Fit for Lax: Flexibility

1. You must be consistent! “If you don’t use it you lose it!”- Stretching needs to be a daily occurrence not just at practice….Especially for the old guys in B league!
2. Warm up – There has been a ton of research showing that stretching a cold muscle is NOT recommended and can actually lead to injury. Think of your muscles like rubber bands. If one was to take a rubber band and put it into a freezer then immediately take it out and try to stretch it to capacity, it would likely snap. However if we took that same rubber band and heated it up and then stretched it out it would easily stretch quite possibly further than at room temperature. The muscles work the same way. Stretching a cold muscle will lead to small tears in the muscle tissue that can lead to injury. The muscle needs to be warmed up with warm blood before it will become supple. You need to get the heart pumping before you stretch, jog lightly for a minimum of five minutes and then stretch. A good way to tell if you are ready to loosen up is body temperature. On a cool day jog until you feel the first beads of sweat fall off your forehead. Once that happens you are ready to stretch. 

CAUTION- Your core temperature must go up! That means blood must pump from the heart to your muscles. Do not think because it is hot outside or you just got out of the sauna that you are ready to stretch. You need to get warm from activity not outside elements.

3.      Do not stretch till it hurts! – Pain is not an indicator of a good stretch. In fact it is quite the opposite. When one is feeling pain a muscle is actually in contraction and not stretching. When a muscle is overstretched, it will contract to protect your joints, pain is your body’s way of telling you to STOP! You should feel a stretch not a pull. Pain is also an indicator that one is stretching tendons on muscles.

4. Each stretch should be held for a minimum of 25-30 seconds- Many people bounce or only hold their stretches for about 5 seconds. To understand why that is not good we need to talk a little bit about muscles. Inside of your muscle you have what is known as a Golgi Tendon Organ. The GTO is the part of your muscle that when stimulated tells it to relax. When you ease into a stretch the GTO will not even kick in for about 25 seconds.
5. Ease into it! Don’t just drop into a stretch ease into it otherwise you could cause a tear. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds lighten off and repeat at least once. Toe reps of every stretch for 30 seconds each.
6. Do most of your stretching after your workout. - When the muscles are tires they will let go faster leading to a better stretch. Therefore most of your stretching should take place AFTER practice not before.
7. Muscles stretch, tendons and ligaments don’t!- I always hear stretch out your Achilles tendon. Muscles are elastic and will tighten up, tendons will not. Do not stretch tendons or they could get too loose and cause injury.

 Now that we have discussed general principles of flexibility here are some stretches one can do to get ready before a game. We will revisit this topic again throughout the year and talk about tings like foam roller stretching, off season stretches and more techniques to loosen your entire body.

*** Stretching footage available mid-week!***