One of the
more ironic aspects of my job is my relationship with social media.
On one hand,
it’s a crucial tool that helps me connect with many people about fitness,
exercise and health.
On the other
hand it is the single biggest source of absurdity in the realm of fitness,
exercise and health imaginable.
Seriously, some of the advice I see on social media about exercise is so
nonsensical it’s almost surreal.
And although
the foolhardy have no specialization – they are equal opportunity attackers of
common sense - today I want to talk to you about flexibility. It just may be my bad luck, but it seems like
lately I’ve been bombarded with tips on stretching and advice on how to stay
flexible.
And I’m here to tell
you 99.9% of it is absolute bullshit.
Two of the more
problematic issues with flexibility are that a) it’s a FAR more complex process
than most people realize, and b) there are almost countless variables that go
into someone’s level of effective flexibility.
So it’s impossible
for me to cover such a broad topic in a blog post, but I can help with the
facts to get you going in the right direction.
Facts. No BS. No sales pitch. No outdated, dogmatic,
social media garbage.
Keep these
things in mind as you attempt to improve your flexibility as part of your
overall fitness program:
The Facts about
Flexibility:
· Stretching Does NOT Prevent Injury
Biggest. Myth.
Ever. There is no evidence
anywhere to suggest stretching prevents injury.
If it did, there would be no injuries because we would all just stretch
and be 100% healthy. Professional
athletes would never be injured.
(Seriously – what am I missing…?) I could write a book alone on how
silly this notion is…
·
Stretching May Create Injuries
There are
areas of the body – the knee and lower back for example – that have very
limited movement capacities. Making them
more mobile increases the chance of injury there. Knee and low back maladies are on an almost
epidemic level, due in part to excessive “looseness” there.
·
Looser, Relaxed Muscles are Not Better.
When it
comes to muscle tension, “loose” isn’t better.
Muscles are always at varying lengths of tension to keep joints in their
place. But they need to have the very
specific, and always changing correct amounts of tension to allow adequate movement
without excessive movement that would
create an injury. Looser muscles often
lead to joint hyper-extensions and dislocations.
·
Muscle Length is Controlled by the Central
Nervous System
Controlling
the tension described above is a very complicated process that is always occurring
subconsciously in our central nervous systems.
It is a complex process and also a very dynamic one – the only way to
improve it is to be in motion so the brain becomes more adept at controlling
and maintaining the appropriate levels of tension described above. (Because that’s how we use flexibility in
life – we move.) Stretching a muscle and holding it for an extended period does NOTHING
to improve that process.
Am I saying
“don’t stretch”? No.
I am saying
it’s probably not doing for you what you think it is, so be careful.
And apply
the FACTS, not what the Instagram model doing yoga says to do.
About the author:
Jon holds a
Masters’ Degree in Exercise Science and the topic of his research thesis was “The Correlation Between Static Stretching and
Injury Prevention”. He’s overseen
thousands of training sessions and despite intense workouts, the next time a
client pulls a hamstring, groin muscle, etc. will be the first.
