Stretching and flexibility Training – Benefits

Stretching and flexibility Training,  Do you warm up before a workout? If you have common sense, you must take care of your joints and tendons. However, my second question will surprise you. What have you chosen for yourself, to train stiff but inflated or to stretch?

What is flexibility?

This is the body’s ability to perform the movement of a joint within a certain range of motion. Whether we are talking about flexibility, mobility or mobility, we are talking about the movement of the limbs around their adjacent joints or movements in the torso relative to the spine. To understand exactly what flexibility is, you will need to read a few more definitions and return to the basics. When we talk about flexibility, we always mean reduced, increased or normal. But how do you determine which one is which?

Degree of flexibility

Flexibility is measured in degrees relative to a standard. There are generally accepted norms about what our joints can do despite the muscles for the average person and special standards for athletes for each sport. If for a person with a medium level of physical training it is enough to be able to bend down and touch his toes, then for a gymnast this is not enough.

So mobility for a footballer can be abnormal for a ballet dancer or normal for a sprinter. The degree of flexibility affects certain motor chains (inseparable combinations of moving muscles and joints), as increased flexibility in some often leads to reduced flexibility in others and does not guarantee the mobility of third motor chains. Example: being able to touch your toes does not automatically make you able to touch your heel to your buttocks from a standing position. However, under certain conditions and exercises, you can achieve both by expanding the range of your movements.

Range, what is it?

This is the distance between two endpoints in the amplitude / trajectory of movement, which can describe a given joint in ideal conditions (maximum range of motion), and in real – average range of motion.

Average range of motion

The average range of motion is limited by the muscles located in opposite groups on the limbs and torso. To make it clearer, I immediately give an example: when we tighten the biceps, how far we can bend the elbow joints depends on the length of the triceps that we stretch. To better understand the article below, it is desirable to know more about muscle contraction.

Muscle groups during movements

  • protagonists who make the movement stop in a certain position;
  • antagonists – they in turn lengthen and thus reflect their degree of flexibility, in this case more flexible, meaning more elongated;

What about the tendons?

Unlike muscles, tendons do not have elasticity, and the mobility (too long) of some muscles often leads to ruptures and growths of the latter.

What is the standard for flexibility

Flexibility standards are systematized values ​​(lengths and angles) that an athlete should be able to realize in order to reach his / her maximum potential in the sports activity he / she exercises. I will tell you right away which physical sport has the lowest standard. Of course, we are talking about modern bodybuilding. Do not smile, there is a reason for this, as you will find out in the following lines.

Types of flexibility

Flexibility can be categorized according to the ratio of agonist and antagonist muscles to a given position, with or without dynamics. We distinguish:

  • Dynamic flexibility (kinetic flexibility): the ability to perform dynamic (kinetic) muscle movements so as to guide the limb through the full range of motion in the joint;
  • Static-active flexibility (Active flexibility): the ability to perform movement and maintain position only with the help of agonists (dynamists) and synergists (supporting muscles), while antagonists are passively stretched. Example: you lift a leg, stretch forward and hold it without touching it anywhere. In this way you stretch the gluteal muscles while the thigh muscles maintain the position.

  • Static-passive flexibility (Passive flexibility): the ability, after taking a stretched position, to be maintained only by the weight of the limb (body), without the use of force by agonists. An example of having passive flexibility is the ability to make a split on the floor. This is far from the dynamic flexibility that allows you to perform a split in the air.

Flexibility and muscle mass, what is the connection?

In most cases, the connection is inversely proportional, for at least one of the motor circuits. I admit that it is partly wrong to make such brief summaries on an issue that deserves to be addressed in a separate article, so I will try to provide one in the near future.

The general idea is that sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (volume growth of muscles, type of bodybuilding) shortens certain muscles at the expense of their convexity and thus their antagonists are prolonged. The result is a shift in overall muscle tone, deterioration of posture, wear and tear of the joints, the appearance of spikes and last but not least, impaired functionality. However, any breach is remediable if detected early enough. For this purpose, they are conducted on tests by a specialist: stretching therapist / trainer, kinesitherapist, physiotherapist and / or orthopedist. After them, the person with established deviations from the norm is drawn up an individual stretching program and a prescription, when and how to perform it.

What is stretching?

“Stretching” is the English word for “stretching”, which has become the international name for the practice of controlled muscle stretching. Over the years spent in sports and medical experimentation and the study of traditional practices, a number of separate techniques have been formed, each of which brings its own benefits to its practitioners. Abstracting from yoga, because in it stretching is only part of everything, we can define the following types of stretching:

Independent stretching techniques:

  • Static stretching: after taking a stretching position, the latter is retained for a certain period of time;
  • Ballistic stress: the inertia of the moving body / limb is used to cause the latter to perform a motor amplitude outside the limits of normal movements;
  • Dynamic stretching: slow, gentle and rhythmic movements are used to stretch the limb / body placed in the stretched position, applying pressure from the other limbs or using the weight of the body;
  • Active stretching: dynamic flexibility is provided;
  • Passive stretching: provides passive and static passive flexibility; Isometric stretching: a type of stretching in which the resistance of different muscle groups is applied to the stretched muscle in contractions.

Assisted stretching

  • Stretching with a partner: in this technique the partner performs the stretching or assists in occupying / maintaining the stretching positions;
  • Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF): defined as a method of increasing muscle role and volitional impulses, which is achieved by stimulating the proprioceptive nerve endings. It is the idea of ​​accelerating the response of the neuromuscular mechanism to irritation of the proprioceptors of the sensory organs. Thus, the stimulation of physiological reflexes facilitates the volitional contraction of the muscle. 

Why to stretch? Stretching and flexibility Training

Here are four good reasons to make stretching part of your daily physical activity:

  • Stretching will help you increase the range of your movements;
  • Stretching will reduce the likelihood of injury during dynamic physical activity;
  • Stretching exercises after weight training with weights reduce the negatives of muscle fever that appears in the first 24 hours after exercise;
  • Well-done stretching can reduce the delayed (delayed) muscle fever that occurs between the 24th and 72nd hour after a hard workout.

Stretching and flexibility Training

 

 

Stretching and flexibility Training

 

Sources used for Stretching and flexibility Training :

  • “Back to the Basics for the New Year”, Paul Chek; chekinstitute.com
  • “Sport Stretch”, Michael J. Alter
  • “Stretching Scientifically”,Tom Kurz
  • “SynerStretch For Total Body Flexibility”, Health For Life Program
  • “Mobility Training for the Martial Arts”, Tony Gummerson
  • “The Health For Life Training Advisor”, Health For Life Program

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