Stretches for indoor bike soreness?

MegaMooseEsq

With all the ice on the sidewalks where I had been running, I’ve been using my stationary bike a lot more often recently. The problem I’m running into is that my legs, in particular my thighs, get sore really quickly when I’m pedaling, making it hard to actually get a decent workout in even at the lowest resistance setting. I’d hoped that it’d get better once I started using the bike regularly, but it hasn’t after a couple of weeks riding three times a week with a day or two between rides. Could anyone recommend some stretches or exercises that might help, or do I just need to suck it up and keep riding? If it helps, I had been just riding for 20-25 minutes and this week switched to sprint intervals for 15-20 minutes. The pain doesn’t seem to care how fast I’m pedaling, but it certainly makes it hard to keep going either long or hard.

sijomial

I would start with checking your bike fit.
Correct seat height and saddle fore/aft position primarily.

Warm up & cool down may help.

MegaMooseEsq

sijomial wrote: »

I would start with checking your bike fit.
Correct seat height and saddle fore/aft position primarily.

Warm up & cool down may help.

Good point on the fit - I’ll check that tomorrow for sure. For warm up/cool down I’ve just been riding easier than my main workout - would you suggest something different? I suppose I could jog in place or do jumping jacks or something like that. I’m a bit limited in terms of space.

rileysowner

sijomial wrote: »

I would start with checking your bike fit.
Correct seat height and saddle fore/aft position primarily.

Warm up & cool down may help.

I second this. Make sure things are set up correctly.

sijomial

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

I would start with checking your bike fit.
Correct seat height and saddle fore/aft position primarily.

Warm up & cool down may help.

Good point on the fit - I’ll check that tomorrow for sure. For warm up/cool down I’ve just been riding easier than my main workout - would you suggest something different? I suppose I could jog in place or do jumping jacks or something like that. I’m a bit limited in terms of space.

I just warm up on the bike while I'm setting up and connecting all the various bits of IT that are compulsory for exercise these days.
For a longer steady state ride then I just do a fairly gentle and short warm up, for an intense workout it would be longer a longer warmup at various and increasing pace so I'm ready for maximal effort.
For cooldown it's just gentle spinning with hardly any resistance until my HR is down to a reasonable level.

Machka9

Another vote for ... set the bicycle up properly.

canadianlbs

^^^ on setup, but in the meantime if by 'thighs' you mean the front of your thighs, then you're referring to the quadriceps muscles. also known as hip flexors, sometimes. if it's the backs of your legs then that's your hamstrings . . . although i personally don't think i've ever come across any reference ever to anyone having hamstrings that were 'too strong' too tight, though - for sure.

so google around a little for stretches and ways to relieve the immediate discomfort you feel. note: you don't have to slavishly follow every idea you come across, but at least assemble a collection and do your own experimenting to find out which stretches help.

sijomial

Here's a video guide to setting up an indoor bike which you may find useful...

https://support.wattbike.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000644445-How-should-I-set-up-my-Wattbike-



I use my headphones as an impromptu plumb line.