Stretching The Truth

February 28, 2005

Oh yes, if there’s a way to squeak a bad pun in there, I will.

I was asked about stretching, and I assume the request was something more to do with what I thought might be a good stretching program. Let me tell you this as my first off disclaimer: I stretch as little as possible, because I just haven’t seen much in the way of results from doing so. EXCEPT for my back. That said, here’s what I believe about stretching.

Rare disclaimer: Stretching can really muck people up. Check with your doctor, etc. Etc.

Warm Up First

Someone gave me the best imagery for this. If you don’t warm up before stretching, it’s like taking old chewing gum left in your car overnight and pulling violently at it. What’s going to happen is, the gum’s going to snap. Your muscles will act the same way.

Warming up involves something like doing a boatload of jumping jacks, or walking very briskly for five minutes. You can run in place and do arm circles and the like, too. That’ll get you warmed up enough to be ready to stretch. The point is that you want your muscles to be prepped and ready to accept the stretching you’re giving them. Five minutes of warmup is good. Some say 10’s even better.

Active Stretches Are Better

Okay, that’s my opinion. But everything here is my opinion, so there. Active stretches are things like AIS (Active Isolated Stretching), which involves either using a towel or a rope or some other assistance to help you stretch your body through a range of motion. I found a great site to give you more information on AIS.

Other good active stretches are found in the Movement Prep section of Mark Verstegen’s CORE PERFORMANCE. They involve things like the hip crossover, the scorpion, handwalking, and a variety of other very useful ranges of motion that get your body closer to the flexibility you need.

Stretching Before Running

Most of the running magazines ran big articles on this last year, saying there’s a fairly strong divide down the middle between folks who say you should stretch before running and others who say they never saw a benefit, either way. I’m hard pressed to comment, insofar as I’ve had no injuries to speak of. I’m not nursing any wrecked calf muscles or anything like that. However, with that said, I don’t stretch a lick before running. If you ever see me doing stretches before a race, it’s really only that I’m feeling out of place and nervous, and not because I’m attempting to gain some kind of benefit from the effort.

Exceptions to My Rules

I do stretch my back out after warming up. I sure do. Why? Because I’m still having all kinds of lower back troubles, and I’m trying to see if stretching leaves me feeling any better than when I don’t stretch. In my research, I’ve also learned that sometimes having tight hip flexors and/or tight hamstrings can often be misjudged as bad lower back pain. So what the hell? I’m trying some stretches for those areas too, again with the goal of seeing if this makes a different.

So far, it hasn’t helped me.

Now, I *do* believe that flexibility is definitely a part of athleticism. I believe that perhaps my methods won’t leave me nimble enough to be a competitive martial artist or a … what else… a gymnast or the like. Maybe. I don’t really know yet. So far, I haven’t ever been left with the sense that flexibility has been what’s holding me back.

If I get to that point, I’ll stick with active stretches after warmups, and only then as a precursor to activities that will further stretch the muscle groups in question through exercise or drills.

Above all else on this topic, I believe your mileage may vary. Different people will surely respond with their successes or failures with stretching. I’m certain my opinions will diverge greatly from lots of the other folks you read. Especially, I’m guessing, injured runners will tell me of their stretching regimens and how it saved their running. I believe this is true, every bit as much as I believe stretching hasn’t done much to benefit me.

Your mileage may vary. Yes?

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