Boost your bike control, comfort and stamina with these simple fitness and flexibility tips from ex-Gladiator and fitness coach Jane Omorogbe
PART 8 – FLEXIBILTY
Next time you throw a leg over your bike your hips will tell you loud and clear whether you’ve been stretching your body… or your luck.
Having a really great ride or workout can feel like you’ve just taken a massive glug from the fountain of youth. These are the things that make us feel alive, that activate our sympathetic nervous system (the fight, flight, freeze response) and give us stress, a buzz, or both. Being permanently on high alert won’t do you any good long term though. The parasympathetic nervous system is the ‘rest and digest’ flip side. It helps you discharge all the energy that your primitive brain dumped on you when it thought you were outrunning a hungry lion. When in reality, you were just out-braking your mate in turn three.
Stretching isn’t just about improving flexibility so that you can ride (and crash) with more agility. It’s also about training your brain to switch from fighting (sometimes disguised as sheer panic) to resting (exuding a zenlike calmness). Whether that’s in the middle of a heated discussion, or a particularly hairy bend.
Here’s my take on a few basic stretches that could help you increase your flexibility and slow you down so that you can actually be faster.
Sit on the floor with your spine tall, your core engaged, knees bent and both feet on the floor. Place your hands on the floor behind you and lean back. Now shift your bodyweight to the left, your left buttock will touch down as will your left outer thigh and the inner side of your right knee (depending on how flexible you are). Check your position and try to maintain a 90 degree bend in both knees.
Breathe in deeply for five breaths, filling your lungs and extending your stomach on the in-breath. Feel your stomach fall back towards your spine on the outbreath. Lean to the right to swap sides and repeat for 10 times for three sets.
The safest way to stretch your hamstrings, (the back of your upper thigh) as a beginner is to lay flat on your back with both legs straight. Bend your right leg and clasp it behind the knee with both hands. Keep your hips straight as you lengthen and straighten your right leg towards the ceiling as far as is comfortable. You should feel a stretch, not pain in the upper back part of your leg.
If you can’t reach your leg with both shoulders flat on the floor, grab a towel or a belt and place it behind your raised leg, either
