In this article, Giles Wily shares on stretching verses restoration and recuperation.
Then we’d sit down on the ground, and we’d go through a series of static stretches, and we’d force and pull ourselves into these difficult positions, and it would be painful and uncomfortable.
I realized pretty quickly – well, when I say pretty quickly, it took a few years – but I realized quite soon that I actually felt better after the initial warm-up than I did after the stretching.
Really, that the forced stretching made me feel tired, made me feel tight and sluggish.
I eventually cut out the static stretching, and realized that I can actually get my initial warm-up down to only a few minutes and feel good.
You know, part of my thing was, it’s how muscle already has the length that we need for almost all but the most extreme of activities.
Why don’t we run over just a little bit about the different types of stretching? Giles : Sure.
Static stretching is basically getting into a stretch position setting.
It’s putting the muscle in a lengthened position where it’s [bound] to get a little uncomfortable.
Most of the organizations – the personal training, and fitness and sports conditioning organizations in this country – will say that a static stretch is holding any position for longer than thirty seconds.
Personally, I feel any longer than ten seconds, I’d define that as a static stretch.
Then with dynamic flexibility work, or dynamic stretching, which would be lifting your knees to your chest, kicking your foot upwards, you know as in a rocket- touchstyle, like that, going down into a long lunge and then standing back up.
Ballistic stretching is very similar to going into static stretch positions.
Giles : And this is where I have to make a distinction between the ballistic stretching and the dynamic.
I think one of the biggest challenges with stretching and exercise – and I know as a fitness professional, I get it too – is, when do I stretch, how do I stretch, which stretching works, does ballistic or dynamic or static stretching work? What does your “Five-minute Flexibility”, I mean, first of all, how can people, how can you convey to people to believe that “Five-minute Flexibility” works? And then, how does it work? Giles : Okay, “Five-minute Flexibility”, the book itself actually doesn’t include any stretches.
Giles : I purposely left them out, not because I don’t believe there’s a place for stretching.
So that is long, gentle periods of static stretching in between heavy workouts, or even after a heavy workout.
That’s your charge to get in touch with your body to learn to release the muscle, but in a very controlled way to focus on your breathing.
They’re very simple to do, but they open up the joints, they re-align the body, they release tension from the muscle, they get the blood flowing.
Then you’ll have your exercise session, and then afterwards you can hit a couple of points again to help release more muscle tension, or then if you want to you can go into a small static routine.
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