scientific stretching

Does stretching make you weaker? I will think so.

K, say compare 2 biceps. One say, is 15 cm in length. The other, 20cm. The 20 cm one will have to contract more to overcome the additional 5 cm in length.

Correct me. I m a muscle noob.
 
thecas said:
Does stretching make you weaker? I will think so.

K, say compare 2 biceps. One say, is 15 cm in length. The other, 20cm. The 20 cm one will have to contract more to overcome the additional 5 cm in length.

Correct me. I m a muscle noob.
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eh, the muscle doesnt actually stretch in length or get longer, it can just relax further. or so i gather.
 
thecas said:
Does stretching make you weaker? I will think so.

K, say compare 2 biceps. One say, is 15 cm in length. The other, 20cm. The 20 cm one will have to contract more to overcome the additional 5 cm in length.

Correct me. I m a muscle noob.
Click to expand...

ummm.......hmmmm......that's one school of thought I guess. A lengthened muscle is a weak muscle.

But you might be confusing it with the concept of passive insuffiecincy. When the muscle is in a maximally lengthened position, it will be weak compared to when the muscle is in the mid-range. However, you can strengthen the muscle at the very end ranges (in fact you should strengthen the muscle in the entire range, especially in rehab.)

IMO sometimes short muscles are weak muscles as is the case with most hamstring weakness. (This is also the opinion of some of the staff of University of Saint Augustine where I'm pursuing a manual therapy certification.) The body adapts to the weakness by shortening the muscle. Also, it's the body's adaptation to society's demands of prolonged sitting (think school, desk job, posting on sherdog.....).

A shortened muscle also causes permanent bony changes, usually bad. It also increases stresses on the joint (think arthritis and joint replacements - although not proven yet).

When I'm rolling I definitely want my flexibility. It frees up options for you like the triangle or armbar from the guard (which requires a lot of hamstring flexibility unless the guy you're fighting is a complete tomato). It prevents injury and allows you more "room" to tap (like kimuras and keylocks. Every school has that one dude who you have to choke because he doesn't tap to anything else).
 
jimmy key!! said:
eh, the muscle doesnt actually stretch in length or get longer, it can just relax further. or so i gather.
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Yeah....you're talking about the neuromuscular component...affecting the muscle spindles (lenght and "position" sensors of the muslce) and getting a reflex relaxation of the muscle and all that.

Actually the muscle does lengthen over time. If you keep stretching, you add sarcomeres (functional units) to the muscle essentially making it longer.

By the way guys I'm not making this up this is exercise physiology 101.
 
As far as the book is concerned. If it works for you, go for it. There really hasn't been any strong landmark studies on guidelines for stretching. That's why there's so much debate. How long do I hold?, ballistic vs static, functional vs non functional, should I warm up, perform myfascial release with a foam roller then stretch?
 
Got a link to the book , is this a book you can find at Barnes & Noble or some other chain book store .
 
if you don't stretch you'll have so many injuries in this sport you won't want to do it anymore by the third week. stretching i very important. you don't get weaker. at all. please do yourself a favor and stretch!
 
DirectDrive said:
there are a bunch of comments on amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/cu...te&n=507846&s=books&customer-reviews.start=11

it looks like a few people have a problem with how the information is put across and how it is organized. other than that it has some good reviews. i may check it out.
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ya i noticed that too when i read through it. The thing that I dont like is that he is always saying, "DONT do this," but is vague about it.

im gonna give his program a try though so we'll see how it does.
 
hockeyfacekilla said:
if you don't stretch you'll have so many injuries in this sport you won't want to do it anymore by the third week. stretching i very important. you don't get weaker. at all. please do yourself a favor and stretch!
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There was a great article on this by JC of intocombat.com about this in a recent issue of grappling. He proposes that static stretching does little if anything to prevent injurys. In their business, they don't do any static stretching, and their injurys are supprisingly low.
 
Flounder said:
There was a great article on this by JC of intocombat.com about this in a recent issue of grappling. He proposes that static stretching does little if anything to prevent injurys. In their business, they don't do any static stretching, and their injurys are supprisingly low.
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Kurz agrees with this opinion, he says that you should only do dynamic stretching as part of your warm up before a workout and that static stretching is actually detrimental both to performance and likelihood of injuries, there was also a well publicised study over here a few months back that came to the same findings.

The book itself I found to be fairly well written and Kurz's use of sample exercise programs is helpful. The book does go into some detail that is'nt strictly necessary from a viewpoint of just wanting to increase your flexibility. If you read this book thouroughly and follow his programs you will make quite astonishing flexibility gains in a very short time.

As far as the book is concerned. If it works for you, go for it. There really hasn't been any strong landmark studies on guidelines for stretching. That's why there's so much debate. How long do I hold?, ballistic vs static, functional vs non functional, should I warm up, perform myfascial release with a foam roller then stretch?
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There is a lot of references to different studies in the book and their findings, particularly Soviet work with dynamic flexibility from what I can remember.
 
I have his video. The production is a bit rough and looks dated(filmed in 1986), but the information it contains is gold. I found the exercises very effective for both flexibility & strength.
 
SmashiusClay said:
There is a lot of references to different studies in the book and their findings, particularly Soviet work with dynamic flexibility from what I can remember.
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Can you point me in the right direction? Any links?
 
physicaltherapy said:
Can you point me in the right direction? Any links?
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Sorry, but the only place I've seen them referenced is in the book.
 
I know this is an old thread, but I'm going to order the book...
 
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