Stretching, HUH, what is it good for? (in my best Edwin Starr impersonation.) (Look it up if you don’t know).

If you see what floats around social media, you’ve probably heard one, if not both, of two extremes. Something along the lines of “EVERYONE should stretch EVERYTHING, EVERY day,” or gaining more popularity these days something like this… “Stretching is useless, and carries no benefit. Have you ever seen a dog stretch before it chases a squirrel?” For starters, I watch my dog stretch his legs every time he gets off the ground, but that’s besides the point. You and I have enough common sense to know there’s a pretty significant difference of anatomy and physiology between myself and my dog.

When done correctly, flexibility work not only can make your body feel incredible (which has high intrinsic value in itself), but also allows for optimal development of athletic performance. One point that cannot be emphasized enough is the understanding that we are looking at flexibility as a piece of our LTAD (Long Term Athletic Development) training model, and how it works synergistically with all other aspects of our training model.

Physical training for athletic development involves four qualities related to training: flexibility, speed, strength, and endurance. Flexibility is the base of all training because, without it, you cannot accomplish the other three goals. Think about it. If you wanted to create speed, but could barely move your legs due to a lack of flexibility, you would be pretty slow. If you wanted to build strength in a movement but didn’t have the flexibility to do it, you could not begin to build strength in it. If you wanted to build conditioning in an activity but didn’t possess the adequate range of motion to do the activity repetitively without injury, you could never build your endurance.

What is flexibility work?

Flexibility can be a frustrating topic, there are all sorts of opinions on when to do it, what type is best, and how often it should be done. For that reason, many athletes just leave it out of their training altogether. With flexibility being the foundation of all physical training, that is a huge mistake because you are only as good as your foundation. So what is flexibility work?

Flexibility work can be accomplished in two ways:

Eliminate excessive neural tone to allow for an INCREASE in the length of the muscle (This is handled by doing RPR)
Mechanically INCREASE the length of a muscle through static stretching.

For the purposes of the rest of the blog, we will focus on static stretching, as RPR is covered in other blogs.

Before we get into static stretching, we need to understand that flexibility work is NOT dynamic stretching or mobility work. While both of these are important parts of our program, dynamic stretching and mobility work are designed to warm up the tissues around the joint and allow the body access to ranges of motion that it ALREADY HAD. While a lot of athletes have gone to just doing dynamic stretches and mobility work, there is a huge risk in eliminating static stretching work. If an athlete does not ALREADY possess the range of motion needed to do the activity safely, they will get injured. This is why static stretching will always remain an integral part of our LTAD training model.

Why the confusion?

You may have heard about a study that showed that static stretching, before a vertical jump, showed a lower vertical jump than without static stretching. This and several other studies like it were conducted by researchers with an agenda and they drew false conclusions about stretching to prove their point. They had athletes static stretch for long periods, then immediately do a vertical jump. This is not how any sane person would organize static stretching and training. On top of that, using that same logic we would conclude that sleeping must be eliminated from an athlete’s life. If you had an athlete do a vertical jump immediately after waking up, it would be lower than if they did one after being awake for several hours. Obviously, you can see the issue by drawing these types of conclusions and how flawed this logic is. Sleep is crucial for an athlete’s performance and so is static stretching. On top of this, since this type of false narrative has been spread and static stretching has been eliminated in many programs, the rate of injury in athletics has skyrocketed.

Static Stretching Explained.

When it comes to static stretching, a lot of athletes imagine just laying there and not really doing much. This is NOT what static stretching should look like. Approaching static stretching properly makes it time that vastly improves your athletic capabilities. We believe static stretching is one of the hardest parts of any training session. Ultimately, in any training, you always get out of it, what you put into it.

To help ensure you get the most out of your static stretching we teach three key points:

Static Stretching must be done WITH INTENT
Static stretching is considered a passive modality but it is an active part of our training sessions. This means any static stretching that is done must be coached and performed with serious intent. We expect our athletes to attack this portion of their training with the same discipline as they would any lift, sprint, or jump.
Static stretching must be done through a series of MULTIPLE POSITIONS
We take all of our static stretches through a series. While we hold positions statically to elicit a response, we approach each stretch from multiple angles and positions. In other words, you are not sitting still through the entirety of the stretch but actively changing positions.
Static stretching must INCREASE THE RANGE OF MOTION
Every time we progress through a series, there should be an increase in the range of motion. The goal is never to reach a range that is painful while ensuring that the range of motion gained is consistently better than the last time the stretch was performed.

What do we stretch?

The last thing we want to talk about is ensuring that you are stretching the right muscles. In your body, there are muscles that are prone to getting too short due to the modern environment we live in. We put a ton of time into deciding what the appropriate stretches and time parameters are for certain athletes. Without the knowledge and expertise we have, you can stick to one general rule of thumb while selecting what muscles you should prioritize in your static stretching. That is: “Stretch what is tight, strengthen what is weak”. Stretching already weak muscles could put you at a greater risk of injury. Further strength training tight muscles through a partial range of motion could also lead to an injury. When done for the wrong reasons and with sub-optimal execution, static stretching can cause harm. Of course, this could be said about any facet of training, which you will learn as you read our other blogs on speed, strength, and conditioning.

Our training philosophy is built on “Building Better Movement”, and hopefully after reading this blog, you understand how The Spot Athletics utilizes static stretching as a tool to accomplish this task. So make sure you follow our guidelines above and the helpful rule of thumb as you evaluate what to strength in your athletic development program. You would be surprised how much better your body will feel and perform by simply adding 5-10 minutes of static stretching per day.