Comments on: How not to stretch

By: Danny Young

Danny Young — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:16:34 +0000

Wim,

You make an excellent point here, what does the Martial Art you practice require? I have never heard anyone say that before, it’s always been flex as far as you can, and then some.

Doing what you need certainly free’s one from the guilt of, “why can’t I do the splits?” Or, I should be more flexible.

By: Danny Young

Danny Young — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:18:31 +0000

I for one believe in stretching, and I do believe from empirical evidence it does help prevent injuries when done in a correct manner that does not injury the muscle. This is just my humble opinion. Thanks!
Danny

By: Steve Perry

Steve Perry — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:17:52 +0000

I was just pointing out the study. I have done stretching long as I’ve been exercising, and will keep doing it, though I tend to warm up first and then stretch, whereas I used to do it the other way.

And not as much. I’m not going to get the full split, and since nothing I do requires close to that level of flexibility, it’s a diminishing return for me. Of course, I don’t do high kicks any more, either.

By: Chad

Chad — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:31:58 +0000

Oh my gods…

That’s not training or stretching — that’s torture. I can just imagine the poor guys groin muscles tearing more every time they lift him up or push the legs further back.

By: Wim

Wim — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:19:42 +0000

Ouch and then some more ouch…

By: Steve Holley

Steve Holley — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:33:18 +0000

I’m fairly sure that instructor now works for an intelligence agency doing black ops work. Waterboarding? Hah? Wait ’till HE gets a hold of you.

I trained with a well known Japanese Karate sensei back in the 70’s and we were doing the “Butterfly” stretch. You know – the one where you put the soles of your feet together and bounce your knees up and down. I’ve never had good lateral flexability and my knees didn’t go very close to the ground.

Sensei came up behind me and said “Make a knees touch a floor”. I said “I can’t Sensei”. He said “Oh, we make a knees touch a floor”. And without further ado, he put his hand on my shoulders and jumped into the air, his feet landing with his full body weight on the inside of my knees.

He was right. My knees DID touch the floor. And I couldn’t train for 2 weeks.

I came back though. I have no sense.

By: Wim

Wim — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:26:00 +0000

@ Steve: In the last 20 years, this always crops up once or twice a year: Some study claims stretching is useless or even bad. The problem is that you rarely get the full explanation of the study. What did they test? How? What was the population? Which type of stretching are they talking about? Etc. So I take all of those with a grain of salt.
I work on the principle of a flexibility surplus: For every move I do, I need to have a surplus of flexibility for the ROM required. That margin gives me some leeway to compensate for potential errors that could cause injuries. For some moves, this isn’t a big deal. For others, doing full splits isn’t necessary but it sure helps. And it also allows you to do the move at a much more complex level. So I it depends on what you’re studying.
The other principle I use is no stretching without strengthening. I want flexible AND strong muscles, not just flexible.

Just my personal preferences.

Wim