Stretching

claralara

Hey guys! I was just wondering whether anyone had any advice on stretching or a stretching program they could pass on. I really need to pull up my socks in this department. Cheers!

BJohnson

You might find this article on stretching interesting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html

Depending on your reasons for stretching, it may hamper your efforts more than aiding them. Stretching a muscle weakens it by up to 30% for up to 30 minutes. For the people you see stretching their legs before a 5k race, their muscles will be significantly weakened until well after they've crossed the finish line in many cases. It's an interesting topic for research.

DustyBin

That's an interesting article there BJohnson - thaks

Claralara, you could also check out this thread from 6 months back for some ideas

I find that when I'm doing a training run I'm never ever going out of the blocks at top speed and therefore do absolutely no stretching beforehand
A couple of km's gentle enough running to warm up and then a few heel kicks / knee raises whilst running to stretch out my now warm leg muscles and I'm grand
I do spend 10-15 minutes stretching out very well and very slowly after the run though
I'm no scientist but this does seem to work for me
Remember to stretch your ITB!!

petermijackson

DustyBin wrote: »

Remember to stretch your ITB!!

????

Cabaal

petermijackson wrote: »

????

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliotibial_band


I'll be honest I didn't know what it stood for either, having read up on it this explains some pains I've gotten while out hill walking....likely linked to over doing it on the bike over the years

claralara

BJohnson wrote: »

You might find this article on stretching interesting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html

Depending on your reasons for stretching, it may hamper your efforts more than aiding them. Stretching a muscle weakens it by up to 30% for up to 30 minutes. For the people you see stretching their legs before a 5k race, their muscles will be significantly weakened until well after they've crossed the finish line in many cases. It's an interesting topic for research.

Thanks for that - it really is an interesting topic for research. I didn't realise how much information there was out there though I had heard different thoughts including not to stretch for a couple of hours after exercising.

To be honest, my only reasons for stretching would be because I think I should and that's what we were always taught even at PE in school. And people always talk about how important stretching is to avoid injury etc. I'm quite clueless in general actually. And pretty new to training at all. I'll definitely have a good read around now.

Stacey.x

im sorry - but this thread title just sounds SO dodgy!

Zak Flaps

ok, now i'm confused....

I'm at the beginning of the C25K programme so don't do a huge amount of running just yet....at the moment, i do a 2 mintute session of light stetching
beforehand, then a 5 minute walk....

SO SHOULD I STRETCH BEFORE MY RUN?????
or just leave it til afterwards?

RayCun

Leave the stretching to afterwards.

You could do
warm up
dynamic stretching (eg, kicking up heels, raising knees high)
exercise
cool down
static stretching

Or you could skip some of those steps. But you shouldn't re-arrange them.

LavaLamp

I have to admit I never stretch before a run, no matter how long, but I ALWAYS stretch out gently afterwards, ususally with some yoga. I think it's really important to stretch your whole body after a run, not just your legs as you do use everything when you run. Also, yoga helps strengthen your body while stretching, which is a bonus!

Barbara Currie has some brilliant 10 minute stretch routines that are easy to do, and don't require you to be able to contort into crazymad yoga positions