Written by Kevin Kolodziejski
Please don’t play psychologist and diagnose me with Kick the Dog Syndrome. I don’t even have a dog. To be honest, I have a habit of splitting hairs when writing this column. do not have It’s a case of aggression being replaced simply because there are so few of them left over my head. Or maybe now so much aggression is growing in my ears and nose.
Let me be very frank and explain to you exactly why I don’t want you to feel that way about me (or feel like I’m going to kick you in the canines). It echoes the declaration I made when I started this column three years and three months ago that we would ultimately ride to feel deeply and completely for both of us: “A three-hour ride can give you three weeks’ worth.” This means that the declaration “I feel the emotions” was wrong.That’s when you and I ride a bike do not have similar.
In other words, you are not a “cycling scholar.” I use this term to describe the mindset that naturally develops when you truly embrace the cycling lifestyle. As a result of our rumination during the ride (and the inevitable continuation of rumination afterwards), we become more aware of the interconnectedness of the world. It’s like linking the great feeling you feel after dinner to what you did after breakfast. At the end of a really fast group ride, I turned myself inside out and somehow stayed in the lead through a series of sprinters’ hills.
However, recognizing the interconnectedness of everything in the world can lead to tremendous and confusing mental confusion.
Unless you do what psychologists with this card often do: split their hairs out. And when it comes to stretching, have I ever split them up? That’s because the published research on it is also a ridiculously confusing mess.
The need to divide hair when growing it
A comprehensive review first published in December 2015 in Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism found 119 studies in which stretching actually significantly reduced athletic performance, 145 studies in which the effect was considered uncertain. six studies found significant improvements in athletic performance as a result of stretching. . In this situation, I’d be either a complete incompetent or the most despicable used car salesman, trying to encourage people to stretch right before a ride.
Especially since I’m not.
rear However, long weekend drives are a completely different matter. However, the stretches I do may not seem like stretches at all. This isn’t the static stretch-and-hold variety traditionally seen in gym classes. It’s a dynamic stretch, more akin to yoga, tai chi, or Pilates than the tight white gym uniforms and one-sex gym classes of yesteryear.
To do this, I use a rumble roller, a foam roller that has knobs and is harder than normal. He does two 20-25 minute sessions every weekend and it works wonders for me. . . However, the psychologist in me admits that much of that advantage may be due to my age being eight years closer to 102 rather than 32. (What about nasty trivia?) So I’m not going to play a shady used car salesman who only works on commission. And foam rolling sells you.
“Mother’s little helper”
I mentioned my age when the now wrinkled Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones said, “How hard it is to get old” in “Mother’s Little Helper” some 60 years ago. This is because he showed impressive foresight when he declared this. But I don’t have the pedaling power I had even five years ago, let alone ten years ago, and I don’t rely on it for the kind of help this song suggests. Instead, once a week, I squat as hard as I can using dumbbells or a weighted vest in a more conservative position.
But now I couldn’t imagine doing a leg workout, or for that matter an upper body lift, without stretching beforehand. But it’s not just my age. Stretching before lifting became the final part of my mental preparation. Time to review the session and your goals for the rest of it. When that day, the doubts that will hurt you, turn into a feeling of, “You can do it.”
Make no mistake: Stretching increases lifespan
You may not have such doubts and therefore feel no need for such mental preparation, but I doubt that you want to extend your lifespan. There’s no room. That’s why you’re about to read about a study published online by BMC Public Health in June 2023.
In the study, researchers looked at exercise information collected through the Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey from 2007 to 2013 and provided by more than 34,000 Korean adults (57% women, 43% men, average age 48 years). was analyzed. Participants used a questionnaire to catalog all physical activity (work and recreational) they had undertaken over the past week. Based on this, the researchers created three groups, essentially dividing them into hardcore exercisers and moderate exercisers, and moderate exercisers and those who exercised little or no exercise. I did. Groups were created based not only on overall amount of exercise, but also on specific exercise types.
It may not come as a shock to learn that people who do hardcore aerobic exercise or moderate aerobic exercise have a lower risk of all types of death over an average follow-up period of 9.2 years, but the true A shocking fact has emerged. Stretching was “statistically significantly associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality.” In fact, compared to people who didn’t stretch in any way, shape, or form, people who stretched at least one day a week had a 20 percent lower risk of death during the follow-up period.
But there was an even bigger shock.
The 20% lower risk of death from stretching just one day a week was actually slightly higher than the benefit experienced by people who did hardcore aerobic exercise or strength training. . However, this double shock is not unprecedented. It’s just that a study published in December 2020 by Medical and Science in Sports Exercise that found similar findings was initially considered an outlier.
Past studies have also shown a link between stretching and longevity.
In that study, about 27,000 American adults reported the frequency, intensity, and type of exercise, and researchers understood that. Well, at least most of it is.
It made sense that after taking into account all the external factors that could influence the study results (total physical activity, demographic factors, socio-economic status, etc.), the researchers found that all exercise It was determined that this would lead to a lower risk of early death. What wasn’t was that stretching was one of two activities (the other being volleyball) “specifically associated with a reduced risk of death.”
You may not understand why this is the case. Still, it’s important to stretch at the right time: as part of your cycling, overall exercise, and health regimen.
Kevin Kolodziejski I started writing seriously in 1989. Since then, he has written a weekly health and fitness column and his articles have appeared in magazines such as MuscleMag, Ironman, VEGETIAN TIMES and Bicycle Guide. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from DeSales University and Kutztown University.
A competitive cyclist for over 30 years, Kevin won two Pennsylvania State Time Trial Championships in his 30s, won the aptly named Payne Mountain Time Trial 4 out of 5 times in his 40s, and two more in his 50s. He won the state TT and won the Pennsylvania 40+ BAR Championship at the age of 43 during the season.
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