Stretching your muscles prior to undertaking exercise has been advocated for many years. There are several types of stretching, including static and dynamic stretching. Static stretches are those that do
not incorporate an extensive range of motion. Touching your toes is a good example of a static stretch. Recently, the effectiveness of static stretching to prepare your body for exercise has been called into question in the scientific literature. The general consensus is that whilst static stretches are a good way to improve your range of motion, dynamic stretching may be better for you and your performance.
What is dynamic stretching?
Dynamic stretching is more complicated than static stretching and involves movements that replicate those inherent to your particular sport or activity. The movements, which may include knee lifts, walking lunges or arm swings are much better than static stretches for sports preparation. Dynamic stretching does not attempt to exceed your static-passive stretching ability – this is ballistic stretching. Dynamic stretching uses the speed of movement, momentum and active muscular effort to bring about a stretch. In contrast to static stretching, the end position of a dynamic stretch should not be held. Often, dynamic stretches are used to assist in developing neuromuscular coordination, speed and power.
Why it works
Dynamic stretching is a great prelude to exercise because it is active and will therefore increase you body’s core temperature, whilst also increasing muscle temperature. By increasing muscle temperature, your muscles will become looser, more supple and more pliable. Dynamic stretching will also increase your heart rate and respiratory rate, which increases oxygen delivery and nutrients to your muscles and joints. Both these physiological responses mean that your muscles and joints are less prone to injury during exercise. This type of stretching also decreases muscle tightness, which in turn reduces the likelihood that you will suffer a muscle tear or strain during your main activity.
Who should use it
Dynamic stretching is particularly suitable for activities that require a great deal of strength and power, such as body building or sprinting. However dynamic stretching is not just for elite athletes and is a valuable inclusion into the warm up routine of any sports person, regardless of your activity type. Due to their more active nature, it is recommended that you only use dynamic stretches after you have already established a high level of static flexibility. The first time you attempt dynamic stretching should be under the supervision of a trained coach or other health professional.
How to do it
It is generally recommended that you perform dynamic stretches in sets of eight to 12 repetitions. You should only ever perform the number of repetitions that you can do without decreasing your range of motion. If you start to feel tired after a few sets, stop! If you do more repetitions, you will set the "memory" of your muscle’s nervous system at a length shorter than optimal and you will therefore lose flexibility. Once you have reached the maximal range of joint motion in any direction, you should not do too many more repetitions. Even if you are flexible enough to continue to achieve many repetitions at your maximal range, you will set an unnecessarily solid trace of these movements in your kinesthetic memory. This memory will have to be overcome to improve flexibility.
Dynamic stretches should be undertaken as the last part of your warm up, to reduce the risk of injury. It is also recommended that you do not perform dynamic stretches after eating a heavy meal, as this causes blood flow to be directed to your stomach and digestive tract, rather than to your muscles.
Dangers and the benefits
If performed properly, there is no reason for dynamic stretches to cause you injury. Dynamic stretches do incur a higher risk of injury than static stretches, but this is because you are moving around more when performing them. Dynamic stretches should be slowly and gradually added into your stretching routine and, if you have any orthopedic issues or pre-existing injuries, talk to your sports physician before beginning a dynamic stretching routine. Mostly, it is important to remember not to do these stretches when you are fatigued. You don’t want to set the kinesthetic memory of your muscles at a lower than optimal level – the purpose of the stretches is to rest the nervous regulation of the length of your muscles for the rest of the day.
Click here for information on Getting Flexible Fast