Myths of Stretching
There are many myths and misconceptions about stretching and how it should be applied. One of the most common myth or misconceptions involves static stretching and when and how it should be used.
So why has static stretching been given such a bad rap? Because poorly designed studies (refer to Study Reference Section in back of manual) shows that static stretching would inhibit neural activity in the stretched muscle – decreasing its strength and possibly increasing the risk of injury when performed prior to training and physical activity.
I can show you even more studies that show that the opposite is true – so who do we believe? When research contradicts one another then we need to look at what happens in the real world.
The problem with this study was that it did not apply the static stretching for what it was intended for or at the right time. One of these studies have two groups of athletes perform a dynamic warmup then they would then have the control group perform sprints and record times. The test group would then perform static stretching after their dynamic warmup and prior to the sprint.
They concluded that static stretching prior to training would decreasing power, which is true however in the real world would never (I hope) be applied in this manner. Static stretching would be performed prior to the dynamic warmup so their study would never carry over to the real world.
Everyone seems to be on the dynamic warm-up bandwagon these days but is this truly the best method or should it just be one tool and a very large tool box?
I think one reason why many people are quick to jump on board with the static stretching is bad and dynamic stretching is good could be because that is the limit of their tool box. They may only know a handful of flexibility exercises and only one or two methods of flexibility training.
Static stretching has its place as does dynamic stretching but these are just two methods out there and there is a lot more tools for the job, it’s a matter of picking the right tool for the job at hand.
Below you can see some of the “tools” used for integrated flexibility training.
1. MyoFascial Release
2. Static Stretching
3. Progressive Static Stretching
4. 3D Stretching
5. Active Isolated Stretching
6. Neuromuscular Stretching
7. Contract-Relax
8. Contract-Relax-Antagonist-Contract
9. Dynamic Stretching
10. Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF)
11. Joint Mobility
12. Movement Prep
13. Fascial Stretching
14. Eccentric Quasi-Isometrics
15. Neurodynamic Mobilization
When the flexibility training is completed then this is followed but techniques known as Neuromuscular Activation Technique that are used heighten neural activity in individual muscles and movement patterns before we even begin the process of complex training this also allows re-activation of muscles that may have been inhibited by using certain stretching techniques.
So the flawed argument does not hold water when even applied to just static stretching which has been shown to create neural inhibition in the muscle being stretched (which in some cases is exactly what we are looking for).
These seems to be trends when it comes to flexibility training as there is in all areas of fitness training and the anti static stretching and pro dynamic stretching seems to be one of the current trends as the time of writing this manual. I am sure given a few more years there will be a new trend that people will be following.