Survival of the Fittest

[I was thisclose to posting an adorable picture of a stretching cat, but fought the urge … for now.]

Some athletes consider stretching a mandatory part of their fitness routine, believing it prevents injury, wards off soreness and/or boosts performance. Others skip it, remaining unconvinced of the benefits of stretching, even through the barrage of advice to the contrary from coaches, trainers and teammates alike. (What fortitude this latter group has! Or perhaps they’re just lazy?)

Though most experts will still recommend doing what works best for you, the latest round of research goes to the lazybutts. Kind of. Under some circumstances, anyway.

It’s a squishy, controversial topic that writer Kelle Walsh tackled in the June issue of Experience Life, covering when, if, and how stretching is most beneficial for athletic performance and musculoskeletal health. If you want to check it out, by all means please do so: “Stretch and Reach: The Unexaggerated Truth About Stretching.”

If, on the other hand, you prefer your info bite-sized, allow me to synopsize:

• Static stretching immediately before activity does not prevent injury, and may, in fact, add to injury risk because 1) stretching weakens muscle for a short period of time and 2) it has an analgesic effect, masking pain that would otherwise serve as a warning sign to ease up.
• Additionally, preworkout stretching inhibits the stretch reflex, which helps you, say, jump higher. Stretching just messes with it for a short period of time, but still — do you want to spend the first few minutes of a game even a titch slow?
• Dynamic flexibility drills (controlled movements done through full range of motion), are the exception to this rule. They’re good preworkout and actually increase coordination and muscle response time.
• Ballistic (bouncy) stretching is bad for your connective tissue and insertion points. (But that’s old news.)
• Stretching after a workout doesn’t prevent soreness. That DOMS is gonna getcha regardless. (And the rhythm will, too, if you stand too close to Gloria Estefan.)
• Stretching after your workout can help you maintain your current level of flexibility, but if you want to see flexibility gains, you should add general flexibility to your regimen. Our experts recommended at least 20 minutes, three times a week. Yoga fits the bill.
• Incorporating a general stretching program (such as yoga) appears to help prevent injury and boost athletic performance. Yoga fanatic Kareem Abdul-Jabar is onto something: When muscle is stretched regularly, it becomes stronger and contracts more rapidly, resulting in increased force and speed.

ONE ANGLE THIS ARTICLE did not cover was therapeutic stretching programs, often prescribed by physical therapists and designed to address compensation patterns caused by spending time in chronic, repetitive positions, such as hunched over a computer (hmm, painfully close to home, that one). For more on stretching to combat muscle imbalances, see “Office Imbalance” from the March 2007 EL archives.

Mike Robertson, MS, makes an important clarification about such stretches in his May 14 blog entry, and gives the go-ahead to include what he calls “acute corrective” static stretches, even in warm-up. It’s up to you what you’re comfy with, but here’s how he describes his stretching strategy:

Pre-workout, we include what’s called “Acute Corrective Strategies” to help re-groove better movement patterns in the muscles. For instance, we would stretch your hip flexors, and then follow that up with an activation drill to enhance neural drive to the glutes. In this case, we’re very specific in the stretches that we would perform.

After you’ve included the “acute corrective” drills to optimize neural drive to the glutes, you’d move in to your dynamic flexibility drills. Just as an aside, you can do this either before or after your dynamic flex, it’s really more of a preference than a physiological law.

Now at the end of your day, that would be the optimal time to go through an extensive static stretching routine. This is where we would stretch all the muscle groups that we outline within [the Bulletproof Knees program]. Most people have a very poor stretch tolerance, so this should help quite a bit.

ADDITIONAL READING:

In our man Eric Cressey’s latest newsletter, aside from a mention of his interview here (wahoooo!) he also digs into stretching and its myths. He calls static stretching “relatively outdated,” which is music to my ears as I am a proud member of the lazybutts when it comes to the static stuff.

Lastly, Gina Kolata of The New York Times covered the topic of stretching in March: “To Stretch or Not to Stretch? the Answer is Elastic.” She concludes that “research to date is inadequate to answer most stretching questions.”

How ’bout you? Do you stretch? If so, what works best for you?

A couple weeks ago, I received an email from a rugby coach encouraging players to keep up with their winter workouts. Included in the email was a link to the New York Times’ January 17, 2008, article “Too Cold to Exercise? Try Another Excuse,” by Gina Kolata — which, as the title suggests, blasts that excuse right out of the icy water.

Turns out it’s not the cold that’ll getcha — it’s the dry air.

I can’t say I find this information particularly surprising. I recall running a particularly brutal 400-meter race at a high school indoor track meet in Lamoni, Ia. The dreaded (by me) 400 already didn’t need much of a boost to get from really hard to practically unbearable, and the dome that shielded us from the elements — and any semblance of moisture in the air — made my efforts anything but a breeze.

When braving the dry, Kolata suggests using a balaclava, or ski mask, to shield your mouth and recycle some of the moisture you exhale, keeping your airway open. In addition, I suggest chewing a piece of gum to shield yourself from your own morning breath.

Another piece of cold-weather-workout equipment I’m lately enamored with is the Burton headphone beanie. I first saw it in Experience Life’s product department, Equipped, in the January/February 2007 issue, and upon first sight was gripped with a feverish bout of must-own-that-immediately consumerism. (This is why I try to avoid reading Equipped most months; I simply can’t afford to.)

I haven’t yet found a pair of ear buds that will stay put in my possibly misshapen(?) ears, so the headphone beanie is a nice alternative to headband-style headphones, which can sometimes get tangled in my mop.

But a word to the wise: Might want to avoid popping into a convenience store for a hard-earned recovery drink afterward wearing these two articles of clothing together.