Many people see stretching as a necessary a part of any exercise or workout regime. It helps us increase our flexibility and our range of movement. Many of us also stretch to loosen up before exercising, and to assist recuperate after we’re finished.
Though stretching has long been a mainstay of nearly every workout routine, does it have as much of an effect on performance and recovery as we imagine?
The reason we feel more flexible after stretching is due to a rise in the extent of discomfort we’re in a position to bear on the extremes of our range of movement. This is generally known as stretch tolerance.
It was long considered that static stretching – holding a limb at the sting of its range of movement, normally for as much as a minute – was a requirement for any decent warm-up. It was thought that pushing this range of movement would temporarily increase flexibilityin theory helping to stop injuries and improve performance during exercise.
Around the tip of the last century, nonetheless, evidence emerged that static stretching could even have negative effects on strength, power and speed. It’s widely been agreed since that static stretching ought to be avoided during a warm-up.
Dynamic stretching has as an alternative turn out to be more popular during warm-ups. Dynamic stretching involves deliberately moving a limb repeatedly through its entire range of movement.
Dynamic stretching doesn’t impede performance the way in which static stretching does. In fact, it could even increase muscle strength while still providing the short-term increases in flexibility offered by static stretching. Before doing any kind of exercise, a little bit of dynamic stretching is really helpful.
It’s value noting that static stretching does still increase range of movement. And any negative uncomfortable side effects may even be avoided if done properly. But static stretching a single muscle group for greater than 90 seconds substantially increases the likelihood of worsened performance. Any static stretches done before a workout ought to be temporary.
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The opposite appears to be true for dynamic stretching. It appears that performing dynamic stretching for lower than 90 seconds is much less prone to improve flexibility and performance than longer bouts. When dynamic stretching, give each muscle group attention and take your time.
After exercise
Many people also wish to stretch after exercising, normally with the aim of reducing muscle soreness and injury risk.
Delayed-onset muscle soreness is common, and typically follows exercise you’re not used to, or that’s particularly hard. The sensation of soreness is generally intensified when the muscle in query is lengthened. This tells us that the muscles’ inbuilt “stretch detectors” – called muscle spindles – are involved in producing that characteristic painful sensation. The nerve pathways linked to muscle spindles are closely related to neural pain pathways. This response might need evolved to permit muscles the time to recuperate.
Stretching to stop muscle soreness has long been advocated. But evidence suggests that stretching just before and/or simply after exercise actually has no effect on muscle soreness in the course of the subsequent days. So stretching to try to avoid the inevitable painful follow-up to a heavy workout is sort of actually not going to get you anywhere. There can be currently no compelling evidence that stretching might help reduce injuries in activities with high injury rates.
Beyond static and dynamic stretching, other techniques have grown in popularity in recent times.
Ballistic stretching is analogous to dynamic stretching, but incorporates bouncing movements to push the range of movement to the very extremes of its limits. Another kind of stretching, called proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitationor PNF, involves repeated contraction and rest of the goal muscles as a way to allow them to stretch. Many imagine PNF enables a greater range of movement, but this effect only lasts for around five seconds after the tip of the stretch.
All of those stretching methods will increase flexibility, but based on current evidence, static stretching continues to be more practical than either PNF or ballistic stretching at improving range of movement, and should even be barely higher than dynamic stretching.
But there’s really no must over-complicate your stretching routine. Work the big muscle groups inside their ranges of movement, and time things correctly so your stretches don’t detract from the remaining of your exercise. While stretching by itself is unlikely to have much impact in your workout or recovery, a little bit of stretching during your warm-up may help to progressively prepare your body for exercise.
That being said, stretching for the sake of improving flexibility still provides quite a few health advantagesincluding improved circulation and reduced blood pressure. Public guidelines recommend doing flexibility exercises two or thrice every week, incorporating each static and dynamic stretches.
If hammering out those stretches immediately after a workout is probably the most practical time to include your flexibility training, it actually isn’t going to do you any harm. And if you happen to are frightened about injuries, your best bet is to give attention to an intensive warm-up, which may perhaps include a healthy dose of dynamic stretching, too.