Flexibility 101 March 14th, 2008
- static stretching - holding a stretch -> new data suggests that you must hold the stretch for at least 45 seconds to fully engage the muscle.
- active isolated stretching - gradually increase the range of motion by moving in and out of your stretch
- dynamic stretching stretching - using your momentum and muscles to move a joint through its full range of motion
photo credit: crownjewel82
When I walk into a gym, I usually see a lot of incorrect techniques. Men are bench pressing, and their heads are coming off the bench during every rep. Women are squatting, and these knees are wobbling and their toes are facing outward. The problem is that no one is correcting these mistakes. Unless you’re a personal trainer, you might not even notice that there’s something wrong! But the issue is often a matter of FLEXIBILITY; certain muscles are shortened, tight, and bunched together, thereby making other muscles working even harder to compensate for those deficiencies.
Flexibility is the normal extensibility of al soft tissues that allow the full range of motion on a joint. In other words, it how well your joints move in a normal setting. When most people think of flexibility, they think of gymnasts and how well you can bend. That’s a major part of it, but flexibility also plays a major role in an important aspect of EVERYONE’S life: posture. Proper posture positions the body to work as effectively and safely as possible. This concept is known as neuromuscular efficiency. Good posture definitely depends on your flexibility. When your other muscles work hard to compensate for the tighter, shorter antagonist (or just opposite) muscles, it can pull on other areas of the body, leading to poor posture. If your abdominals, for example, are particularly tight, it can pull down on your rib cage, thus pull downing on your head and neck, giving you a “slouched” look.
Muscle imbalance occurs is when certain muscles are tight while others are lengthened and weaker. This ends up affecting joint position, leading to injury. This most common muscle imbalance occurs with people who have sedentary lifestyles or jobs. For example, if you sit at a computer all day, you might experience tight quads from sitting, or tight shoulders from typing. If it isn’t addressed properly, you could have poor posture. An associate of mine had a client whose right shoulder was about 3-4 inches above her left (instead of level). It turns out she worked on an assembly line for the past 20 years, and that’s the side she worked on! That was a case of a severe muscle imbalance, but you get the idea; if you don’t correct it now, it could turn into something serious.
Flexibility training helps correct the muscle imbalances. These include both flexibility and strengthening exercises. Flexibility exercises include various stretches, and strengthening exercises include both stretches and balancing techniques. If you need flexibility training for your calf, for example, the flexibility exercise might be a standing calf stretch, and the strengthening exercise might be a calf raise or a front step up to balance. Aside from correcting muscle imbalances, flexibility training can also increase joint range of motion, decrease tension of muscles, relieve joint stress, simply improve overal function and performance.
Stretching should be included in everyone’s fitness regimen. It should be done before a workout and after a workout. In fact, stretching itself can be your workout! There are three major types of stretching techniques with which you should familiarize yourself:
Once you are properly stretched out, and your flexibility is increased, you will begin to do your workouts with better form, thereby increasing their overall efficiency.
Tags: gym, muscles, Flexibility, joint, posture, neuromuscular efficiency, Muscle imbalance, joint position, Flexibility training, strengthening exercises, calf stretch, calf raise, increase joint range of motion, decrease tension of muscles, relieve joint stress, Stretching, static stretching, active isolated stretching, dynamic stretching stretching
March 18th, 2008 at 2:01 am
I agree, it amazes me too how much poor exercise technique is out there. Flexibility training is often an activity we know we should do but are guilty of not doing enough. Good post.