It never ceases to amaze howwarm-up and stretching are equated. Warm-up to stretch, do not stretchto warm-up. Essentially it is counterproductive and a huge waste oftime. If you are spending ten minutes a day static stretching inwarm-up, that is ten minutes that you are not making them betterathletically.There is plenty of research to show that pre exercisestretching does NOT prevent injury. Despi
Stretching and Warmup
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Participant
Of course we all know the research, however………….
Don't many very successful sprint/track coaches have their athletes perform some, maybe not alot, but at least some static stretching. From what I have seen Dan Pfaff, Charlie Francis, and even Mike Young from the site have static stretching/flexibiltiy listed in their warmups. I'm sure it has been talked to death but a little can't be too bad.
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KeymasterYeah I static stretch 3-5x per week. We are selective with it though. There's no static stretching prior to testing or competition and once we get past the first training cycle, I even start phasing out static stretching prior to high CNS days.
The negative effects of static stretching are still not completely understood and although I generally advocate against its overuse, there is a small amount of research that indicates that it may increase strength or even speed (although neither acutely) when done over extended periods of time.
ELITETRACK Founder
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Participant
Yeah I static stretch 3-5x per week. We are selective with it though. There's no static stretching prior to testing or competition and once we get past the first training cycle, I even start phasing out static stretching prior to high CNS days.
The negative effects of static stretching are still not completely understood and although I generally advocate against its overuse, there is a small amount of research that indicates that it may increase strength or even speed (although neither acutely) when done over extended periods of time.
I personally don't do many and don't hold them long. They make me sore sometimes and also they take too long and are boring, etc.
But it's hard to argue completely against it's use when you are talking about the aforementioned coaches and their athletes.
But then you hear Carl Lewis say he only stretched very briefly and didn't hold them long at all, couple stretches for a couple seconds.And you also have to wonder how much Donovan Bailey really static stretched…
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Participant
Right now I'm training five days per week and i normally static stretch after jogging each workout and on my tempo days Tue and Thur i finish with stretching after my BB circuit, so i static stretch 7x per week. Before each workout i hold the strecth for 15sec and after workouts 30secs, I may do the same on race day.
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Participant
I personally don't do many and don't hold them long. They make me sore sometimes and also they take too long and are boring, etc.
But it's hard to argue completely against it's use when you are talking about the aforementioned coaches and their athletes.
But then you hear Carl Lewis say he only stretched very briefly and didn't hold them long at all, couple stretches for a couple seconds.And you also have to wonder how much Donovan Bailey really static stretched…
Maybe Carl & Donovan didn't stretch much but they both had physiotherapists for the majority of their careers. Massage therapy is basically lengthening the muscle and has effects very similar to static stretching.
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Keymaster
Other than some of my special stretching series we typically hold our static stretches far shorter than what most people do. I emphasize a focus on breathing and have the hold be 3-5 deep breathing cycles (about 10-15 seconds).
ELITETRACK Founder
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Keymaster
I wanted to add that the focus on breathing is something taken from Yoga techniques. By consciously taking control of breathing (something normally controlled by the autonomic nervous system) stretch / muscle lengthening inhibitions from the nervous system seem to be reduced drastically.
ELITETRACK Founder
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Keymaster
So Mike – are you saying that by consciously controling breathing can have a negative effect on the nervous system?
I think you've misunderstood my intent. Here's a little better explanation. Flexibility tends to be limited more by our innate inability to relax our muscles than any true muscle or tendon length issues. This inability to relax our muscles is a byproduct of the protective mechanisms of our neuromuscular system. This phenomenon is evidenced by the effectiveness of PNF routines (which effectively 'trick' the protective mechanisms) as well as studies examining joint range of motion under sedation (another condition in which the protective mechanisms are less). I've found (as did Yogi masters 1,000s of years ago) that you can reduce muscular tension by controlling breathing.
ELITETRACK Founder
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