As an exercise professional, one of the most common things I
see people doing in preparation of exercise is static stretching, which is
pulling and holding your muscle in a stretch for an extended period of time.
In
the past this used to be the standard and was commonly recommended, however in
the past 20 years we have come to learn that it may actually have the opposite
effect. Static stretching your muscles prior to exercise and activity has not
only been shown to increase your risk for injury but also may affect your
performance in training or competition. Not to mention that it does absolutely nothing to
actually warm you up.
Think of your muscle as a piece of taffy; if you unwrap it
and try to pull it apart you’ll just break it. Instead, rub it in your hands
first and slowly start to massage it. Then when you try to pull it apart, all of a sudden
it’s more flexible. This is what happens to your muscle. Pulling it apart when
it is stiff and tense can easily lead to pulling a muscle or even worse, tearing. Your whole muscle might separate from
it’s connection point to the bone. Ouch.
Just like the average American, muscles also carry a lot of
tension. The more you work, the more tension your muscles tend to carry.
This can be beneficial in that the tension can help with protection from increased
physical stress (protecting your bones, joints, blood vessels, organs) as well
as in aiding in your performance by giving you a literal “spring” in your step. This is known as elasticity and, like a slingshot, when you contract your muscle
it’ll tend to “snap” back into its starting point. With static stretching prior
to exercise, you are effectively reducing this amount of tension and elasticity
from your muscles and decreasing your overall performance during your training
or competition. (But do be careful of too much tension, which can lead to cramping
and spasm.)
When I say that static stretching does absolutely nothing
for warm up, I mean it. You’re not actively moving your body or
engaging the muscle in any way, therefore heat is not being produced and your
body isn’t really working at an increased level. The muscle itself is not being
utilized and is not being prepared for the increased stress of exercise. A
racecar driver isn’t going to shift his car into neutral and push it around the
track to warm it up and you shouldn’t do that to your body.
Stretching is good for warm up (I am sure you’re confused
now) but I am referring to dynamic stretching. With dynamic stretching you are
not passively pulling on your muscle however you are starting to engage your
muscles in a low impact fashion that you are pushing your range of motion
further each time. For example; swinging your arms back and forth or up and
down, kicking your legs out in front or behind, or doing some torso twists.
This way you are not only engaging the muscle but you are actively producing heat
(essentially you are warming it up) and still maintaining tension on the muscle
for exercise.
That’s not to say that static stretching itself doesn’t have
a place either. Static stretching has consistently been shown to increase flexibility
and have a crucial role in helping reduce tension as well as have it’s place
within rehab and injury prevention. The ideal time to static stretch is
following a cool down after your workout. Your muscles are already warm and
tense, it’s the best time to really focus on breathing long and slow, taking
the opportunity to relax and release that tension you still hold on your body.
Each stretch should be pushed right until you feel a slight discomfort in the
muscle and be held for no less than 30 seconds. You can push the stretch a
little more as you relax, but don’t push it too far.
Chronic injuries and bad posture are often attributed to
lack of strength or tension from certain muscle groups but could also be caused
by too much tension from other muscle groups. Back pain, for example, may be
caused by too much tension in the abdominals, chest and hip flexor muscles in
addition to lack of strength from the back muscles. It is important that you
work on stretching out the opposing muscle groups you are strengthening as well
to have an important balance for your muscles.
Stretching itself can be considered a workout as well when
done properly. Yoga is a very popular and very effective form of stretching
that has been shown to burn substantial amount of calories as well as increase
flexibility, balance and core strength.
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| Photo courtesy of Denver Downward Dog |
Overall stretching is an important factor in physical
fitness and plays a key role in increasing flexibility and reducing overall
tension and stress. It is important to include dynamic and static stretching
into your exercise routine to not only help reduce injury but also stress and
inflammation.
David Smith is
the owner of Stonewall Fitness, holds a degree in exercise
science from Metropolitan State University of Denver and holds several
fitness certifications including ACSM Personal Trainer and Group
Fitness.
