Posted In: Flexibility
I had an athlete who, when attemtping to stretch her quads, was unable to make her heel touch her glute.
Also, while sprinting, she had very low heel recovery.
Are these points related? And if so, how can you improve heel recovery? Another question would be, and possibly more importantly, why was this athletes’ quads unable to touch her glutes?
Whilst we are on this topic I wonder if someone could try and answer a question I have always wondered about.
Does flexibilty have a direct impact on speed and more directly on the ability to turn your legs over quickly? What I mean by that is that if somebody have very poor range of movement around their hips then is lifting their leg working against a restriction so therefore takes more energy/time.
If two people one flexible and one with poor flexibilty were asked to lift their knee to a certain point it would be more effort for the one with poor flexibility as they have to work against the resistance in their muscles – does this translate into inhibiting speed in terms of adding resistance to the movement?
I had an athlete who, when attemtping to stretch her quads, was unable to make her heel touch her glute.
Also, while sprinting, she had very low heel recovery.
Are these points related? And if so, how can you improve heel recovery? Another question would be, and possibly more importantly, why was this athletes’ quads unable to touch her glutes?
Possibly. Is she able to get her heel closer to her butt in hip flexion (high-knee or a-skip position) compared to the traditional quad stretch where the thigh is directly under the hips?
Sometimes the bulk of the hamstrings/calves can get in the way…I don’t think I can touch my heel to my butt. We would need to see a photo or video of her to comment further. Remember that in sprinting, you don’t want your heel touching your butt when your leg is behind you anyway.
Does flexibilty have a direct impact on speed and more directly on the ability to turn your legs over quickly? What I mean by that is that if somebody have very poor range of movement around their hips then is lifting their leg working against a restriction so therefore takes more energy/time.
If two people one flexible and one with poor flexibilty were asked to lift their knee to a certain point it would be more effort for the one with poor flexibility as they have to work against the resistance in their muscles – does this translate into inhibiting speed in terms of adding resistance to the movement?
Yes. If flexibility is poor, your limbs will feel heavier at certain positions and fighting through this tightness can eat up a lot more energy during a sprint.
But remember you only need flexibility in the range of your sporting activity. If you go too far in the other direction (hyper flexibility) you can end up losing some reactivity qualities.
” date=”1253739514″][quote author="Jay Turner" date="1253654710"]I had an athlete who, when attemtping to stretch her quads, was unable to make her heel touch her glute.
Also, while sprinting, she had very low heel recovery.
Are these points related? And if so, how can you improve heel recovery? Another question would be, and possibly more importantly, why was this athletes’ quads unable to touch her glutes?
Possibly. Is she able to get her heel closer to her butt in hip flexion (high-knee or a-skip position) compared to the traditional quad stretch where the thigh is directly under the hips?
Sometimes the bulk of the hamstrings/calves can get in the way…I don’t think I can touch my heel to my butt. We would need to see a photo or video of her to comment further. Remember that in sprinting, you don’t want your heel touching your butt when your leg is behind you anyway.[/quote] She is NOT able to get her heel closer to her butt in hip flexion. It’s the same regardless of whether she is stretching or running.
She has very bulky hamstrings. Thoughts?
” date=”1253739827″][quote author="bales" date="1253711399"]
Does flexibilty have a direct impact on speed and more directly on the ability to turn your legs over quickly? What I mean by that is that if somebody have very poor range of movement around their hips then is lifting their leg working against a restriction so therefore takes more energy/time.
If two people one flexible and one with poor flexibilty were asked to lift their knee to a certain point it would be more effort for the one with poor flexibility as they have to work against the resistance in their muscles – does this translate into inhibiting speed in terms of adding resistance to the movement?
Yes. If flexibility is poor, your limbs will feel heavier at certain positions and fighting through this tightness can eat up a lot more energy during a sprint.
But remember you only need flexibility in the range of your sporting activity. If you go too far in the other direction (hyper flexibility) you can end up losing some reactivity qualities.[/quote] Yeah I currently have an athlete who has hyper flexibility. I have commented on this in another thread but I may as well ask it here. What can you do to correct the “hyper-flexible” athlete?
She is NOT able to get her heel closer to her butt in hip flexion. It’s the same regardless of whether she is stretching or running.
She has very bulky hamstrings. Thoughts?
Hard to say. It’s probably not a big deal. If you’re really concerned, I would ask the trainer or PT or post a photo of the limitations.
Yeah I currently have an athlete who has hyper flexibility. I have commented on this in another thread but I may as well ask it here. What can you do to correct the “hyper-flexible” athlete?
Most athletes that are hyper-flexible…I always see them doing a seated spread eagle stretch with their chest pasted to the floor or something crazy like that. If they are hyperflexible, just stop stretching for range of motion. If the range is there, don’t static stretch. Check range on each stretch for 2seconds or so but if there is hyper-flexibility, don’t go holding stretching they don’t need for 30seconds.
” date=”1253859728″][quote author="Jay Turner" date="1253852326"]Yeah I currently have an athlete who has hyper flexibility. I have commented on this in another thread but I may as well ask it here. What can you do to correct the “hyper-flexible” athlete?
Most athletes that are hyper-flexible…I always see them doing a seated spread eagle stretch with their chest pasted to the floor or something crazy like that. If they are hyperflexible, just stop stretching for range of motion. If the range is there, don’t static stretch. Check range on each stretch for 2seconds or so but if there is hyper-flexibility, don’t go holding stretching they don’t need for 30seconds.[/quote]So you’re saying with this particular athlete, I should have her exclusively do dynamic stretches? If so, how does this help her?
So you’re saying with this particular athlete, I should have her exclusively do dynamic stretches? If so, how does this help her?
I am just saying if a muscle is already stretched out too much(hyperflexibility) then there is probably no need to stretch it more.
” date=”1253920587″][quote author="Jay Turner" date="1253920273"]So you’re saying with this particular athlete, I should have her exclusively do dynamic stretches? If so, how does this help her?
I am just saying if a muscle is already stretched out too much(hyperflexibility) then there is probably no need to stretch it more.[/quote]But wouldn’t dynamic stretches continue to stretch that muscle? Conceivably, could she just not stretch at all?
A dynamic stretch might only take her through her range of movement, just like actual running would, so it shouldnt contribute to hyperflexibility. At least I wouldnt have thought so.