The Truth About Stretching
POSTED ON December 11th, 2008 BY Paul
Every b-boy and b-girl knows the scene: you walk into a jam/battle/session and half the b-boys are sitting on the ground tugging a leg or straining to touch their toes. Some b-boys seem to spend more time stretching than they do dancing (they can’t all be like Alien Ness, who doesn’t stretch at all).
If this NY Times article is to be believed, they may all actually be weakening themselves by as much as 30% for a period of up to half an hour. The article puts it this way:
“You may feel as if you’re able to stretch farther after holding a stretch for 30 seconds,” McHugh says, “so you think you’ve increased that muscle’s readiness.” But typically you’ve increased only your mental tolerance for the discomfort of the stretch. The muscle is actually weaker.
The preferred way of warming up among many top athletes is called “dynamic stretching.” The exercises are different depending on what activity you’ll be doing, meaning runners can get away with doing a few squats and lunges, while the article recommends this for more intense activity:
Athletes who need to move rapidly in different directions, like soccer, tennis or basketball players, should do dynamic stretches that involve many parts of the body. “Spider-Man” is a particularly good drill: drop onto all fours and crawl the width of the court, as if you were climbing a wall.
This doesn’t mean that stretching is a completely bad idea, just that stretching before a practice or battle is. If you stretch after a session, you’ll still be increasing your flexibility and range of motion.
Check the article for more instructions on how to better warm up before a session or a battle, and I hope to see a whole bunch of b-boys and b-girls doing the Spider-Man walk at my next jam.
CATEGORY: Media
Probably the best article I’ve seen on stretching in a well known magazine in a long time. I believe the dynamic stretching is also known as ballistic stretching, so if you’re googlin’ it or lookin’ up research articles on some medical site you should get some more results.
Thanks for the info!
actually its common to confuse dynamic stretching with ballistic stretching. however, dynamic stretching doesn’t involve any jerking or bouncing movements like ballistic stretching does.
ballistic stretching doesn’t properly warm up the muscles and forces the limbs beyond their ROM, which can sometimes lead to injury.
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but, i do agree that this is a very well written and accurate article on stretching. great find!
if ballistic stretching doesn’t warm up the muscles properly, what is it used for? Is it just a technique that’s proven to be less helpful than initially thought?
sorry..i should have clarified myself. ballistic stretching can be beneficial, but because some people have performed the stretch without proper training and knowledge, resulting in injury, it quickly got a bad rep.
while ballistic stretching doesn’t properly warm up the muscles it can still be used as a stretching technique by which to increase your ROM. however, you must have properly warmed up your muscles(ie. with dynamic stretching) BEFORE performing ballistic stretching.
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because ballistic stretching is one that uses forceful jerking and bouncing movements to increase ROM, it has the potential of tearing muscle. Esp in those with previous injuries and/or tense/stiff muscles, it is normally performed by pro athletics under supervision of a trainer. and is most beneficial when used in activities that require a burst of speed, like sprinting.
Word, good to know. Thanks for the knowledge.
30 secs of a light stretch is better than 10 secs of a hard one. Our muscles and ligaments have a mechanism that loosens and prepares our muscles to be used. This mechanism is triggered better when you hold a medium -to- light stretch for 30 secs. :]