Which comes first: the stretch or the workout?
Everyone knows that no workout can properly begin without a good stretching session. We all have been told that we should stretch before and after workouts both to decrease the risk of injuries and to perform stronger and faster. This is just common sense right? Well according to a litany of research this is not the case. Actually, stretching before a workout can actually make you slower and decrease your potential to generate power#.
What!! That is just heresy. But the fact of the matter is that stretching prior to a workout, especially one that involves a lot of jumping, sprinting, squatting, and agility drills, can slow you down and reduce your overall performance#. Why have we been told for years from coaches, therapists, trainers, and that big dude grunting like a gorilla while he squats a 1000 lbs that stretching is a must before a workout? The answer can be found by explaining how muscles work, what stretching does (and its benefits), and finally, by determining when it is truly appropriate.
Traditional stretching is traditionally referred to by clinicians as “static stretching.” The way static stretching works is by convincing the individual muscles that they don’t need to have so much tone (the constant non-valitionary nerve pulse to a muscle that maintains a steady level of tension). The muscles decrease tone when they get a signal from the “Golgi Tendon Organ” or GTO signaling that the force being applied to the muscle fibers is not enough to harm the muscle. When tone is decreased the muscle is allowed to be put in a more lengthened position and becomes more pliable#. This new lack of tone is great when you have finished an event, trying to fix posture brought on by tight muscles#, or elevate nagging muscle aches but is bad when you are about to need the maximum amount of tone your body can generate (i.e., sprinting, squatting, jumping, and etc.).
Researchers have found that if an athlete warms up prior to training or an event with sport specific calisthenic like exercise, going from simple to more aggressive, that the athlete will perform statistically significantly better than if the athlete did the same warm up followed by static stretching2. These results are explained by Nelson, EG and by our current understanding of how muscles work that static stretching reduces muscle tone and that tone is what is needed for maximum performance.
Now, this is not to say static stretching is not important4. Static stretching is extremely important and a necessary portion of any workout routine. Instead, this show that workouts should be thought-out and not just slapped together. So, if you want the most out of each workout and maximum performance then workouts should start with sport/event/activity specific calisthenics or warm-ups and then finished with a cool down followed by a good session of static stretching. Work out smarter - not harder!
Here is an example of what the research shows would be the best way to incorporate a warm up into your pre-workout routine followed by a static post workout stretching routine.
Warm up:
Workout
Cool Down:
Static Stretching:
If you have any question about this or any blog post feel free to e-mail Dave@betterhealthpro.com for more information.
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