All righty then, I seem to be in a theme rut lately. But, since my other thread generated some good insight in what I thought was a post that would plummet to the bottom of the board, I drop this one on you as well.
My ex-girlfriend, friends, and family, have all given me a bad time because I like to either take a soak or shower before I work out or bike. They think I’m nuts. I tell them I do it for two reasons.
First, I do it so I can get my hair to act normal and not look outta control. Wearing a hat for this purpose can get stinky and disgusting.
Second, and more importantly, I do it to stretch out and relax the muscles in my body. I claim that since I don’t, and never did, stretch out before a work out or bike, that this is the second best thing, Hell, I actually think it’s better than stretching. The people I see stretch usually resort to trying to shove a machine or wall over while they peer at their legs. What the Hell is that accomplishing?
I propose that showering or bathing in warm to hot water before a work out or long bike is not only normal, it’s good for you. Opinions?
I also do this, even though it is pretty futile, considering I get sweaty/dirty while working out. For some reason I just don’t feel comfortable working out without showering. I also took a shower before doing landscaping for ten hours a day, so maybe I’m just odd.
Those people you see that look like they’re trying to push an immovable object over are stretching their calve muscles, of which there are two: the gastrocnemius and soleus. I stretch and I do a lot more than that. i stretch all my leg muscles since I run a lot. But I stretch them only after I’ve warmed them up with a short job or after the run itself. While you’re soaking in the hot bath, you should also stretch. I do a lot of stretching in the sauna so my muscles stay warm.
There’s no physical benefit from soaking in a hot bath before a work-out unless you stretch the muscles either while so doing or shortly afterwards. A hot bath does not substitute for stretching. I’ve been running for over 25 years, completed 30 marathons, a 50-miler, and several triathlons and have never been injured. This I attribute to stretching. Of course, if taking a hot bath makes you feel good, that’s something else. If you enjoy it, do it.
Well, I can’t side with you on the gnarly hair thing. I get up every morning and go straight to the gym and for the most part, try not to give a rat’s ass about my hair. But I do wear a hat on the train on the way to the gym.
I’ve heard from a bunch of people that a hot shower helps them loosen up before a workout. Yep, as previously posted, you still have to stretch, but this should give you a good headstart.
I’ve also done a bunch of marathons and triathalons and the best advice I can give is if it works for you, stick with it! What works will be different for everyone.
I also shower beofre hitting the gym… but only because the sight of me first thing in the AM without a shower would cause massive city-wide bouts of nausea, and my morning fragrance would wilt flowers at 50 paces! When my finacee comes over on the weekends before I have gotten out of bed, she sometimes shoves me in the shower before I am awake…
Not too sure that showering or a hot bath would help stretch out the muscles, though… I usually stretch after a half-hour on the exercise bike, when I am warmed up.
I have to concur with the others on the idea that it shouldn’t substitute for stretching. I can, however see how it would relax you, and a warm shower to open and cleanse the pores probably promotes a good healthy sweat.
this reminds me of an episode of “growing pains” (remember that show?) when mike (kirk cameron) was going to work out with his dad one morning. dad said ‘mike are you ready?’ and he says ‘yeah, i didn’t shower and everything!’
i got a kick out of that line because waking up in the morning and getting yourself presentable enough to go out without taking a shower can be more of a chore than just showering. you still have to wash your face and brush your teeth and comb your hair and put on deoderant (don’t say you don’t need deoderant - i’ve smelled those guys), etc. even so, i still don’t shower before working out or morning bike rides just because i know that i’ll be back to pre-shower grundge within the first ten minutes of activity.
I always knew that the people pushing the walls were stretching their calves and hammstrings. But what always got me was how they went about it. They tend to walk up to the wall, push on it for a couple of seconds, and walk away to their machine and do some ungodly amount of weight. This isn’t accomplishing jack, but they whole-heartedly believe their ‘stretching their muscles to avoid injury’. Right.
I think my approach, soaking for 10-15 minutes, prepares the muscles better than stretching. And if you do stretch, it takes something like 10-15 minutes to do it right anyways. So, my way is better on the muscles then no stretching alone.
While not thinking about it before, the idea that your pores are open makes alot of sense to me. If I don’t shower before a work out or bike, I feel ‘slimy’ the whole time. But when I shower or soak, I feel better somehow.
One reason while you would feel “slimy” is because you’re dirty. When you start to sweat, dirt mixes up with sweat and makes a kind of disgusting mixture, which could give some iching too…
I always shower before working out in the morning and for that matter, shower every day before doing anything.
For no other reason, I don’t feel fully awake until after I’ve showered.
I just completed a 10 mile race in Annapolis which started at 7:50 a.m. I could not believe that several people, before the race even began, absolutely reeked of the foulest BO imaginable – and this is the FIRST THING IN THE MORNING!!
My only guess is that they don’t bother washing their work out clothes (truly disgusting IMHO) or more of us should be showering before working out.
As I mentioned in my last post, stretching should be done after exercise, not before, or at least after a proper warm-up. Two posts referred to studies showing that stretching before exercise was mainly futile. Actually, stretching prior to exercise may be injurious, since the muscles and tendons not being warmed up are more easily subject to injuries.
For years, stretching before was de rigueur. It appears from the sources cited in this thread that many are still under that delusion. Do not stretch cold muscles and tendns.
Those who do a stretch for a few seconds and then it the machines are doing two things wrong. They’re stretching while cold and they’re not holding the stretch long enough. A stretch must be held for a minimum of 15 seconds, letting the body ease into the most stretch position without pain. Taking a hot bath and then stretching is a good idea. As I said, I do a lot of stretching in the sauna.
When I was in college, we used to say that people like that “smelled like a TA”.
I dunno… If I’m particularly aromatic for some reason, I’ll likely shower beforehand, but if I’m not stinkin’, I’ll probably shower afterward. I prefer to smell nice after I use all the funky smelling machines & do all my sweating, not beforehand.
I’ve often wondered about extraordinarily stinky people though. Some of the ones I’ve run into seem to have hit that stench level where a person doesn’t smell any worse. But even in the middle of summer, hiking in New Mexico, reaching that level takes 5 days of no showering & no deodorant(bears, you know).
About all I can figure is that these folks just don’t care or don’t know, although how they wouldn’t know is beyond me.