What Is the Most Effective Cycling Warm Up? The Science
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ก.ค. 2024
- Does warming up actually improve your performance and what is the most effective warm up strategy? I dive into the science on these questions as well as address warming up in hot and cold conditions and whether or not you should be stretching during your warm up.
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Studies I used in this video:
journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fu...
journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fu...
journals.physiology.org/doi/f...
link.springer.com/article/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/a...
cdn.journals.lww.com/nsca-jsc...
journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fu...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/a...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/a...
www.physiology.org/doi/full/1... - กีฬา
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'A DROP IS A DROP' you nailed it LOL
This needs a T shirt LOL
😂
Nothing worse than warming up on a trainer before an event realizing you have bad legs that day. I just spin for the rest and hope for the best. Your most important ride is the day before, my coach called it a tune ride.
I noticed definite differences in my efforts when I instituted warm-ups, even if only five minutes. Glad to know it's well-backed by science and not just a "feeling".
I’m surprised Backwards Hat Dylan hasn’t said anything about the number of spacers above your stem on the bike in the background of this video...”pro?!, really?!”
Great video as always.
IKR I was totally thinking why does this guy have a chimney on his enve stem?
If he’s a low mid level pro, he’ll probably get given bikes but got to hand them back at the end of the season where the team will sell them on. Not everyone’s wants a slammed stem so leaving a bit over makes them worth more.
This channel has astonishingly high quality content- all substance and no flash. I'm so glad I discovered it. Thanks and please keep up the great work.
Something to mention here is that besides warming up your muscles, you actually adapt your lungs before the strenuous activity. After warming up, your lungs can process oxygen better.
Is that backed by science or is it another p.e. teacher ritual
I wish you would have gone through what happens physically when you warm up. I remember from my early studies of physics, that Hair blood vessels should be extracted with first mild and then moderate blood flow pressure, i.e. Within Base condition heart rate range.. this improves the capacity they can transfer oxygen in muscle and byproducts out from muscles. Trying cold feet race start (CX, MTB) you do not get far before you feel the burning sensation on legs. And then the race is lost. Hair blood vessels do not recover to open from this approach on race any more. There were other physical changes as well that happened but cant remember the rest 😁
great poin! It has happened to me several times for not having warmed up properly before
Dylan, this is the best cycling content on the internet for racing enthusiasts! Keep up the great work. 👍🏻 Your subscriber base will keep growing!
Keep dropping the knowledge homie!
Great content, as always
For me, I warm up in Z1 for 15 minutes, then pick a key power that I need to reach. Using this power I go until my hr hits 65% then reduce it to under 60%. I repeat the process up to 70%, 75%, 80%, 85% and 90%, each time taking longer at the set power to reach the prescribed Hr. I soft pedal to reduce my Hr back down to under 60% before moving up a heart rate grade. This primes me for the main effort I need to do and makes my heart reactive. Works for me.
This method is pretty well the optimum. For anyone who doubts the effectiveness of this graduated ramp up system, I suggest replicating the numbers on an indoor trainer and watch how the numbers are affected.
A quality video with actual research Thank you!
Great info with great supporting info. Love the videos! Thanks
You have a brilliant ideas , thank you
Dylan, your stuff is always great. Thanks for making these videos.
Yet another well researched, fact based, informative video 💪🏼. Keep up the good work. 👌🏼
Great video. I just discovered your channel and it is amazing the amount of scientific research you read to do your videos. And with links to the articles too! Keep up the good work!
Dylan. You always post topics that are relevant. Thanks for sharing.
I always try to get at least a minute on the group so they can drop me later.
On a serious note, I grew up getting firewood and hauling water. I have worked very hard high intense labor jobs my whole life.
I weigh 155 lbs. I work harder and stronger than 250 pound guys that think they're tough. Even concrete workers and metal workers were surprised at my strength.
One thing they couldn't do AT ALL was compete with my strength all day long that never tired.
Not once in my life have I ever stretched before going to work. Not once.
I also cycle and never stretch. Makes my legs feel tired before I even get on the bike when I have tried the stretching before riding.
I had a thought one day while stretching and my muscles were burning....I was like fuck my muscles are burning and I'm sore after....
Justin B. You’re prob stiff as a board. It prob feels like no big deal now but you’ll really regret not stretching as you get older. Also, you never stretch before your warm up or exercise, only after. Stretching cold muscles does nothing for you.
@@BrotherlyLove12 That makes way more sense lol!!!!!!!!
Excellent video as always. Seriously some of best cycling content on TH-cam. Thanks Dylan.
Wow. Alot of misconceptions set straight. Thanks for the video. Lots of valuable information.
Great stuff. Surprised by the stretching info. Keep up the good work.
I'm a huge fan of your channel Dylan. This video is why.... Thank you so much.
This is by far of the best channels within cycling. Excellent stuff
Thanks for the insightful video! Good to know the science behind the theory. I figured out the same conclusions through trial and error. I’d go for an easy warm up before an XC race and see guys pre-riding and attacking hills as their warm up. They looked strong but come race time they didn’t have the matches to burn.
I find the first minute of a zwift race from cold is great for getting to my max HR as efficiently as possible :D. Great video dude, I find it hard to plan how to warm up before a triathlon so end up doing nothing
Great content Dylan! I cited the same meta analysis about stretching (Simic et al.) in my thesis.
I usually do a 10-minute warm-up before my intervals with a one-minute hard effort and it and it seems to work pretty well for me. awsome vid a learned a few new things keep it up man
I used to do an easy high cadence mock sprint at the end of my 10-15 easy warm up and worked for me
When I swam competitively, I would keep the intensity very low fo the most part. (Swimming differs in that you are also learning the “course.” We need to test the walls for our turns and the blocks for our starts.) I’d never do a 30-second sprint - that’s a full race in the 50 free! Instead, I’d do two or three hard strokes during every other lap. The idea is to wake up the neuromuscular channels, but not to take the edge off the blade.
I’d think that it’s the same for cycling: sprint long enough to get the feeling and sync up the nerves with the pedal stroke. Then shut it down before there is any muscular fatigue.
I usually save my heated pants for Saturday nights.
Great video and explanations, thank you. I’m probably 20-25 years older than you so my variation is the need to do leg and back loosening exercises (not stretching though) prior to hard sessions or races! Thanks again, Rob
I really felt this the other day when I showed up late for a group Zwift ride and without any warmup took off at 95% FTP to catch up. I have an extensive weights background and my legs pumped up like I was doing a crazy bodybuilding workout. Feels like I'm also doing muscle damage similar to hard sets of legs in the gym. Crazy how just 15 minutes Z1 with a few moderate surges is enough to completely mitigate that gnarly pump that is a kiss of death in endurance events and get my legs performing well. Love your content man!
Very helpful. I've modified my warmups and stretching for both cycling and running after watching this video last year. I was definitely not warming up properly before. Either I'd omit warmups completely, worried about emptying the tank too soon, and get dropped immediately; or warm up too vigorously... emptying the tank too soon, and get dropped midway. After experimenting I found some methods that work reliably for me. And I stopped stretching my legs before rides and runs. I still stretch my back and neck to relieve tension from multiple old injuries, but that has no detrimental effect on riding and running -- it just feels good.
Once again, Great job. I'm glad you talked about stretching and the negative impacts prior to a workout. its so ingrained in peoples heads that its hard to grasp that it does way more harm than good in these scenarios.
Is this the case with a static warm up/stretch or....
@@courtneyklein4330 Most of the time it's static AND passive stretches being studied, most people only know this type.
Active and dynamic stretching is beneficial to activate opposing muscles and creating stability in the full range of motion, thereby improving movement efficiency by better spreading the load between muscle groups.
Cool & super interesting at the same time.
Thanks for addressing this topic Dylan, clearly this one area of sport that has more myth than science behind common practices. It is amazing to see extensive warm-ups still used across a range of sports, particularly at Pro level. Maybe there is a psychological element here, calming nervous athletes, using the warm-up to improve focus etc. The other aspect is practicing a technical skill during the warm-up, particularly in sports which require technical precision. These two aspects can probably still be achieved without the downside of an overly intense warm-up. Back in the day as a track runner our warm-up would usually comprise of 20 min of jogging, then 5 x 80 metre wind-sprints, plus heaps of static stretching; couldn't have been more wrong!
Right on point. I have been attacking a 6 mile (5%) climb as a monthly outdoor power test. I was curious whether performance should be better, starting with a heart rate that was "idling" or one that was already "revving", I think this answers my question. There are so many varibales: wind, temp, fatigue etc. that it has been hard to isolate just the warm up as a factor.
3:13 nice footage from my favourite local crit!
This is interesting research information also for bench presser. I usually do over 100 repetitions on the bench before I move on to the actual training weights.
Thank you - very informative with some great suggestions re adapting to race distance & atmospheric temp (I always suspected that warm-up prior to ultra endurance on a hot day was essentially rubbish - you nailed this proper!)/ I'd also like to better understand the impact of "cool down" on recovery time - not sure if you've covered this previously?
Never been a fan of warmup. Good to see some info that may speak to my thoughts that the easier loafs i did before a TT were better than ‘tt warmup’ workouts on the turbo in the parking lot. -U10
I like it. Great content and very well researched. Although there is generally a negative correlation between stretching and peak power output, I do think there are still some good reasons to perform some selective and targeted stretching under certain circumstances. For a bit of context, the majority of the stretch study literature looks a super long static stretching (1min plus without movement) when assessing power output. It is generally agreed that a dynamic warm up might give you most of the stretching benefits without the associated drop in power. The other case would be, if you have an area that is really tight chronically and leads to biomechanics issues, it might be worth stretching that area.
Hey Dylan!, Was wondering if you could speak on how massages can improve performance? Awesome content love your videos man!
Wow like the content .. love iit , interesting
Thanks for the information. I have some comments:
1. The studies relating to 30s maximal efforts deal with short neurophysiological efforts where performance is optimal when completely rested. Think of Olympic weightlifters who, during competition, intentionally skip to harder weights in order to get more rest between lifts. In fact, regarding isolated sprint efforts, it might be more informative to study warmup techniques of Olympic weightlifters.
2. I conclude that the 30s maximal effort studies may not apply to predominantly aerobic events such as road time trials.
3. As anecdotal evidence, many top professional road cyclists describe themselves as "diesels" requiring a long time to get to race pace and therefore carry out very long warmups ramping up intensity to race intensity.
4. Following this line of argument, I believe that personal physiology is a determining factor in how to warm up. Since fast twitch fibers tire more quickly, a sprinter type person would benefit from an easier warmup, whereas a slow twitch person would need a longer and more intense warmup and it would at least have much less negative impact on performance.
5. The well known example of overheating during a warmup is the first ITT of the 2003 Tour de France (Gaillac to Cap Decouverte, Stage 12, July 19) which occurred during one of the most violent heat waves in French history (it killed tens of thousands of people). Lance Armstrong warmed up outside and had a relatively poor performance due to overheating, while Jan Ullrich warmed up inside an air conditioned bicycle store and won the stage by 1:36 over Armstrong. Despite being anecdotal evidence, this convinced the professional peloton to be much more careful about doing warm ups.
6. You didn't mention that the accepted practice is to warm up for a race on a trainer and not by just riding around. This allows for a much more controlled warmup. Also, it's much more reliable in terms of not missing the start. Pedro Delgado was late for his prologue time trial in the 1989 Tour de France (even subtracting the 2:40 late start, he still did the entire distance in the third best time) and Stephen Roche missed his team time trial start for the 1991 Tour de France and was eliminated by missing the time cut riding alone (his team Tonton Tapis-GB didn't wait for him despite the fact that he was the team leader).
Hi, how about a video regarding cool downs? What's the science behind them? How long/intense should they be? Are they necessary at all? Etc.
I find my Zwift sessions way harder than my outdoor training if doing the same interval sets. I am chalking this up to your findings of how heat can reduce output. My setup is in my garage and despite it being 40-50F temps in the garage and a fan on full...I still heat up way more then while riding. I also have set a limit to my Zwift and will not do anything over 2 hrs.
My experience mirrors studies. I go KOM hunting only on 50º days, making sure the wind is blowing hard in the right direction. Aviation forecasts are the best ;)
What I found works for me is a 15 -20 min ramp to high tempo, followed by a short rest, then 3 - 4 20sec seated sprints with a minute rest between each. But like anything else, what works one day doesn't always work the next. Sometime no amount of warming up can get the legs firing.
Maybe a video about perfect time for best performance? E.g. morning vs afternoon performance.
Thanks for your good work.
What is all this Francis Cade b-roll 🤣🤣
Hi Dylan, can you do a follow up video on cooling down? Thanks
Great content Dylan!! Is there a difference to performance between static stretching and dynamic stretching? I go through a whole routine of movements with no stretch more than a few seconds. Heard a long time ago the classic static stretch “shut” down the muscle being stretched so moved to dynamic stretching. But if that doesn’t help as part of my warm up I’d like all that time back! 😁 I do believe getting the posterior chain activated before I ride helps which is a big part of my warm up movements off the bike. Is there a question here?😂 Thanks for the context!!
Is there time that a warm up “lasts”, ie. if i warm up for a TT then have to wait 5, 10, 15min how long will i see benefit for? Cheers for the great videos
Warmups should not be too hard seems like a great tip!
Yay! Subtitle! It's a pity there are no previous videos/
My best 15min w/kg was done after 2h30 of easy z1/z2 steady ride, idk why, but i feel amazing after that kind of time, and do not perform that well after a short warm up, have you came across any study that shines some light in that or is it just due to other factors aside only the warm up itself? As aways, keep It up!
Maybe you were just lighter after consuming glycogen and some dehydration;)
Most studies on warm up that you mention use sprint performance as parameter...IHMO, anaerobic performace would be very little effected by warm up..but aerobic performance (80-90% FTP) relies more on aerobic metabolism, and those need some more time to “woke up”..I think, a longer warm up to get the aerobic metabolsm (krebs cycle) going would be beneficial for longer performance (not sprints)
Can you please do a companion video on openers? Is doing something similar to a warmup, but the day before, actually beneficial?
Dylan, when you mention “not” to stretch you should have emphasised “static stretching” as noted in the study. It seems that dynamic stretches are fine, and do not inhibit your performance. Otherwise I do enjoy you science based blogs, it is refreshing to see someone backing up what they say with real data.
I think you should write a book. One of those books you can read front to back, then flip it around and read back to front. Most often, they are kids books - Two stories in one type deal.
Read it one way, it's Dylan's top training/recovery/workout advice. Flip it around and it's Backward Hat Dylan's top training/recovery/workout advice. You could bundle it with a hat. Which way you read it, and which way you wear the hat, it's all up to you :)
I've changed my warm up for CX so often its comical...will take a look at my current version compared to your advice. I did 15 mins. now 20 minutes. Without a fan doing too much power its easy to blow up.
I already know that Backwards hat Dylan will have a lot of opinions on this topic lmao
3 dislikes: presumably from flat-earthers who don’t like science. Great content as usual ! 👍
Flat-earthers only ride flat TT courses
One of them was Backwards Hat Dylan
Or Anti-Vaxxers.. .
Anti-vaxxers dont believe in tubless liquid
and yet here I am, a flat earther, watching and liking the video...
I am not a complétive rider but that was great info. I was under the assumption that stretching was necessary before any ride. If I am only riding for fitness is stretching a good thing before a ride or should I just do maybe some in place jogging, burpees or jumping jacks to get my body warmed up ? Anyway thanks for the informative video.
hey Dylan, have you reviewed the literature on foam rollers?
Shane Miller has a video on doing a warmup and the protocol he uses
Can you do a video on whether nose breathing increases performance? Also if switching from being a mouth breather to nose breather is beneficial to performance.
A warm up primes your metabolism for the forthcoming increased demands and stresses about to be placed on it... it gets the juices flowing, from the inside to the outside...
What about stretching after a ride... to stretch out tendons and take the joints through a full range of motion whilst they are warm and able to be pushed through a range of motion?
Dylan, you put out a lot of great general information, but you may be missing a big point in your evaluation as to WHY warming up is beneficial. Here is the main reason: Warm up is beneficial to get maximum muscle fiber recruitment. A person may only have 60% muscle fiber recruitment when not warmed up. So if you are doing a long endurance race, it's not as crucial to have maximum muscle fiber recruitment at the get go. Whereas if you are doing a short, high intensity race where peak power and explosiveness is required, you will want as many of your muscle fibers recruited as possible. When a person does a high intensity, high power output event without max muscle fiber recruitment, they of course lack the peak power they can generate with full recruitment but also the muscle fibers that are recruited will tire more quickly which will markedly minimize how long the muscles can last doing or using to do whatever they are being required to do.
If you were to look at this another way, think about a bench press workout. If a person just got on a hot tub and got their muscles up to temperature and got out, dried off and got on the bench press, would they be able to lift their maximum weight just because their muscles are warm? The answer is they cannot... They start off with a lower weight and do several sets going up on weight. ==> Each lead up set recruits more muscle fibers. At this point, with max recruitment percentage the lifter is now ready to be able to generate max force with their muscles to lift their max weight...
Bishop was recommending to do intervals on claw hammer or up 477. I was wondering what type you would do.
Not sure if this was addressed in a previous video, but would be cool if you could discuss meal frequency and if there is an optimal range for athletes (larger vs smaller meals). I learned a lot already about the value of diet quality in your previous videos which has been very helpful. Also, another question is on supplements and whether taking higher dose antioxidants are helpful or harmful over just eating fruits/vegetables. Thanks!
Did you ever find out
Best cycling content on YT. Question- when you speak on the disadvantages of static stretching pre workout, is that to say static stretching doesn't have any place in cycling performance at all? For example I've been struggling with a bad knee recently and found that doing a lot of strengthening and stretching has helped it significantly, what is your opinion there? :) thanks and keep up the great content!
Thanks! It’s hard to say without knowing exactly what’s wrong with your knee and that would be a question for a physical therapist. I do have a video on stretching. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t help with recovery or injury prevention either.
@@DylanJohnsonCycling Thanks for the reply! That's really interesting I'll go check it out :)
After my first century ride I got a kom on a segment I've been going after for awhile
Thanks for the video. Any findings from a safety or health standpoint? Lower heart damage or injury prevention? Thanks
For injury prevention warming up leads to a lower likelihood of muscle tearing. Didn’t see anything on heart damage.
@@DylanJohnsonCycling *puts hat on backwards* Yeah, the heart can explode at any moment in any sports activity regardless of preparation. Its just a risk you have to take man.
Exercise helps your heart adapt and get stronger.
these are really short test times relative to the warm up; the ones you mention a 1 min sprint, a 3k time trial and a 5 min test. I'm not a really experienced rider and have only really started to consciously do a warm up at the beginning of my rides, but I've got quite a bit more experience in hockey.
We always warmed up, and I can't really imagine what it would have felt like just going out cold. We stretched for 10-15 min before getting dressed and often did some mild intensity stuff like foot work off-ice just to get the blood flowing. then we got dressed. Then whether before a game or practice, there was always a warm up. In a game it was 15 min. The goal of this warm up was basically just to break a sweat. Once you had broken a sweat you had kind of found your pace for the game. At least that's how I looked at it, and over longer efforts I would say I feel the same way on the bike.
The shorter and higher in intensity the effort is the more important the warm up is. This was just the research that was available on warming up but if anything the warm up is less critical for a longer event. That being said most high intensity cycling events like XC mountain biking and cyclocross start with an all out 30 second to 1 minute effort and a good warm up is important for that so in that sense the research is applicable.
@@DylanJohnsonCycling I'm a roadie, and not racing. I will say I often feel better after 20-30 min on the bike than I do when I first get on. Like I can feel a little fatigued or sore when I first get on the bike, but after 20-30 min I've got the heart pumping, got a sweat going and feel like I can just focus on pedaling; like I'm in a zone. There is a lot of mental in sport. I'm convinced that a lot of pre-game routine in hockey is really about ritual; getting your head in the correct mindset. There has to be benefit to warm-up, or it wouldn't be ubiquitous, across disciplines.
Do you have any comment on the use of a wireless blood oximeter; for warmup, training
, or correlation to power meters?
Me personally, ive found with my local 1hr 30min handicap race if i ride out to race zone 2 with a couple of quick sprints 3mins b4 i have to line up has worked best for me. But with 45min crit races 10km warm up with twice the sprint efforts as road race 3 mins b4 start works perfect.
2 yrs of trial to figure that out.
Sprinting is for 5 to 10 seconds
Any studies on the use an SMT (sports massage therapist) prior to racing?
I do wonder, whether the studies you cited differentiated between a light limbering period prior to the warm-up (with the goal of a brief challenge to the range of motion of the joints involved) and a longer, static hold stretching routine. Particularly with older athletes, I cannot imagine that the former would be anything but beneficial.
HRV video! HRV video! HRV video!
So Dylan, if I am in warmup mode and I feel like my legs are ready to move forward should I abort and start the workout or slug through. Example from today was I planned a 20 min warm up at low intensity, but after 12 minutes my legs were like enough of this? This was a zone 2 1 hour ride day.
Niceeeeee👍🏻
I appreciate the thoughtful content. As a “masters” rider now, I feel like my warm up has to include something to get my heart going. Especially depending on how my day has gone pre event. If I don’t get my heart beating at something close to 80% of what I expect to experience during the event for at least a 60-90 seconds I have a lot of trouble maintaining pace during the event. Is that just mind over matter or is it a thing for older riders or riders in general with low resting heart rates?
Exactly! My 53 year body responds the same way.
It's not a mind over matter thing - Now @52yrs old, my (benign PVC's) will fire up right away if I don't do a pre-ride warm up...this wasn't the case 2yrs ago. Anecdotal as this may be, the general consensus amongst 50+ seems to evolve around such topics. I also have a low HR upon waking between 39-42bpm - w/a max of 171bpm - without a proper warmup and sufficient recovery and rest basic intermediate club rides are taxing - conversely, if I'm rested and have warmed up, I can fair well within the faster club rides -- Here again, this wasn't even on my mind a couple of years ago... Physically sucks getting older, but the joy and freedom I get with riding be it a "good or bad" ride is something age gives back 10fold it seems... Always feel free like a kid when I'm riding ;)
i have found as i have got older my warm up needs to be longer, starting steady then with some increase in intensity to really get the breathing and muscles ready.
Glycolysis slows down first, so you can’t really go as much above threshold as you could, and you don’t recover as fast if you do. So warm up to get capillaries primed and oxidative pathways ready are more important now:)
Dylan, can you touch on openers the day before a race? (If you haven't already)
What about warm ups for training ? I.e interval sessions or longer z2 rides? Same principles still apply?
Hey dylan i suggest if stationary trainer can damage carbon frame
I'd be interested to know if you found any evidence of an effect of pre-ride stretching on cramps. As someone who's prone to cramping, I've found stretching before and even during a long ride can help, but obviously that's anecdotal.
warm up - 20 minutes
zone 2 endurance - 1 or 2 open efforts 30s to 2 min not at max pace
*shorter event - warm up essential. *endurance and ultra events less so to negatively impacting performance; unless expecting a hard start.
How would you warm up here in japan if the outside temp is 41'Celsius 🤣
Any tips for this kind of summer? I'm a winter guy, because winter here is sunny!
Dylan. As a former college athlete we were taught to stretch before games or practice to prevent injury or muscle tears such as hamstring pulls. Your data shows static stretching can be detrimental to performance, but what about potential muscle damage? Thanks!
Check out my stretching video. The answer might surprise you.
Dylan Johnson Just watched it. (From Sept 19). Wow! Very interesting. Now that I am older, I would say the best benefit of stretching for me is flexibility and increased range of motion. Thanks! Your use of data and science is unique and very helpful. Keep up the good work!
I was actually wondering the same thing. As an older athlete I wonder if warming muscles and stretching prevents injuries. I will watch your stretching video. Great job as usual.
I got the point of not stretching before or after a race. But how about stretching and mobility exercises as a training. My hamstrings are short, to the point that I get back pain. Is there a good moment to stretch? Or never at all?
When I start an effort cold, after a couple of minutes my muscles become painful to the point of locking up and I have to stop. Legs will throb with pain for minutes usually. But after some warm-up and, hard efforts, or after 30+ riding things loosen up quite a bit and I can ride all day.
I've always thought this was due to "buffering" lactic acid. Is this not a thing, and is there another reason why it literally takes me 30 or more minutes of varying intensity to get to a point where I can put out my best efforts? I wonder if muscle temperature is the full story.
On stretching, does the effects of pre-workout stretching last much longer than a day? Will regular post-workout stretching mess with your power output? Should we all struggle to touch even our knees when doing a front fold?
Im 52, I usually stretch out my hip flexors, quads and hammies, if I feel tight before a ride. I think it dependent on the individual, if I feel muscles are tight, its hard to get the legs moving, so I stretch.. then have a beer. ....
Some Seth James Demoor footage in there I see :)
I dont have money for a power-meter, should i go on fealing or Heart-rate?.
I don't race. But I am a courier. If I don't warmup before heading out it's two or three delivery's before my legs work right. I'm less athletic as well as far as movement and control.
Is there any detriment to stretching after training, to loosen and get the "kinks" out?