You should be stretching more. It’s something we all promise to get into the habit of doing, and yet (let’s be honest) we never do.
Stretching after your workout helps your muscles relax, which in turn reduces the lactic acid accumulating inside your body; trust us, there’s plenty of it in your body after a cycle or boxing workout! To ensure that you’re ready for your next class, and also to avoid injury, these are some stretches that you can be doing after your workout.
Inspire provides stretching mats and rollers for everyone to use. These amenities are located to the left of the cycle room entrance!
1. Quad stretch
A pretty basic stretch to start us off, but such an important one that helps you free up all that built-up tension accumulated in class. This stretch is a low impact one that reduces your chance of injury and post-class soreness. Whether we’ve tackled those deep squats in boxing or challenging hill climbs in spin, stretching out our quads works wonders to make sure we’re feeling fresh for the next class.
2. Glute Stretch
Stretching out our glutes is key after a 45-minute cycle class in a seated position, or a Box and Booty class with Alex! When we’re using our legs in class, our quads and hamstrings are working rigorously, which can lead to tight glutes and consequently a sore back.
Tight asses can be a real backbreaker! One way to avoid all of this is to ensure our glutes are nice and loose. You can even take this stretch to the office if you don’t have time at home, it’s that simple!
Pro tip: if you have a tennis ball (or something similar) lying around the house, sit on the ground and pop it under the glute that is sore and have a roll around until you find a tight spot. Do this for a couple of minutes to help release some tension up in there. You can do this while you’re watching TV or waiting for your dinner to cook!
3. Ab Stretch
Stretch out those core muscles baby, they are some of the hardest working muscles in our body!
We use our core so much in Inspire classes. Holding ourselves up on a bike requires quite a bit more work than you would expect, and of course, we are no stranger to burpees or crunches in the Rumble Room either. The snake stretch pictured below is great as it elongates your body in the opposite direction than what we are usually positioned in, meaning that we can help relax and stabilise those muscles.
4. Downward Dog
The downward dog stretch promotes length across our entire body and is excellent for boosting blood flow after a class. We love how deeply it gets into our calves and ankles (there's nothing like a good calf stretch)! Even better, this stretch is excellent for preventing 'slumpy posture syndrome,' which, let's face it, is all too easy to slip back into after a strenuous class.
5. Pectoral Stretch
This one is especially useful for our boxers after throwing some big punches at the bag, but don’t discount it if you’ve been dipping and pressing in cycle class!
It’s a great one because we are constantly putting so much tension on our pecs in class (Alex’s burpees we’re looking especially at you!) and this stretch aids in the release of all of that tension.
6. Use a Foam Roller
Last, but not least, the foam roller! This is perhaps our favourite technique to stretch and relax our muscles after class. Using a foam roller helps us heal faster by targeting and relieving tense muscles.
There’s no better feeling than lying on a roller and indulging in a little self massage before your next class - we promise your body will thank you later!
If you have any questions about stretching and recovery, make sure to have a chat with one of our instructors after class! Taking 5-10 minutes a day to show a little love to your body will have it showing plenty of love back!
Love + Light
The Inspire Team x