Time to Stretch!

Stretching gets over looked a lot by many people and athletes who are trying to achieve an optimal level of fitness. The reason why flexibility training does not get much attention is because people do not fully understand the concepts of stretching. The main reason why flexibility training is so important is because it will fix muscle imbalances, decrease joint dysfunctions, and decrease overuse injuries. According to Micheal Clark (President and CEO of the National Academy of Sports Medicine) states,

Today’s society is plagued by postural imbalances, primarily owning to sedentary lifestyles caused by the advancements in technology. More people today are spending time in office-related jobs, which require individuals to sit for long hours. More than ever before, flexibility training has become a key component in developing neuromuscular efficiency and decreasing these dysfunctions. (140)

In addition, knowing what type of stretches to use before, during, and after your workout is crucial for correcting muscle imbalances and increasing neuromuscular efficiency. Here are some tips that will help you the next time you workout…

1. Ballistic Stretch: This type of stretching involves bouncing and skipping movements. This of movement is more of a general warm-up to increase the body’s temperature before you start your workout or activity. Arm circles, skips, and bouncing during your stretch are considered ballistic.

2. Static Stretch: Is the process of passively taking a muscle to a point of tension and holding the stretch for a minimum of 20 seconds (Clark, Lucett, & Corn 2008). Static stretching is the most widely used stretch that you see in fitness today. However, the best time to static stretch is after your workout or activity. The only time you should use static stretching before your workout or activity, is if you are really tight in a specific area and you want to loosen it up a bit more.

3. Dynamic/Movement Prep Warm-up: Is lengthening the muscles using force production of your own body weight. The reason that I also call it “Movement Prep” is because you are preparing the body for the movements that you will use during exercise or competition. This type of stretching should be executed right after a general warm-up (jog, jumping jacks, jump rope, etc.) and before your workout or competition. Some basic dynamic warm-ups consist of body-weighted squats, lunges, multiplanar lunges, push-ups, dips, figure skaters, etc. 1 set of 6-10 reps is enough for you to get warmed up.

4. Active Isolated Stretch (AIS): The process of using agonist (prime mover) and synergist (assist the prime mover) to move the joint into a range of motion. AIS is somewhat like static stretching but, in AIS you are stretching the muscle for 1-2 seconds and then relaxing. You would want to perform 1-2 sets of 5-10 reps of a stretch. AIS should be done before your workout or even during your workout to help clear up lactic acid.

5. Self-Myofascial Release (SMR): Also known as “Foam Rolling” this stretching technique focuses on the neural system and the fibrous tissue that surrounds and separates muscle tissue. This fibrous tissue sometimes sticks to the muscles and forms adhesions or “knots”. Using a foam roll (or softball, tennis ball, golf ball, etc) to apply gentle pressure (your bodyweight) to a muscle that might feel tight. Roll around that specific muscle and try to find knots or tender spots. Once you have located knot, apply pressure for a minimum of 30 seconds or until the pain goes away. The best time to SMR is after your workout or competition; however you can also SMR before you workout to loosen up muscles that might be extra tight.

So stretch dam it!  Correct those muscle imbalances and stay injury and pain free