Stretch exercises are a popular way to begin and end a spin bike workout, especially if you’re taking a spin class. IT’s extremely important to stretch before a spin bike workout in order to warm-up your body. Doing proper stretches will help you to prevent injuries and improve flexibility over an extended time.
Stretching exercises before doing a spin bike workout can also help your body recover faster after the spin bike workout. This allows you to spend more time on the spin bike, instead of resting. Here’s some of the areas you should focus on stretching before a spin bike workout.
Shoulders
You might be surprised to see shoulders as the first thing you should stretch before a spin bike workout. Since your spin bike workout will primarily focus on working your legs, thighs and hips, you might not think that your shoulder do much work. However, the position you’re in on the spin bike puts a lot of strain on your shoulders. The motion of lifting your hips from the seat puts extra stress on your shoulders. It’s really important to make sure that your shoulders are properly stretched. Tight shoulders are a surprisingly common problem for people who regularly do a spin bike workout.
Shoulder Rolls
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart from each other.
- Roll your shoulders backwards while counting to five.
- Roll your shoulders forwards, again counting to five.
- Repeat five to ten times.
2. Neck
Your neck muscles suffer from a lot of stress not only during the spin bike workout but also from your daily routines and even bad sleep positions. Ever experienced stiff neck during your ride? You sure remember how annoying that was. To prevent that, here is a simple neck stretch exercise.
Neck Stretches
You can do this stretch either in a standing or sitting position (standing preferred)
- Drop your head first to your right shoulder, count to five
- Drop your head to your chest, and count to five
- Repeat to your left shoulder and count another five
- Finally, drop your head back and count five
- Repeat step 2-5 five times
3.Wrists
If you have joined a spin class before, you might remember how the trainer will remind you not to put any weight on the handlebars, straining your wrist. Yet, even without that, the strains put on your wrists throughout the spin bike workout are great. Thus, you should prepare your wrist for the stress, and here is how you do it.
Wrists Stretches
- Hold one arm straight in front of you, open the palm like how you make a stop signal, pull your hand back toward you as far as you can, count to five
- Point your hand down, pull toward you as far as you can and count to five
- Repeat for the other hand
- Repeat three to five times for both hands
4. Lower Back
Ah, we have come to the lower body parts. Obviously, lower back muscles are some that work the hardest during spin bike workout. This exercise will help you prepare them for the ride.
Lower Back Stretch
- Sit on the bike, not pedaling, this is your starting position
- Place one hand on the center of the handlebars, and put the other behind you. As far as you can until you can feel the twist
- Maintaining that position, roll your shoulders backward. Inhale deeply and count to ten.
- Press your chest forward and exhale, slowly relax the twist
- Switch sides and repeat for three times for each side
5.Glutes
Glutes are the main extensor muscles of your hip. Means, they also work the hardest during a spin bike workout. You might experience hip pain after intense spin bike workout routines, and most of the time, it’s because of too much stress on the glutes. Thus, stretching your glutes is very important not only before the spin bike workout. Here is a simple glute stretching workout you can do.
Glute Awakener
Image Credit: Men’s Health
- Keep one hand on the wall in a standing position, feet shoulder width apart from each other
- Bring one foot up to the front of the other knee
- Maintaining that position, sit down, imagine there’s a chair beside you, and count to ten
- Slowly release and switch side, repeat three times for each side
End Words
Preparing your body for the intense spin bike workout not only will prevent injury and allowing you to recover faster but can also improve the effectiveness of the spin bike workout. By doing proper stretches to prepare your muscles, your body will move better, and more flexible during the spin bike workout, which in turn will burn more calories.
There are also many other stretch exercises you can try. What you should remember is the important muscle groups you should target, which we have discussed above, and adjust accordingly.