Stretching our muscles is an important part of any fitness program. In order to stretch our muscles properly, we should follow several simple rules.
The first principle to remember for proper stretching is to isolate the muscle group. The positioning of the group of muscles should not be putting a stress or load on other ligaments or joints.
Before starting your stretch, you should find the point of zero tension for that muscle group. Zero tension is the point where there is no load on the specific muscles. From this point, you can adjust the tension of the muscle group gradually.
From zero tension, you can find the first awareness of gentle tension in your stretching of a muscle group. The first awareness and zero tension of a stretch are important to avoid overstretching and a possible injury.
The principle of less is best helps the muscle to return to relaxing to it’s current resting length. This is the best rule to apply when starting stretches.
Allowing the loss of tension is another golden rule for stretching. Timing of stretches is not recommended. The duration of a stretch will vary according to fatigue of the muscle, the initial load on the muscle and the amount of warm up done before stretching. Listening to your biofeedback of your muscle groups will help you safely stretch.
Most mistakes made in stretching exercises involve errors in positioning, overstretching, timing of stretches or loading other structures such as joints or ligaments.
Stretches are defined in a number of different ways. Dynamic stretches occur when the muscles isometrically contract to maintain a position. An example of this is the hip flexors contracting to stabilize the femur to the spine when one knee is bent.
Another kind of stretching is called the PNF method. A PNF stretch,or proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation method, refers to a person stretching against resistance from a partner. The PNF method holds a higher probability for injury by stretching as overstretching can easily result.
Passive-active and active–assisted methods of stretching use some of the PNF method and some of the dynamic stretches. Either a partner or special equipment is used for these kinds of stretches.
Static stretches are the safest and are done individually without any equipment and with less risk of muscle soreness.
When stretching, the old adage of “no pain, no gain” does not apply. Build safely to your stretching part of your exercise program to avoid injury and enhance the strength and flexibility of your muscle groups.
This entry was posted on Saturday, January 5th, 2008 at 12:05 pm and is filed under Fitness Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.