If you enjoy cycling and want to preserve and improve your mobility, this piece is for you!
These exercises work well for all types, whether you are a commuter biker, mountain biker, a long distance cyclist, spin bike user, or if you participate in anything like cyclocross. As many of you know, outside of practicing physical therapy in NYC, I myself am an avid full weather, year-round cyclist!
I like to do these mobility drills to open up my hips, low back and chest after a ride, in order to prevent increased myotension and reduce likelihood of injury.
Cycling Mobility Drills to Open Up Hips
90/90 box mobility for hips/pelvis
This works on mobility into rotation of the pelvis, and is useful to maintain end range mobility, make sure to sit as upright as possible to isolate the movement into the hip joints, don’t slump!
Hip Flexors/Hamstring yoga mobility flow
This works to lengthen the hip flexors and hamstrings after a ride, make sure to engage your glutes while stretching your hip flexors to further isolate the stretch!
Cat/Cow
This works on maintaining spinal mobility overall, be sure to sync with your breath.
Gastrocnemius Stretch on Step
This stretch helps reduce tension in the calf, especially if you clip in when riding.
Doorway Stretch for Pecs
This stretch helps reduce tension along the front of the chest, so that you don’t collapse through your midback and cause extra strain on your neck.
Important Guidelines for Mobility Drills
Some things to keep in mind when doing these mobility drills:
- Breathe! Make sure to breath into your abdominals with each drill and hold ~30-45 seconds
- When you lead into these mobility drills, make sure that you don’t “push into pain” the drills shouldn’t feel painful
- Move slowly! Don’t rush through these, you just spent a good amount of time cycling, and should take the time to mobilize after and be mindful of how you move!
If you have any questions, or want to discuss about anything cycling, feel free to contact us at CSC+M today to see with a physical therapist in NYC.
