![]() ![]() There have been several experiments and studies measuring strength variations in pre stretch versus no pre stretching before a physical activity. Stretching Makes You Weak: As you stretch your muscles, you are actually putting them into a weaker state and depleting the blood surge needed to both muster the power and sustain the endurance. Should you practice stretching to warm up you are actually engaging a ‘cold’ muscle in its weakest, most vulnerable position. Since blood is drawn in during the contraction, stretching actually denies your muscles the metabolic activity that stimulates a warm-up. Stretching pulls muscles and does not contract them. Stretching actually puts your muscles into a cold state. Stretching Does Not “warm-up” Your Muscles : The idea of stretching to warm up is misleading. That is, stretching does not improve tissue compliance (flexibility) rather, the stretching exercises increase stretch tolerance (the ability to withstand the pain) during the stretching procedure. In fact, during these studies it was observed that the increased range of motion resulting from stretching might be a result of an increase in stretch tolerance. Stretching the muscles actually weakens the tendons and ligaments, and that puts you at risk for injury, it doesn’t make you more flexible. Stretching Does Not Improve Flexibility: Your muscles have a primary function to protect joints and ligaments, and each muscle has a limited range of motion in order to hold its protective position. leaves joints and ligaments vulnerable to injury and.What these studies observed is that stretching (Studies noted at the end of this post): However, anecdotal observations rarely quell the intellectual curiosity or the skepticism of mankind (or our clients), therefore scientific studies are required. I’ve yet to see a dog doing any warm up stretches before engaging in ball fetching or squirrel chasing – both of which require speed, strength and endurance. If we stick with Mother Nature and animal instinct as a common sense guide, then we wouldn’t stretch either pre or post exercise. If you don’t have a dog or cat, borrow a neighbor’s. ![]() If you want to practice a good stretch technique upon waking, or post desk sitting marathon, I encourage you to mimic your cat or dog’s routine. These kinds of stretches are a good thing. A gentle stretch can realign the spine and wake up tight muscles. Mother Nature and animal instinct know something and we humans should take note. Watching a cat or a dog rise from a nap, they might take a luxurious and gentle stretch. Moreover, post-exercise stretching will prevent soreness. ![]() Stretch to warm up before a workout stretch to improve your flexibility stretch to loosen your joints and muscles… And we we’ve been led to believe that stretching is a pre– ( fill-in your activity) best practice that will improve performance and reduce the risk of injury. Their coach must not be keeping up with the latest sports medicine reports nor read the recent NY Times Article reporting that stretching isn’t a good way to start off any sports activity or exercise routine. My wife had to hold tightly onto my arm to prevent me from running out onto the field and yelling STOP. There they were, sporting team shirts and gracefully bending, turning and bowing as they stretched to get ready. While at a local park with my family, I looked over toward the soccer fields and watched the athletes preparing for their match. Studies Suggest Stretching Does Not Improve Performance, Prevent Injury or
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