Subject: RE: extreme hamstring tightness - to stretch or not stretch? Originally posted by DrTriKat I am constantly tinkering with my setup, because if my elbow pads are as low as I can get without killing my neck, I have to lower my saddle, and if my saddle is high enough so I don't hurt my knees, I have to raise my elbow pads because I cannot reach bottom of the pedal stroke without hamstring pain. In the morning, my fingertips can just barely touch my kneecaps upon bending forward…yeah, its bad. I have been doing quite a bit of research and its unclear whether one should stretch or not, and very little to no info on people who are as tight as me. So what do you think? Stretch or no stretch? If stretch - how, how much, how often? If no stretch - what instead? This is way late on your thread (and otherwise, which I'll also e-mail you--THANK YOU for the helmet, my boyfriend-now-husband forgot to tell me it had arrived a long time ago!) ... It's imperative that you get a bike fitting with a solid, well-recommended fitter who's also very strong in anatomy and kinesiology (the good ones are). If you already have, go back and explain the problems you're having--again, a good fitter will make follow-on adjustments. So in my opinion this isn't a stretching issue; it's an issue of getting you optimally set up on your bike for whatever your conditions (physical, goals, training type/volume, etc.) are. Also, ignore the naysayers on Slowtwitch. There are actually a lot of really good, knowledgeable respondents there; you just have to have a bigger filter. |