http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040328/D81JLILO0.html
I saw that in the newspaper as well. Interesting.
I agree. Flexibility is still very important though. Many chronic injuries went away when I started stretching.
If you are going to spar or roll and you haven't stretched at all I would say you are much more likely to tear something.
hahaha. Well without reading the article i will say that a stretch is a stretch, whether it is dynamic, static, active, passive, isometric, pnf, ballistic, or whatever.
-doug-
This article addresses Helwig's point. I believe it too, makes sense that stretching a cold muscle isn't going to yield much benefit.
I don't stretch before workouts, doesn't affect my injury rate at all, from my experience. I do tons of flexibility work though, so don't think I'm not stretching at all.
I was a practitioner of static and cold stretching for a long time as a kid (karate) but now totally stopped it. From the moment I started doing workouts and exercising, my flexibility went up and reached a new level - and i never had a pulled muscle or cramps or anything like that since. IMO active/mobile warmup beats the old move-and-then-stretch-static style.
"People such as gymnasts and dancers might be exceptions, because their activities require great flexibility, so stretching might improve their performance, Thacker said."
Or how about having someone twist your body and joints in awkward positions? Wouldn't ground fighting activities require at least as much flexibility as dancers and gymnasts?
I think I will continue to stretch before I train.
Or how about having someone twist your body and joints in awkward positions? Off the top of my head, submissions are the hyperfunction of a specific joint. Stretching is not going to prevent that, per se. Or am I off base?
Warm up. workout. stretch.
I pulled a muscle streching once, always wondered if strecthing is really needed
stretching must be done to avoid injuries. I feel way better after i stretch and start to workout.
I read somewhere about a study on american military recruits showing that the 10% most and 10% leats flexible where the ones with most injuries.
I think that Nowaydo's post properly represents current thinking on this topic.
However I do believe in the principle of individuality
and while I am prepared to concede that it may just be old habit on my part I am not at all comfortable in engaging in something requiring extreme range of motion as wrestling without engaging in some static stretching.I have tried the dynamic stretch/duplicate the movements of your sport approach to warm up and simply do not get the looseness I require.
Some of the studies related to stretching by soldiers before marching which is not quite the same as we require and while it is said as Nowaydo observes that power output is reduced by static stretching I suspect that this is temporary and soon restored with dynamic activity.
Verm Bz etc. It's all down to how muscles work. Doing a static stretch before you excercise is like pulling on the ends of a tangled string, all that happens is you tighten up knots (and set yourself up for an injury).
What you need to do is slowly build up dynamic movements through the full range of motion in all your joints. This eases out any tangles and lubricates the joint ready for excercise.
The only possible reason for static stretches before excercise is to check that you have adequately stretched out dynamically. Personally I don't do this as your muscles are at their weakest just after you have stretched them statically.
Stretching statically to increase static flexibility should be treated in exactly the same way as any other part of your excercise program (Cardio, Plyometrics, Lifts etc)
could anybody give specific examples of how to stretch non-statically?
OK one example: Stand on one leg, lift your other leg to the side in a slow controlled motion, lower it, repeat this gradually increasing the speed but keeping it controlled. Work about 12 reps. That is a dynamic stretch.