Stretching is fantastic for you, and you should do it often!
Well that was easy.
Wait. . . Yeah, I guess that, just like everything else in the health and fitness world, it’s not that easy.
So let’s start with how stretching works. We’re going to split this up– For the science, read this paragraph; If science isn’t your thing, skip this paragraph. That being said: Stretching can be easily defined as improving the extensibility of a muscle by moving it through it’s full range of motion. There are different types of stretching, but for this, we’re going to mostly refer to static stretching, which is holding a stretch for 30 seconds or more. There is a neuromuscular response in the body known as “Autogenic Inhibition” that is used to increase the extensibility of muscles. Without getting too involved: In your muscles, you have muscle spindles that sense the length and speed at which a muscle is lengthened; In the tendons that attach muscles to bones, you have “Golgi Tendon Organs” (GTOs) that sense the tension and rate of tension. Autogenic Inhibition is where the tension experienced by the GTO overrides the impulse causing the muscle to contract; Thus, it forces the muscle spindle to relax, allowing you to increase the extensibility of the muscle. In order for you to benefit from Autogenic Inhibition, the stretch must be held for 30 seconds; That ensures your muscle spindles have relaxed. There’s more to all of this, but this is a very brief overview of how stretching works.
So, to recap, to gain the benefits of static stretching, you should hold the stretch for at least 30 seconds for it to work– Less time and you may feel better, but you’re not doing much to increase flexibility. So what are the benefits to static stretching? Stretching, and Flexibility Training can:
- Increase joint range of motion.
- Relieve joint stress.
- Improve neuromuscular efficiency.
- Improve the extensibility of muscles.
- Decrease tension of muscles.
- And more.
From my own experience, I only ever stretched in between sets, and would hold the stretches for about 10 seconds or less. (I now know that this was actually getting in the way of my goals; More on that later.) I was not flexible at all– Who am I kidding, I’m still not flexible, but ever since I’ve incorporated flexibility training into my exercises, I have experienced less soreness after exercise, increased flexibility, and increased range of motion. Alissa has also benefited from the flexibility training and is now going ATG on squats. So from experience, I can tell you that even 3 weeks of flexibility training can make a huge difference.
Now, there are many people that say that stretching before working out for you is bad.
. . . And they’re mostly right. Studies have found that static stretching before activity may decrease strength and power for up to 10 minutes after the stretching, but there is little evidence that it has any impact on overall general performance. So when should you stretch?
If you’re engaging in maximal effort exercises or activities (Powerlifting, Heavy Lifting, Sprinting, Competitive Sports, etc.), it’s recommended that you either don’t stretch, or you do active / dynamic stretching only as part of your preworkout warmup. If you’re engaging in any other sort of activity, static stretching prior to workout is still recommended, especially if you have particular muscle imbalances. (Of course, don’t stretch during your workout, as this will further reduce strength and power output.) After your workout, at a minimum you should be stretching the muscles you stretched preworkout, and it’s also recommended that you stretch muscles that were worked during your workout.
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