Hey fellas. FYI, 5’8" 209lbs., powerlifter. Train Westside style and love it. Had tremendous results. Compete about 3 times a year, shooting for 4 this year.
My question is, I stretch out my body before I do any training for about 7-10 minutes. But for many months now, I haven’t seen any more flexibility. You know, my head won’t touch my knees when I am stretching my hams. I’m thinking of asking one of the trainers if they can give me a "lil’ push to get more stretch. What do ya’ll do if ya’ll stretch at all. Oh and if ya’ll just tell me to run to the trainers,…no problem,…OMG!..one of them is sooo dam hot!!
I don’t know if the recommendations have changed recently but when I was checking the literature, the general concensus was:
Don’t stretch before you lift. If you’re going to stretch, stretch afterwards. It’s really even better to stretch after warming up with cardio. When you stretch, the muscle is weakened a little bit. So stretching a muscle and then using it to lift really isn’t conducive to your best performance.
If you want to prepare yourself for lifting, it’s best to warm up with the actual lift. Do it with light weights and with good form and get the blood pumping.
You can also have an exercise that gets the blood flowing like light overhead squats or some light power cleans.
If you’re wanting to improve your flexibility then look around for a routine for PNF stretching. There’s probably some good articles on stretching and flexibility on t-mag.
Pencil is right. Static stretching is for post workout.
I take a yoga class once a week (babe city) and stretch every day and I’ve been taught that the things to avoid are bouncing and forcing. If you’re not getting more flexible, you probably need to hold the stretched position longer as you apply constant steady pressure.
Your position also matters. For example, if you do the “touch your toes” stretch while sitting with your legs out in front of you, your upper body weight is working with gravity to get you deeper into the stretch. Get a yoga book with lots of good pictures and use those positions for your stretches.
Pencil neck’s right about doing the stretching afterwards, and I’m really bad about that. I do warm up with lower body stretching, but also throughout my workout. I’ll also do rear delt flys as a warmup lift.
I’m not going to get into the when to stretch argument, personally I stretch all the time. I will give you a tip for how to stretch. Warm the muscles first, about ten minutes. Then when stretching alway relax the muscles you’re stretching, tight muscles do not stretch. Relax wiggle your toes, shake the feet. Never less than thirty seconds and repeat. Pick a day for stretching only, spend 30 - 45 minutes. Got the time Yoga once a week. I totally believe stretching prevents most injuries. I stretch between sets, at work, at home and aways before bed, makes my mornings easy. Food for thought. Good luck Bro.
[quote]streamline wrote:
I’m not going to get into the when to stretch argument, personally I stretch all the time. I will give you a tip for how to stretch. Warm the muscles first, about ten minutes. Then when stretching alway relax the muscles you’re stretching, tight muscles do not stretch. Relax wiggle your toes, shake the feet. Never less than thirty seconds and repeat. Pick a day for stretching only, spend 30 - 45 minutes. Got the time Yoga once a week. I totally believe stretching prevents most injuries. I stretch between sets, at work, at home and aways before bed, makes my mornings easy. Food for thought. Good luck Bro.[/quote]
Thanks. I always wondered about stretching before bedtime. Cuz the mornings are bad for me,…just to roll over to the edge and get out of bed is sometimes painful. Okay, maybe not really painful but terrible for 36 I think.
What I do before each and every workout is a full body mobility regimen which involves static stretches combined with dynamic movements.
I basically start at the bottom and work my way up the body, addressing every major joint.
To wit:
-Ankle Circles
-Calf/instep stretch
-Hip twists (rotate the hip in its socket)
-Side to Side Strafes
-Arm Circles
-Shoulder Rolls
-Chest opener stretch
-Overhead Lat pull stretch