Health  Is bicycling good for flexibility?

Is cycling good for flexibilty? I would just use the Google, but when I do that search, all I get is "flexibilty exercises for cyclists" etc. and no mention of whether bicycling itself develops flexibilty.

Seems to me that it should given that you aft constantly rotating the hip, knee and ankle joints, which intuitively seems like it should loosen them up, rather like working a hinge back and forth over and over.

Any insights appreciated. Thanks.

Marty,

Cycling IS VERY VERY VERY GOOD. IT helps with runner's knee and it helps your legs, a lot.

Zac

Kind of late but...

I do a LOT of cycling and while it's good for joint flexibility and building your legs (mostly type-I fibers), your muscle flexibility doesn't really get affected that much. Sometimes if you forget to stretch before going on a ride, you'll find your legs stiff as boards the next day. I started doing yoga once a week and noticed a big improvement in flexibility.

Pairing it with type-II leg workouts (squats, wall sits, leg press, hamstring curls, extensions, etc.) will help, too. More power for when you're pedalling.

Inbocca said:

Sometimes if you forget to stretch before going on a ride, you'll find your legs stiff as boards the next day. I started doing yoga once a week and noticed a big improvement in flexibility.

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Yup, was going to say that. Generally speaking, any motion where you have to be seated for extended periods of time isn't good for your posture because you're shortening your hip flexors (and probably hunching over), resulting in anterior pelvic tilt and low back pain.

If you wanna improve flexibility and passive muscle activation, better go for yoga/pilates.

Marty said:

Is cycling good for flexibilty? I would just use the Google, but when I do that search, all I get is "flexibilty exercises for cyclists" etc. and no mention of whether bicycling itself develops flexibilty.

Seems to me that it should given that you aft constantly rotating the hip, knee and ankle joints, which intuitively seems like it should loosen them up, rather like working a hinge back and forth over and over.

Any insights appreciated. Thanks.

Click to expand...

I agree with the previous responses, bicycling is good in this case! Especially long and regular But I think that special fitness complexes in such cases are better because they work more for the whole body, as also practising with some special sport stuff, like these ones http://stylemann.com/best-proform-elliptical-reviews/ for example
But in my opinion the best thing for flexibility is yoga, the results after it is amazing! I can say this from my own experience )