There’s a good chance the answer is, “Not at all.”

Most of us don’t think much about warming up or strengthening our wrists, which is weird considering how many of us have immobile or weak wrists or even experience chronic pain in them.

Be honest now. When it comes to your training, how much time do you spend working on your wrists?

There’s a good chance the answer is, “Not at all.”

Most of us don’t think much about warming up or strengthening our wrists, which is weird considering how many of us have immobile or weak wrists or even experience chronic pain in them.

If you have ever sprained a wrist, you know what I’m talking about—they seem to take months to heal. This is partially because day-to-day life—from brushing your teeth to typing at a computer, to doing dishes—never really gives us a break from using our wrists. Alas, an injury that started out as a minor sprain ends up lingering for months.

I developed tendonitis in my wrists preparing for the 2015 CrossFit West Regional, a competition that had a handstand push-up and a handstand walking event. It literally took two years until the pain had completely subsided. And it only did when I started taking the time to pay attention to my wrists.

Here are five exercises I included in my wrist routine, ones that are useful for those looking to increase their range of motion in their wrists, strengthen the joint itself, or heal a lingering wrist injury that just never seems to go away.

1. Wristies

This involves building a simple contraption, but it’s well worth it.

1. Cut a wooden dowel or PVC pipe to about one foot in length.
2. Securely attach a piece of thin rope about 4 feet in length around the dowel so that the dowel doesn’t spin when you rotate it. Make sure when you rotate the dowel, the rope catches and wraps around the dowel.
3. Attach a carabiner to the end of the rope and hang a 2.5 or 5 lb plate from the rope via the carabiner.
4. Hold the dowel with both hands out in front of you and straight arms, and use your wrists to slowly roll the rope and the plate all the way up to the dowel and then back down again. The idea here is to isolate your wrists, move slowly, and go through your entire wrist range of motion as you’re rolling the rope up and down the dowel.

Though this won’t necessarily help you improve your wrist flexibility, it’s a great way to build tension on your wrists through your full range of motion, helping you access your current range of motion with more control.

• Add five wristies (up and down) to your warm-up or cooldown, or even between sets of a lift.

2. Slow Wrist Rotations

The key to these slow wrist rotations is to make sure you rotate only through the wrist, as opposed to the elbow (a very common mistake).

To do this, take a seat and anchor your forearm (forearm faces the sky) with your other hand. I like to rest my arm on my thigh and let my wrist and hand hang over. Then slowly rotate your wrist in one direction, trying to recruit as much range of motion as you can, almost like you’re trying to scrape the corners of a box.

• Add 10 slow wrist rotations in one direction and 10 in the other to your warm-up or cooldown.

3. Dynamic Wrist Stretch

On all fours, flip your hand upside down so the back of your hand is on the ground and press your elbow straight into a deep wrist flexion. Bounce back and forth a couple of times in this wrist flexion position.

Then flip your hand and place it flat on the ground with your fingers toward you in a traditional wrist extension stretch. Bounce back and forth a couple of times into full wrist extension.

Then internally rotate your hand 180 degrees until your fingers face toward your body and place your palm flat on the ground. Again, push your elbow straight and bounce back a forth in that position a few times.

Tip: If you have a hard time keeping your elbow straight or you find yourself in pain, then simply bring your hand closer to your body into a position where you can challenge your range of motion without pain and with a straight elbow.

• Spend one minute per wrist in your warm-up or cooldown, continuously shifting between the three positions.

4. Wrist Flexion Stretch

On all fours, place one hand flat on the ground and the other hand in a wrist flexion stretch with the back of your hand on the ground and your fingers facing your other hand.

Press your elbow straight (think about pushing your inside elbow bone as far forward as you can without rotation your arm). If you can do this without pain and get the back of your hand completely flat on the ground, then try this with both hands at the same time.

• Spend one minute on this stretch per hand in warm-up or as a cooldown.

5. Lateral Wrist Rocks

We rarely work our wrists laterally, yet when we sprain them this tends to be where we experience the most pain.

On all fours, make a fist with one hand and place your knuckles on the ground. Keep the other hand flat. Then rock back and forth moving your wrist laterally, trying to gain as much range of motion as you can.

• Add 10 to 20 lateral wrist rocks to your warm-up.

While you might not have the time to give your wrists enough love every single training session if you can find 10 minutes twice a week, your wrists will return the love through greater mobility, increased strength, and best of all, less wrist pain.

The post 5 Exercises to Better Wrist Health appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The debate about stretching—dynamic versus static, when and how long, and so on—may never be solved.

• Does stretching really work?
• Does static stretching work?
• Will it make me more flexible?
• Will it make me less sore after a workout?
• What are the most important muscles to stretch?
• And on, and on…

Regardless of the conflicting, and constantly changing science about stretching, I’m personally a big believer that it’s useful both to make you more flexible and will help to make you less sore the next day. At least this has been my experience.

I was a national level gymnast as a kid. We stretched and stretched and stretched to the point of being able to do what we called the “oversplits”—meaning the splits beyond 180 degrees—and when I quit gymnastics I stopped stretching. And guess what? After a handful of years, I could no longer do the splits.

In my adulthood, I have found static stretching after a big lifting session does make me considerably less sore the next day.

And while I often see people taking the time to do couch stretches for their quads, pigeon stretches for their glutes, and various seated hamstring stretches after a training session, there are many parts of the body we often neglect to give love, like our wrists, lats, and calves.

Here are seven stretches to do after lifting sessions for the areas of the body we often forget about.

1. Half Kneeling Lat Stretch

Position yourself close to a post and get into a lunge—or a half kneeling position. With your outside arm, reach over your head and grab the post. Place your inside hand below that. Then lean away from the post and into your outside lat.

Hold for 1 minute per side. I find this stretch particularly useful after a big pulling session.

2. Bottom of the Feet Massage

The bottom of our feet take a beating, and we often pay no attention to them. It’s time we do.

I like massaging them by rolling them out on a lacrosse ball. Spend a minute or two on each foot, putting as much pressure into the ball as you feel comfortable with. This should feel good as opposed to painful.

3. Simple Wrist Stretches

It’s especially important to give your wrists some attention after a training session where you spent a lot of time in the rack position—cleans, jerks, strict presses, front squats, front rack lunges, etc—or after doing handstand holds, handstand push-ups, or even push-ups. These stretches can also be done before your training session to help warm your wrists up.

Spend a good 30 seconds in each of these two positions and make sure you keep your elbows straight on both of these.

4. Frog Stretch

Though I often see people stretching their glutes, hamstrings, and quads, I rarely see people stretching their inner thighs and groin. This is what the frog stretch is great for. Don’t stretch until the point of pain, though, as you can aggravate your groin if you overstretch.

Hang out for at least a minute after a big squat day.

5. Shoulder Extension Stretch

While we often do shoulder flexion stretching, shoulder extension stretching is often forgotten about. I like this dowel shoulder extension stretch. The narrower your hands are on the dowel and the higher you can raise your hands, the deeper the stretch will be.

Spend 1 minute in this position.

6. Dowel Sit

Grab a dowel and place it behind your knees and then sit down on your shins. Every 20 seconds, roll the dowel one revolution until you’re eventually down at your Achilles. This one will be slightly painful but in a good pain sort of way. Put as much bodyweight on the dowel as you’re able to handle without it being too painful.

Spend a solid 2 to 3 minutes working your way down your calves. If you do a lot of running or jumping, this one is particularly useful for your calves.

7. Low Back

This is just a dead-hang hold from a bar, but you keep your feet on the ground or place them on a box if the bar is too high. Keep your feet flat and bend your knees and let your entire bodyweight sink into your hips and ultimately into the ground. You should feel a release in your lower back.

Spend 1 minute or so in this position. This is particularly useful after a big hamstring and glute lifting session.

The post 7 Parts of the Body That Need More Stretching appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

• To get started, place your belt around your ankle joints so that your ankles are 1 ½ fist-widths apart.
• Place your elbows on your chair and walk your knees back so that they are below your hips.
• Place one hand on each shoulder blade, then collapse your shoulders together and let your chest sink down towards the floor.
• Now kick your hips back to place an arch your lower back. Be sure to watch the video to see how I do this.
• Once you are in position, press your ankles out against the strap and release evenly. Focus on making each press smooth, slow, and even.
• Repeat for a total of three sets of 20.

You will feel a stretch in your triceps (the backs of your upper arms), your lats (along the sides of your torso), and muscles working in your hips. To get the maximum benefit, keep your belly relaxed and breathe.

I you enjoy this exercise as much as I do. Thank you for connecting with me here, and I hope to see you again soon!

The post Reset Your T-Spine With This Simple Stretch appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Stretch Your Bits or Stretch Your Mind?

I’ve had a few things come up recently that have me rethinking the common stretching belief that goes something like this: stretch tight bits in your body and they will get longer/more flexible/more supple.

The things that have me rethinking this are:

1. An interview I did on the Liberated Body Podcast with Jules Mitchell who is writing a book (and just finished a thesis) on the science of stretching.
2. A guide I am putting together on how to resolve short hamstrings (it’s out on Liberated Body >in October), which had me immersed in the research about how hamstrings specifically manage to return to a more functional length.
3. And last but not least, I am reading Katy Bowman’s new book Move Your DNA where her insights on sarcomeres have my attention (plenty of other things too, but I’m already trying to keep this post from becoming epically long).

I’ll do my best to summarize the a-ha moments that have sprung out of these three things.

Your Nervous System Runs the Show

In her interview with me, Jules Mitchell* talked about how she began her thesis with the intention of taking a biomechanical view into yoga asana, which is exactly what she does. However, because she started her work from the perspective of a yoga teacher- with all the training that had told her that stretching leads to increased flexibility, she was surprised to discover that the research on stretching did not bear this idea out.

She discovered this idea – that if we stretch more and stretch harder that our tissue will change – was untrue. In reality, we are not lumps of clay that can be molded by persistently tugging on things. This is because our nervous systems are running the show.

So what does that mean? That means that unless you are under anesthesia (where you will miraculously gain full and even excessive range of motion, but I do not recommend attempting to go through life under full anesthesia simply for its flexibility gains), your ability to stretch at any range is determined by your nervous system’s tolerance to that range.

As in, when you have super short hamstrings and you try to forward fold and meet rigid resistance, it is not that you need to pull on your hamstrings like they are inanimate taffy, because you can’t. Your nervous system is the thing giving you that firm end range, and it’s basically saying, “Nope. Sorry buddy. I don’t feel safe there, so I’m not going to let you go there.”

Getting pushy about it and trying to force your hamstrings into ever deeper end ranges will have one of three outcomes:

1. Nothing will change
2. Your hamstrings will get shorter
3. You will injure your tissue (which, P.S., has about a two-year healing period if we’re talking about a tendon injury).

I recommend not trying to force override your nervous system on issues of flexibility. It will win. It will be unpleasant.

Your Body’s Emergency Brake

Why would the nervous system not feel safe and therefore limit your mobility? Because that range is unfamiliar, or because compensatory patterns in your body have determined that certain parts of you need to function as an emergency brake in order to hold it all together (and of course these two things are not mutually exclusive). Both boil down to issues of motor control (plenty more to chew on here) and of Davis’ Law, which can be (over) simplified to, “use it or lose it.”

While working on the Liberated Body Short Hamstrings Guide, I kept coming back to the issue of how the hamstrings function, in some chronically short-hamstringed people, as an emergency brake. This kind of compensatory pattern happens for plenty of reasons, but top among them might be under active deep core musculature, too rigid core musculature (yes, underactive and too rigid can come together), weakened adductors, and more. If these or other key stability structures can’t fully do their job, the hamstrings are at the ready. They sub in for a lack of support elsewhere by battening down the hatches.

To go back to the emergency brake analogy – if your car were parked on the edge of a cliff and was held there only by its emergency brake, would you release it? Not if you are sane. This is the same decision your nervous system is making when you attempt a forward fold and are stopped prematurely.

Those Naughty Sarcomeres

In regards to the use-it-or-lose-it part of the flexibility equation, let’s talk Katy Bowman**, moving your DNA, and the sarcomeres. Bowman has been a champion of getting people to understand the difference between frequency and intensity. In short, that what we are doing with our bodies most of the time thoroughly trumps how hard we may be capable of working out (or stretching) for a small portion of our day. In relationship to flexibility, this means that if we, for example, sit in a chair with our hamstrings contracted from both ends all day long, we will gradually develop short hamstrings.

Here is an extremely pared down, Cliff’s Notes version of Bowman’s writing in Move Your DNA on the role the sarcomeres play: Sarcomeres are the basic contractile units of our muscles. Muscles move because sarcomeres generate force and move. When you are often in the same position – as with our contracted-hamstrings-in-the-chair example – your sarcomeres change on the cellular level in a way that makes it easier for you to do more of what you are already doing. Yes, those naughty sarcomeres will actually cannibalize themselves and grow themselves to set your chair-shape as your new normal.

That said, the way to approach rehabilitating this would be to move with more normal hamstrings length more frequently. For example: to use a standing desk for all or part of the day, to sit on the floor with our legs outstretched in front of us (if we can accomplish that without rounding our backs, another symptom of short hamstrings), wearing neutral-heeled shoes, and to walk and to take frequent movement breaks, among other things.

The road to rehabilitation would not look like stretching the bejeezus out of your hamstrings at their absolute maximum end range for somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty and ninety seconds per day.

Bringing Mitchell’s and Bowman’s work together, this kind of rehabilitation accomplishes a few key things. First, it reminds your little sarcomeres what length you would like things to be by gradual, incremental loading of your body in healthier ranges of movement. Second, taking more opportunities for natural movement more frequently (oversimplified definition alert: natural movement = accomplishing the movements that our ancestors used to need to do to survive – like walking, or bending, or climbing – with proper alignment) develops strength and adaptability. This allows your nervous system to feel safe about testing out new ranges of motion, while simultaneously unraveling the compensatory patterns that make your nervous system put on the brakes in the first place.

A Tale of Two Feet

What might this look like in practice? Let me tell you about my feet. Last summer I still had to slap on my rigid hiking shoes in order to get out on the rocky trails here in New England. Whenever I attempted to wear a more flexible-soled shoe, I was one sore-footed girl. Determined that my feet could be more supple, I spent the year wearing only neutral-heeled, flexible-soled shoes, taking plenty of barefoot time, increasing my walking mileage, and intentionally seeking out as much diverse terrain as I could find.

Fast forward to the end of this summer and I have been hiking daily – up steep inclines, on slick shale, on rocky ground and tangled stumps – only in my Unshoes. And what’s amazing is that these hikes also manage to feel like a delicious foot massage no matter how long I’m out on the trail. I find myself intentionally stepping on the rockier areas of the trail because it feels good on my feet. What happened there?

I incrementally – over one year – loaded my feet differently, and as a result the 33 joints that live in my tootsies are now much more supple and flexible. My feet are also stronger. Flexible and strong like to show up to the party together. Go figure.

Some Stretching Movement Rules to Live By

So is stretching the devil? Nah. Frequent, intermittent stretching that is within your range and not red-lining it for your abilities helps you to explore your movement ranges and therefore helps you to (very gradually) remodel yourself at the cellular level to a more mobile version of yourself.

This is a complex issue for which much more could be said, but I have already written a short novel, so in closing here are a few bullet points that we might want to consider so that we can re-frame how to become more flexible. Perhaps we should:

• Stop with the no-pain-no-gain crap and instead accept that The Goldilocks Principle holds true for human tissue: not too much, not too little, but just right amounts of input keep us healthy and mobile.
• Stop with the “stretch tight bits to make them looser” and “we are inanimate lumps of clay” models. We are alive. Our nervous systems are in charge. We need to have a long-term dialogue with it, not pretend we can boss the CNS around.
• Stop pretending we can put movement into a bento box of “exercising” and “non-exercising” time when what we are doing all the time – movement not exercising -is what is determining our shape and mobility.
• Stop stretching at extreme maximum capacity at rare intervals and instead take kinder intermittent stretch breaks.
• And while we’re at it, let’s altogether drop the idea that being bendy is somehow better. Functional length is better; hypermobile is trouble.

*It’s worth noting that I am not trying to speak for Jules Mitchell. I can only report my take on our conversation, she may very well disagree with the way I phrased something here, so these are not Jules’s words, they’re mine. To read her words, you can visit her blog.

**I also can’t speak for Katy Bowman. So this is my take on her writings, and she may very well disagree with how I have presented the material. To read it straight from her fingertips, you can visit her blog.

The post Stretching Doesn’t Work (the Way You Think It Does) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

When I was younger, I was mildly obsessed with ballet and did everything I could to help me get more bendy. I would even pull my leg up over my head and tie it to the bedpost at night to try to get my splits.

If only I’d had the Gaiam Restore MultiGrip Stretch Strap then. It would have made things much simpler and safer.

The Gaiam MultiGrip Stretch Strap is designed to help you increase flexibility and range of motion in a safe, gentle manner. The strap has hand holds all the way from the center out to the ends. This allows you to vary your grip and hold onto the strap as you move deeper into a stretch.

Length and Grip

When I’ve used other straps to help with stretching, I often found my hands slipping. That makes it hard to inch your way up and down the strap and either move further into a stretch or back off. The multiple grip feature allows you to hold onto the strap firmly and comfortably at every point in your range of motion.

The strap is 86 inches long, so you have plenty of room to stretch from head to toe. Since I’m pretty flexible, I found I mostly used smaller sections of the rope, but I also used the additional holds to stretch throughout my whole body. I like using the strap in a wide-legged seated forward bend. Since the strap is so long, you can hook each foot into the ends and still have plenty of strap left over to move in and out of your stretch.

If you work a desk job, I recommend this strap especially for you. It’s an inexpensive tool to assist in deepening stretches without requiring a partner. With the stretch strap, you can maximize short bouts of stretching throughout your work day without leaving the office or needing a partner. I love using it to open the shoulders and and sides of the body after long periods of sitting and typing.

It took me a while to get used to using the hand holds and adjusting the length of the strap, so if you have the same experience at first, don’t let it dissuade you. Once you get the hang of it, the strap is easy to use, and it also comes with an exercise guide that has sixteen different stretches you can do with the strap. The writer and editor in me was bothered by a few small typos in the instructions, but for the most part the directions were clear and the illustrations helpful.

You Are the Captain

You can use this strap for normal static stretches, and you can also use it to do self-PNF stretching. PNF stretches involve contracting and relaxing the muscles while moving through your range of motion. You usually do PNF with a partner, but you can also do it with a strap, as shown in the video below.

I’ve done PNF stretching with a partner who knew what she was doing, and I have also hurt myself doing PNF with a different partner who didn’t know what she was doing. Self-PNF takes the partner variable out of the equation, since you don’t have to give feedback to a partner and trust the partner to act on your feedback. Put differently, you have complete control over how far you stretch.

Research also supports the effectiveness of self-PNF stretching. In a 2014 study that compared self-PNF to static stretching, the PNF program improved hip range of motion as well as hip, back, and shoulder flexibility, whereas static stretching only improved hip, back, and shoulder flexibility. In my own experience, using the strap has been especially beneficial for the range of motion in my sholders and my hamstring flexibility.

Drawbacks

Ideally, this kit would come with a video that details how to stretch properly and integrate breathing. After all, with great stretching power comes great responsibility, and some people just don’t know how to stretch safely. If you’ve never done any flexibility training before, I recommend reading up on how to do it safely and avoid stupid things like tying your leg to your bedpost. (Live and learn.)

In a few of the online reviews I read, people were disappointed that this strap is not stretchy. So to be clear, just because it’s called a stretch strap does not mean it’s made of stretchy material. The strap offers resistance and will not give when you stretch into it. You’re the one stretching, not the strap.

If you have clients who could use a flexibility boost or if you already have a good base of flexibility and mobility but want to move further, you’ll find this product to be both safe and effective. And if you are looking for a way to work on range of motion while working a desk job, you should definitely have this tool in your desk drawer arsenal. The price is right, and your hamstrings are waiting.

The Gaiam Restore MultiGrip Stretch Strap is available for $11.99 at Amazon.com.

The post Gaiam Restore MultiGrip Stretch Strap (Product Review) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

What the Research Says

Traditionally, it was thought that you should stretch before strenuous activity to reduce the risk of injury. But if this was the case, every major sports team would start practice with some type of stretching and injuries would drop. Unfortunately, the numbers show this is not the case.

Studies have shown stretching before activity does nothing for the reduction of injuries. According to a study published in 2000 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, injuries are believed to occur during the eccentric phase contraction. Eccentric contractions occur during a muscle’s normal range of motion due to heterogeneity of sarcomere lengths. If injuries occur during the normal range of motion, then why would increasing that range of motion prevent injuries? In addition, stretching even mildly can cause damage at the cytoskeleton level. So, it appears that stretching before activity is not going to help prevent injuries. So what is the answer?

What to Do Before a Workout or Activity

The answer is simple. Warm up in a manner that is specific to the activity in which you plan to participate. Remember first that a warm up must actually make you warm. The goal is to slightly raise your body temperature, just enough so you break a sweat.

Then consider that the warm up must match the movements you will be doing during your more strenuous activity. For someone getting ready for a Brazilian jiu jitsu class, a warm up might include hip escapes, sprawls, and back bridges. Perhaps an easier way to think of this is with weight training. If your workout calls for squats, then a good warm up would be bodyweight squats and monster walks using a resistance band. Both activate the muscles around the hip, knee, ankle, and trunk.

Remember, the goal is to warm up with the same movements or as close as you can get to the actual movements required by your workout or sport.

Where the Foam Roller Fits In

Some people are tempted to use the foam roller during warm up, but the foam roller is best used after your workout. According to Dr. Kelly Starrett, foam rolling stimulates your nervous system to down regulate or calm down. Before you workout, you do not want your nervous system to down regulate. You actually want your flight or fight systems going. Save the foam rolling for after your training session. Better yet save your foam rolling for before bed to help you down regulate your nervous system and get to sleep.

The Takeaway

In order to get the most out of your training sessions, focus on warm-up movements that mirror the movements of the activity in which you plan on participating. Do as many reps as you need until you feel ready. Save your foam rolling for after training or at night. Unless you are a professional athlete, your training time is limited. By following the steps above, you will place your body in the right environment for increased performance and reduced risk of injury.

References:

1. Shrier, I. (2000). “Stretching before exercise: an evidence based approach.” British Journal of Sports Medicine, 34:34:324-325.

Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photo 2 courtesy of CrossFit Impulse.

The post Why Stretching and Warming Up Are Not the Same appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Discipline.

Adding flexibility takes the same amount of effort and focus as increasing any other facet of your physical abilities. Let’s flip the situation around and suppose that instead of wishing to increase your flexibility you wanted to get better in your martial art or get stronger. Hopefully you’d go and spend the time to do multiple sessions per week, likely adding up five or more hours of work on that skill or ability. But for some reason when it comes to flexibility we toss that idea out the window and instead hope to see increases from a few minutes tacked onto the end of a workout when you remember.

So the first step to increasing flexibility is to give it the attention it deserves. And like any other aspect of fitness you’re looking to improve, that means multiple sessions each week solely dedicated to adding range of motion. Charles Poliquin estimates it takes six hours per week for six weeks to see a measurable improvement in flexibility. For many that will be hard enough as most people can’t stick to a plan for more than a week or two at best. But if you do manage to stick to this plan, the results are well worth it (and not just for your martial practices, as they carry over to the rest of your life too).

Discipline is important for the next part of flexibility training also. You know that feeling you get when you stretch a muscle and it feels tight? Do you know that tightness is your own body trying to protect you from damage? What happens is the muscle senses a change in length that the nervous system deems potentially dangerous. To avoid injury the muscle tightens up to prevent any further elongation and potential harm. Basically, the body puts the brakes on for you because it thinks you might hurt yourself.

As we get older we actually end up with less and less range of motion because we do less and less. Think about it – if you’re twenty years old, you’ll have spent about fourteen years sitting down (enter school at age six and then spend most of your time at a desk during school hours and then again for homework, plus add in time spent sitting for meals, travel, and activities like video games). But, if you’re forty, you’ll have accumulated 34 years of spending a majority of your time sitting. All that time spent sitting tells your body that it only needs to work in a limited range, that the hips only ever need to be at roughly at ninety degrees, that it’s normal for the upper body to hunch and the shoulders to round. Just like if you spent 34 years punching a bag and your body got really good at punching the bag, you’re spending lots and lots of time on reps that make your body really good at being in the seated position.

When it comes to skill training it’s not just a matter of doing reps. The way you do them is important. And for every bad rep you do, you’re going to need extra god reps to overcome the bad ones. That’s why flexibility training is so hard for many – they need to spend time overcoming all the damage they have done from years of sitting.

It’s not all bad though. That muscle stiffness you feel when you get to a point the body thinks is dangerous can be overcome. It just takes discipline. Many people make the mistake of cranking on a stretch as hard as they can until they get to the point where the body tightens up maximally for protection. The problem is the body will actually add tension in that position to protect you more. So as you sit in the stretch it will become more uncomfortable. The trick is to go to the edge of that, the point where it’s just starting to become noticeably tight. It needs to be comfortably uncomfortable because you’re going to need to hang out at that point for a while.

As you sit in the stretch you’ll notice the body starts to tighten more and more in its efforts to protect you. Just relax as much as you can and try to breathe deeply. You may have to endure all kinds of weird things like cramps, muscles or limbs shaking, and even a slowly increasing amount of tension that you may think is pain. The body will play all sorts of games to get you to stop what you’re doing and let the muscles return to their normal length.

But if you hang out for long enough this amazing thing will happen – the body will just relax all of a sudden. Once it recognizes that it’s not under any threat or danger of injury, the tightness you feel in your muscles will disappear allowing you to stretch further and repeat the process. The hard part is that the older you are the longer this will likely take.

And this is where discipline comes in again. For adults to gain appreciable amounts of flexibility will take time, consistent effort, and pain tolerance to sit in a given position until the body recognizes there is no threat. Over time this process will quicken and less time will be needed. The key is this – waiting out the tension part of stretching.

Many people will want to argue at this point that dynamic stretching is better and gives faster results. Yes, it does, but they don’t last unless you’re already very flexible. Think of dynamic stretching as the sports performance side of stretching. Before you get sports performance you need general preparation, and it in flexibility terms that is static stretching. To make real long-term improvement in your range of motion, you’ll need static stretching as a base before adding on dynamic stretching. Just remember that it takes discipline and consistency to build, just like any other aspect of fitness. A few minutes at the end of your workouts won’t really have much impact compared to the decades of shortened movement and sitting you’ve done.

The benefits of flexibility are so great that training experts like Ian King call flexibility the “last frontier of human performance.” King also said:

Flexibility, generally speaking, is the most important physical quality. The impact of the flexibility on all other physical qualities is greater than the one of any other single physical quality. Flexibility potentially improves strength, speed and endurance more than any of these qualities impact on the other. In addition, I believe of all physical qualities, this one has the greatest impact on injury prevention. Flexibility training also potentially has the greatest contribution to recovery of all the physical qualities.

When you combine performance increase and injury prevention with actually helping to make you feel and move better in the rest of your life, I’m sold on flexibility. Just remember to give it the same attention any other aspect of fitness would get and then be disciplined and consistent.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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In a recent article I discussed a topic that has been getting a lot of attention lately – passive stretching before physical activity. The article summarized a study that found passive stretching as a warm up reduces your strength. However, since these things change with experience, it’s important to distinguish between advanced lifters and novices. Perhaps, as with many other training variables, the negative impact of static stretching is lessened with time and experience. A study this month in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning investigated this topic.

In case you’re not familiar with the term, passive static stretching is the kind you most commonly think of when you hear the word “stretching.” It’s basically what you’re doing when you move into a stretch, relax, and let gravity do its thing for a bit. This is very different from active forms of stretching, in which you engage musculature to assist in the stretch, and dynamic forms of stretching, in which you do not stop movement in the stretch.

In the study, researchers compared untrained participants to those with a fair bit of experience. The advanced group had performed resistance training for a minimum of six days a week for six months. They were well beyond their beginner’s gains and knew the exercises involved. The researchers wanted to find out if there were any differences between the two groups and, further, if the changes in strength held true for all of the body’s musculature.

The results were almost universal. Static stretching makes you weaker when performed before weightlifting. Whether we’re talking about the upper body or lower body, novice athletes or experienced lifters, the reduction in strength persists pretty evenly across the board. The only significant difference was in the bicep curl. In this case, both groups still got weaker overall, but the veteran athletes didn’t experience quite as much loss in strength as the newbies.

Now, it’s important to note that static stretching isn’t bad, per se. However, this study suggests that it does limit your maximum strength when performed prior to strength training. The effect may last for a while, but I think it’s okay to do static stretching before bed at night or something similar, as long as you give static stretching its own time.

While it’s great to further clarify this topic, I do love static stretching. I’d really like to see a study that asked whether strength is also reduced in people who have long-term experience with static stretching and weightlifting. I suspect if you were used to static stretching before heavy lifting, the reduction in strength wouldn’t be so dramatic. Until that study comes out, it’s best to just avoid passive static stretching right before you lift weights.

References:

1. AJ Serra, et. al., “Experience in resistance training does not prevent reduction in muscle strength evoked by passive static stretching,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 27(8), 2013.

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Study participants were aged between 18 to 46 years old. During the first 4 weeks of the 8 week period, the subjects participated in a static hamstring stretching program. Stretching was discontinued for the second 4 weeks of the study. Each subject had his/her hip range of motion measured each week.¹

The participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 stretching protocols or a control group. Each group used the same standing one-legged hamstring stretch. The stretch position was held for a total of 30 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of rest and a second 30-second stretch. For a total of one minute of stretching. This was done for each leg.²

The groups varied in terms of frequency and total time stretching:

• Group one – stretched daily, 2x/day, for 14 minutes total per week.
• Group two – stretched 1x/day, for a total of 7 minutes per week.
• Group three – stretched 3-4 days per week, 2x/day, for a total of 6-8 minutes per week.
• Group four – stretched 3-4 days a week, 1x/day, for a total of 3-4 min per week.
• Control group – did not perform any stretching.

The results of the study revealed there were no significant differences in the rate of grain or loss of hamstring flexibility between the different stretching protocols. All of the stretching groups gained range of motion in the hip when comparing pre-study measurement to measurements taken on week 4. Those who stretched at least 6 times per week gained more than those who stretched 3 times per week – a 24% gain versus a 16.8% gain.³

The sex of the subjects did not influence changes in range of motion, and the control group did not see any changes. After the stretching was stopped, the rate of loss was similar for all 4 stretching groups, and every group retained a siginificant portion of their gains at the end of the study.⁴

The thing to learn from this study is that a little stretching can go a long way, as it turns out. Stretching as few as three times per week still resulted in mobility gains. For people pressed for time or for athletes wiht busy training schedules, daily stretching might not actually be necessary. In the end the researchers from this study recommended stretching a total of six times per week, whether it be every day stretching or stretching twice daily on fewer days. And remember, in this study, participants only stretched one minute per leg total each session!

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The tennis players were randomly assigned to four different experimental conditions on four successive days. Each session consisted of a warm-up, which was then accompanied by one of the stretching conditions. The four experimental conditions were:¹

1. A control condition that consisted of a vertical jump without stretching exercises.
2. Passive stretching condition in which the vertical jump was preceded by passive static stretching.
3. Active stretching condition in which the vertical jump was preceded by active static stretching.
4. Dynamic stretching condition in which the vertical jump was preceded by dynamic stretching.

A common warm-up protocol was used throughout the study. The warm-up consisted of 5 minutes of running around a tennis court with a heart rate standardized at approximately 140 beats per minute and 10 jumps performed after running. The jumps consisted of 5 squat jumps and 5 countermovement jumps.²

For the vertical jump test, two different types of vertical jumps were performed: the squat jump and the countermovement jump. The height of the jumps was measured using the Axon Jump mat and its software, and each type of jump was tested three times.³

The stretching used in the study was designed to target the hamstrings, quadriceps, and triceps. Each stretching method, with the exception of the dynamic stretching method, consisted of 3 sets of exercises with 15 seconds in the stretched position. The static stretching method held stretched at a point of mild discomfort. Each subject in the active static stretching group made the movement without external assistance to the position of mild discomfort. In the passive static group, every movement was guided by another person experienced in conducting stretching exercises to the point of mild discomfort. For the dynamic stretching group, the same procedures were used, but instead of holding stretches for 15 seconds, the subjects had to bob in 1:1 second cycles for 30 seconds, trying to reach a greater stretch in each repetition. After each stretching intervention, the subjects performed 3 squat jumps and 3 countermovement jumps, which were measured electronically.⁴

For the squat jumps, there was a significantly lower vertical jump performance when comparing the stretching interventions of the passive stretching condition and the active stretching condition with the control condition. A significantly greater vertical jump performance was observed when comparing the conditions of dynamic stretching conditions with passive stretching conditions. In other words, subjects who did active or passive static stretching performed worse than the control group. The dynamic stretchers performed about the same as the control group.⁵

For the countermovement jumps, there were no significant differences when comparing all of the stretching conditions to the control condition.⁶

Without a doubt the debate on stretching will continue, but this research indicates both passive and active static stretching are counterproductive when it comes to power development. Dynamic stretching seems to not be detrimental, but does not offer any particular benefit. As such, researchers suggest coaching avoid static stretching before training sessions.

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The fifteen men participating in the study were physical education students involved in recreational sports (soccer, basketball, volleyball). Each subject had not participated in regular strength training for at least six months before the start of the study. Each subject performed three separate sessions that were separated by 3-5 days. The first session involved 5 maximal isometric contractions for knee extensors in the isokinetic dynamometer. The next two sessions the subjects randomly performed two maximal isometric contractions for the knee extensors in the isokinetic dynamometer to determine the maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) and the rate of force development (RFD), and two active static stretching exercises for the dominant leg extensors (10×30 seconds for each exercise with 20-second rest intervals between sets). Immediately after stretching (approximately three minutes), the isokinetic test was repeated. The RFD was calculated using the average slope of the moment-time curve at time intervals of 0-30, 0-50, 0-100, 0-150, and 0-200 milliseconds relative to the onset of muscle contraction.²

The results of the study revealed that the MVC was reduced after stretching. The RFD at intervals 0-30, 0-50, and 0-100 milliseconds did not change after stretching. However, the RFD measured at intervals of 0-150 and 0-200 was significantly lower after stretching. Consequently, it can be concluded that explosive muscular actions of a very short duration seem less affected by active static stretching when compared with actions using maximal muscle strength.³

The results of this research were very similar to that in other studies. Prior studies have shown that acute static stretching impairs muscle force and torque. In this particular study, the MVC was reduced by 5%, which is consistent with previous research. This was the first research known to be conducted that analyzed the effects of stretching on their RFD measured at different time intervals from the onset of contraction. This was also reduced by about 5-7% in this particular study, and similar to maximal strength, the lower RFD after stretching may also be explained by the reduction of muscle-tendon stiffness. Data from this research may help explain the different effects that stretching has on explosive movements.⁴

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• Bend forward, grab your toes, hold it, get those hamstrings.
• Lying on the ground, hug your flexed leg to stretch the glutes and low back.
• Assume the “hurdler’s stretch” position to get your hamstrings and groin.
• Stand on a 45 degree surface to stretch the calves.
• Hang from an overhead bar to stretch your shoulders.

These are just a few examples of how we have statically-stretched the muscles over the years.

The practice of engaging in static muscle stretching for the purpose of increasing the range of motion (ROM) to enhance athletic performance and minimize the risk of injury has been a long-held tradition. Various stretches at each joint of the body are normally performed pre-practices, skill training sessions, and athletic contests. The process is usually done in some logical order (from head to toe or from standing stretches to on-the-ground stretches). Stretch, hold, relax, and repeat.

However, what if it was determined that all these years of SS had a negative impact on performance? Let’s take a look at this issue.

A study by Simic, et al. conducted a meta-analysis to quantitatively combine the results of previous individual static stretch-related articles and estimate the short-term effects on muscle strength (peak force, torque or 1-repetition maximum either isokinetic or isometric), power, and explosive muscular performance (rate of force development, and jump, sprint and throwing performances). The researchers took it one step further to determine if these short-term effects were specific to:

• The subject’s age, gender, and training status (athlete vs. non-athlete).
• The performance tests utilized.
• The total time of the applied SS.

A literature search was conducted for this study across multiple online databases focused on published journal articles that reported on healthy human subjects, SS effects on muscular power, strength and explosiveness, SS lasting less than 30minutes, and were written in English.

The authors found 104 articles from which they were able to extract data and statistically standardize the data based on the aforementioned criteria. Here are their findings:

• Short-term bouts of SS resulted in significant decreases in muscular strength (-5.4%) and explosive muscular performance (-2.0%).
• The decrease in muscle power (-1.9%) was not considered statistically significant.
• Regarding muscle strength, there was a significant difference when comparing the strength reduction of the isometric and isokinetic tasks, with isometric tests experiencing a greater decrease in strength than isokinetic tests (-6.5% vs. -3.9%).
• The decrease in muscle strength and explosive muscular performance was related to the subjects’ age, gender, and training status.
• Although the decrease in muscle power didn’t reach significance, the authors believe this is a topic for future research based upon the limited amount of data available.
• The authors also noticed a significant decline in the negative effects on explosive muscular performance as the duration of SS remains less than 45 seconds.

Is there still a place for SS in pre-activity warm-up based upon these results?

One significant point is the time the SS was held. Simic, et. al. were able to find a lessened negative effect when stretches were held under 45 seconds per muscle group. In reality, most SS protocols involve a much shorter stretch time period, often times to a 10-count (approximately 10 seconds). Thus, to what extent is there a negative effect on performance?

With the reductions in muscular strength, power and explosive muscle performance the researchers noted the results can be applied to both young and old populations, males and females, as well as athletes versus non-athletes. If their analysis is accurate, then these findings can plausibly be applied to all active individuals.

Additionally, their findings strongly suggest that the use of SS as the sole activity during a warm-up routine should generally be avoided. Again, realistically, most organized warm-up periods that athletes engage in include other dynamic stretching and movement activities and not overly-lengthy SS exclusively. There is a mixture of both static and dynamic events prior to the activity.

Should we now begin to think about restructuring not only warm-up sessions, but also cool-down components, as well? Removing the SS portion of the warm-up can conceivably reduce or eliminate the negative effects SS will supposedly have on the performance elements, while focusing on SS during the post-event cool-down may allow an athlete to address ROM and prevent injury before going into the next session.

In conclusion, why all the fuss over the supposed ills of static stretching? If done correctly, it is safe, normally time-efficient, and can be a part of a comprehensive warm-up and cool-down program. Name me someone who only performs 45+ second static holds while eschewing any dynamic activity pre-event? No one! When world records and other outstanding athletic feats occurred in the past, I am sure those performers not only static-stretched, but also used dynamic drills and stretches as a part of their warm up routine.

Static stretches alone without other dynamic warm up components are not advisable. Ideally, a warm up should consist of easy movement drills to elevate the core temperature, static-stretches, and then more dynamic stretches. Post-activity is an excellent time to static-stretch as a part of the cool-down process.

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