We always recommend that our athletes stretch after training or as separate sessions., given that, together with the force, Endurance and speed is one of the most important physical fitness components for sports performance (Allen, 2002; Weineck, 2004).

There are sports in which the importance of flexibility or range of motion (ROM) is much greater than in cycling, such as artistic gymnastics.. Even so, as cyclists, the ADM allows us to pedal more easily since we sometimes adopt aggressive positions in which we perform large trunk flexions and for this reason in order to perform we need a good ADM of all the posterior muscles since otherwise we may notice overloads or "pulls" due to an active insufficiency due to stretching.

With other words, Our lumbar quadrant or our hamstrings cannot perform the required force since, being highly elongated, they consist of fewer usable cross bridges (contractile units of a muscle).. So we can see flexibility work as a facilitator of sports practice..

On the other hand, as is known, With age, all the components of the physical condition mentioned above deteriorate from the 30 o 40 years (Zatziorskij, 1972) so, By stretching frequently we can stop or alleviate this deterioration of the ROM and have a much more functional aging process..

Another reason why it is advisable to do both active and passive stretching is because it has been observed that athletes with ROM limitations are injured more (Storm et al.. 2018).

There are several types of stretches. They can be made static or dynamic and within these two groups they can be active or passive.. Furthermore, they can be done in a resisted or assisted way.. The classic hamstring stretch in which, while standing, we flex the hips and let ourselves fall until we touch the ground would be a passive static stretch.. But if we tighten the hip flexors to reach lower, it would become active., If we do it going up and down without stopping it would be dynamic and if we did it at maximum speed ballistic. Furthermore, if someone helped us go lower in any of the previous versions, it would be assisted and if, on the other hand, it went against the stretching, it would be resisted..

Even so, you have to know how and when you should stretch., since, for example, doing passive stretching for long periods of time (1′) can reduce the ability to generate force, Therefore we are not interested in doing it before a workout with high strength demands.. Although we could perform dynamic or ballistic ADM exercises (high speed) since it has been seen that these do not reduce the rigidity of the tendons, which seems to be the mechanism by which the ability to generate force decreases.. For this reason we recommend stretching at the end of the training since there is no negative interference in relation to it and we can develop an improvement in ROM.

One of the few interferences that exist with flexibility work done afterwards is with hypertrophy (increase in muscle mass), which is not usually a work that we often prescribe.. In relation to the type of stretching performed, active stretching is a good option since apart from improving flexibility there is also an improvement in muscle strength., especially in the ranges of motion worked. Although if we do not want to load our muscles much more, a good option would be passive or dynamic stretches that involve practically no physical wear and tear and do contribute to the improvement of ROM..