine. When I go to sportives, I usually stretch calves, quads, hamstrings, and glutes. But I notice that very few, if any, others are doing any stretching. Is it not recommended for cycling?

Biomechanics is a complicated area. Some would say it's not recommended for running either - there is research suggesting that it reduces performance by taking away some useful elasticity.

It is important that you are cycling within a comfortable range of motion. If your bike fit is such that you are right at the limits of your ROM, then it might be good to stretch beforehand, but in that case it is arguably better to steadily increase your ROM with a regular programme of stretching, not just before you start an event.

manwithaplan

Some version of this should be possible between Westwood and Sutton Cross on my run out to the Boards Howth TT next week. Problem is that I will then probably get chatting and be chewing a Mars bar or something sitting on the side of the road when someone says "manwithaplan - you're up".

tawfeeredux

Now that I think of it, while I was running, I did hear one or two people say they didn't stretch before running because, as far as they were concerned, stretching damages the fibres in the muscle. Now if your body is working properly, those fibres will repair themselves & become stronger, more flexible. I think their issue was that damaging the fibres immediately prior to an event or training was not a good idea. But, I'm not really sure if there is science backing up this notion.

I think the range of motion thing you mentioned Lumen is a good point. From a personal point of view, I'm just carrying over my own not-very-scientific routines from running. A light warm-up to get the blood flowing in the legs, maybe 15-20 mins jog, then stretching, then another light jog for maybe 5-10 mins to get the legs used to moving with a wider range of motion.

I recently bought a car & have driven to a couple of sportives where I don't really get a chance to do much in the way of a warm up, compared to cycling to an event that's within say 25kms of home. I've found that those events I've driven too, it takes 20-30 kms before i really get going. I may have spent the time I had prior to the start stretching, but didn't really get the legs warmed-up properly.

Lumen

tawfeeredux wrote: »

Now that I think of it, while I was running, I did hear one or two people say they didn't stretch before running because, as far as they were concerned, stretching damages the fibres in the muscle. Now if your body is working properly, those fibres will repair themselves & become stronger, more flexible.

I don't think the "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger" really works with stretching. Doing it wrong causes damage which reduces the ROM.

I think the objections are more along the lines that even good (i.e. non-damaging) stretching is counterproductive before hard exercise. Floppiness is not conducive to good performance.

pprendeville

I find skipping before cycling is a great way to get the HR up. 2 or 3 fast sets of 100.

mloc123

Never stretch just before. Stretching weakens the muscles for a certain length of time and can lead to injury if done just before a race etc..

Stretch afterwards before you cool down fully/cramp.

AstraMonti

mloc123 wrote: »

Never stretch just before. Stretching weakens the muscles for a certain length of time and can lead to injury if done just before a race etc..

Stretch afterwards before you cool down fully/cramp.

I 've been to several physios (4) due to a knee problem and all of them (some of them cyclists) were saying to stretch before a ride (like 10mins before) and stretch afterwards as well.

I am not saying you are wrong, I am just passing on what I have been told.

**Timbuk2**

If you want to do stretches beforehand, do dynamic stretches. Static stretches beforehand can make you more prone to injury.

Do static stretches afterwards, holding each for about 30 seconds while you maintain a normal breathing pattern.

CramCycle

tawfeeredux wrote: »

Now that I think of it, while I was running, I did hear one or two people say they didn't stretch before running because, as far as they were concerned, stretching damages the fibres in the muscle. Now if your body is working properly, those fibres will repair themselves & become stronger, more flexible. I think their issue was that damaging the fibres immediately prior to an event or training was not a good idea. But, I'm not really sure if there is science backing up this notion.

I was always told the auld GAA way of stretching (as much as you can manage and hold for 10) was terrible for you, due to likely minor muscular tear etc, before exercise but fine as a cool down stretch. Heard from a sports physiologist that before, you should never hold more than 3-5 seconds at most (5 seconds at a stretch if puns are permitted). Honestly I don't know though, it's all auld wives tales to me. I wouldn't mind a few papers if anyone has links to them on performance benefit effects etc.

worded

A mate of mine gets cramps hours after cycles sometimes and never stretches, is this poss the reason?

CramCycle

worded wrote: »

A mate of mine gets cramps hours after cycles sometimes and never stretches, is this poss the reason?

He should try this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs

doozerie

As regards the pros and cons of stretching before exercise, any such discussion is invariably hampered by the fact that "stretching" means different things to different people. For me, it means working (hard) to lengthen the muscle so it stresses the muscle and therefore can't be done safely unless you are already well warmed up. So, I only ever stretch after exercise, and I spend a bit of time on it too as I consider it important both for greater mobility (not just now but later in life too) and to help avoid injury.

Pre exercise, I just warm up and loosen out my joints, basically getting everything limber and "fluid". Some of this involves gently extending muscles and joints to their full range of (comfortable and safe) movement as I get warmer. Some people consider this stretching, but I don't - for a start, for me stretching isn't gentle, and it isn't comfortable. Some dynamic stretches are an exercise in themselves and therefore can help warm you up (e.g. leg swings), so they fall into a grey area, but if using those as part of a warm-up I very much limit them to their exercise element by not extending my muscles to their limit.

Stretching has received a bit of a bad press in recent years, with some studies reporting that stretching has led to greater injury rather than less. I believe that it has been shown that for at least some of these studies the definition of "stretching" was ambiguous from the outset amongst the participants so the results are inconclusive at best.

As with most things, it's up to everyone to decide for themselves what works for them, but for me a warm-up and stretching are two very different things and I don't combine the two. And also for me, a cool down starts after I've finished my stretching, otherwise I'm risking injury by stretching muscles that have cooled down.

Turbulent Bill

A history of running and rubbish flexibility has taught me that stretching is essential to preserve/improve range of movement and reduce injury risk. However, the stretches which are most effective at a particular time can vary - I've never found a foolproof programme. I used to exclusively use Active Isolated Stretching when I was running, which worked well, but I'm mixing this with longer static stretching now.

With a proper bike fit your ROM is correctly limited anyway, so the injury risk seems to come after you finish through muscle contraction. I just spin very gently for the first few minutes on the bike, build up to (warp) speed, then spin gently at the end and stretch immediately after getting off the bike.