Stretching question for jwinch2

[swdw]

Starting a new thread because the other one had too much mudslinging :rolleyes:

Anyway, I thought I'd ask this so the answer could be public.

I saw the studies you had posted and was wondering if there was a study on the type of static stretching proposed by the "Scientific Stretching" video.

They are proponents of dynamic stretching prior to a workout, but their static stretching ideas are different than normal.

For a post workout static stretch they propose the following; I'll use the splits as an example.

1. Go as wide as you can in the splits until you feel the muscles stretch (not pull or hurt)
2. Hold for 10 seconds
3. Squeeze the muscles on the inside of the leg as if you were trying to pull your feet back together and hold for 5 seconds (basically an isometric). Careful of knee pressure
4. Relax the isometric, work your feet slightly wider
5. repeat steps 2 through 5 for a total of 30 seconds of stretching and i5 seconds of isometric. Always end with the isometric.

They state the combination of the stretch and the isometric increases both strength and flexibility (I know that it does work for flexibility), reducing the chance of injury.

I've had students do this with a variation- 2 person stretch. Assume a side kick position. One person lifts the leg of the stretcher suprting the knee joint (base of the femur at the joint). He follows instructions from the strethcher on how far to go. The stretcher puts downward pressure against the assistant. When he relaxes, the asistant then moves the leg higher until told to stop. ( gets rid of pressure on the knees and only stretches one side at a time)

My question is- are there any studies on this type of stretching that either contradict or verify their claims.

Thanks for the help- really enjoy your knowledge.

[jwinch2]

Starting a new thread because the other one had too much mudslinging :rolleyes:

Anyway, I thought I'd ask this so the answer could be public.

I saw the studies you had posted and was wondering if there was a study on the type of static stretching proposed by the "Scientific Stretching" video.

They are proponents of dynamic stretching prior to a workout, but their static stretching ideas are different than normal.

For a post workout static stretch they propose the following; I'll use the splits as an example.

1. Go as wide as you can in the splits until you feel the muscles stretch (not pull or hurt)
2. Hold for 10 seconds
3. Squeeze the muscles on the inside of the leg as if you were trying to pull your feet back together and hold for 5 seconds (basically an isometric). Careful of knee pressure
4. Relax the isometric, work your feet slightly wider
5. repeat steps 2 through 5 for a total of 30 seconds of stretching and i5 seconds of isometric. Always end with the isometric.

They state the combination of the stretch and the isometric increases both strength and flexibility (I know that it does work for flexibility), reducing the chance of injury.

I've had students do this with a variation- 2 person stretch. Assume a side kick position. One person lifts the leg of the stretcher suprting the knee joint (base of the femur at the joint). He follows instructions from the strethcher on how far to go. The stretcher puts downward pressure against the assistant. When he relaxes, the asistant then moves the leg higher until told to stop. ( gets rid of pressure on the knees and only stretches one side at a time)

My question is- are there any studies on this type of stretching that either contradict or verify their claims.

Thanks for the help- really enjoy your knowledge.

Sam,

First of all thanks for the compliment. I'm glad that I can contribute to the forum.

There are several studies that demonstrate that post exercise stretching can be beneficial to improvements in strength (for Specific examples see Neslon AG or Kokkonen). So far, no one has shown that with power and explosive activites which is one of the things I am working toward in my research but that will be a while before anything of that nature is published.

The type of stretching you are referring two with the combined static componant and an isometric muscle action is basically a modified proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretch which is usually done dynamically instead of isometrically. At this time I am unaware of any data on this type of stretching though I will certainly look into it.

The thing you have to be careful when discussing any type of stretching is that there are no data to suggest (it always souns weired when I say "are no data"), that any type of stretching prevents injury. In fact, there are quite a bit of data to suggest that it doesn't help at all and in some cases, it can actually increase the likihood of injury. I posted some references on the other link but if you need them again let me know.

What I think the current body of research says and what I instruct my students and my athletes to do is: Use a general warm-up like jogging or cycling followed by general dynamic warm up followed by a specific warm-up which mimics the type of things you are going to do in your training or performance. Post performance or post training, stretch statically as part of your cool down. I should mention that one could certainly use PNF stretching or ballistic stretching as part of the cool down (the only study done on bouncing a stretch showed that there was no difference between static and ballistic stretching on muscle damage or delayed onset muscle sorness (DOMS)). I just like to use static stretching as my cooldown as I feel that I relax better afterward.

Hope some of that helps!!

Jason

[swdw]

THANKS!!

I did see the results of the strength increase in the other post associated with a post workout stretch, but since the approach I listed is different than a normal static stretch, it made me wonder if there were specific advantages or if they were blowing smoke.

Thanks again for your reply.

BTW, you might enjoy this link

http://ast-ss.com/research/cribb/research_reviews/cribb_review_main.asp

Here's some Q&A's related to weight training and nutrition

http://ast-ss.com/q_a/cribb/Q_A/cribb_qa_main.asp

You can also get free access to Medline Search from their site.