Photo from thetrippingyogi

Originally Posted On: 16 Biking Yoga Stretches (thetrippingyogi.com)

Biking improves your life. Yoga stretches improve your biking. It’s that simple.

RVers love biking. Oh…the places we can explore. Almost every RV and camper you see has bikes strapped to it somewhere.

Whether for fun, fitness, or transportation, biking is a low impact exercise and helps you burn calories.

There is an amazing variety of bikes to choose from, something for everyone. Just like yoga. As a society, we are riding bikes more than ever and for longer distances. The growing popularity of E-bikes allow us to get back to biking and ride even further. Yahoo!

RVers heading out on a ride

You already know I’m passionate about yoga.

I’m also passionate about biking.

Yoga and biking are a perfect fit for your overall health.

Biking and Yoga Workshop

In my Riding to OM workshops I teach bikers how to use their bike’s handlebars, frame, seat, pedals, and rear tire as yoga props to stretch out, relieve muscle fatigue and re-balance your posture.

The same yoga poses you do in a mat or chair class to stretch out can be done with your bike. While no yoga experience is needed to stretch with your bike, its helpful to have guidance on how and where to focus your stretches for maximum benefit.

When you start to wiggle in your seat to adjust your posture, your body is telling you, “I’m fatiguing and it’s time to stop and give me a stretch break.”

No matter what type of bike you have or the level of rider you are, there are three points of contact with your bike and three sitting positions:

1. Your hands

2. Your feet

3. Your bum

The three most common bike sitting positions are not great for your posture and cause tightness from your neck to your feet and everything else in between.

1. Upright

2. Leaning forward

3. Fully extended forward

Some folks sit somewhere between positions 1 and 2 or positions 2 and 3. Reviewing the points of contact and sitting positions highlight why your body fatigues.

3 most common sitting postures

Learning to stretch feels so good!

• Neck, shoulders, wrists, and hands

• Upper and lower back

• Glutes (bum) and knees

• Hamstrings and quads

• Hip flexors and psoas (so-as)

• Calves and Achilles

• Ankles and feet

Photo 1: Quad stretch

Photo 2: Shoulder to back stretch

Photo 3: Achilles stretch

Muscles do not naturally keep their elasticity, suppleness, and range of motion as we age. Unfortunately, it is the opposite. We have to stretch to keep them young and supple.

The three sitting postures put your body in a misaligned or imbalanced state. You overextend your neck, arms, shoulders, and entire back. At the same time, you shorten your hips, glutes, hamstrings, and front body. Muscles tightening and joint tension result in the fatigue you feel during your ride.

Reaching too far forward or hunching over the handlebars causes strain in your neck and shoulders. Numbness in your hands and fingers comes from leaning or gripping the handlebars too hard.

Stretching glute, hip and hamstrings

Leaning forward for long periods strains your entire back. Biking postures limit your glute and hamstring muscles from engaging and fully extending.

While your spine curvature overextends, your front body shortens and contracts.

Over time sciatic pain may develop from sitting on a hard saddle, the pedaling motion, hunching over, and not stretching.

Stretching during and after your ride helps relieve muscle tightness, joint tension, improves flexibility and relaxes all the areas of your body that were stressed during your ride.

Put a cherry on the top of your ride and treat your body kindly by stretching during and after your ride. While a few minutes of stretching is a terrific start, you should cover the 16 areas your body which fatigue to help you recover faster.

Beyond stretching, consider a proper bike fitting to make sure your biking posture is appropriate. Please seek medical advice if a chronic pain exists when you’re biking.

While I can’t cover all the workshop information in a blog, download 16 stretches here with brief descriptions to help you stretch your neck to your feet. PDF download is 2 pages.

I’d like to be upfront that I’ll be asking for your email address to receive the download. Email helps me share valuable information and grow the yoga RV community. I don’t send out many emails, nor will I share your information, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

If downloading to your phone, it will automatically size to fit your screen. So it’s a super handy to reference to have while you’re out bike riding.

To re-energize hold each stretch for 3-5 breaths and repeat on each side. Contact me with any questions.