Jungledoc wrote: ↑Sun Apr 10, 2016 4:51 am
There's probably no reason to stretch all your muscles, nor are there enough hours in the day to do that! Try to determine what needs to be stretched, and stretch that. The stretches aren't so much by the particular muscle, but more by a particular movement around a particular joint. For instance you can stretch all the hip flexors together, not each of the muscles in that group. A stretch of about 20 seconds 2 or 3 times should be good for most purposes. If you really need to lengthen a muscle group, you may want to stretch it 2 or 3 times a day.
Full Range Movements
One of the most effective method of increasing flexibility it to perform full range exercises.
Examples
Full Squats, Dumbbell Bench Press (allows you to drop deeper than when using a barbell), Deficit Deadlifts, etc.
Olympic Lifter Flexibility
Olympic Lifter are either the 2nd or 3rd most flexible athletes; behind gymnast.
That in part due to the Full Range Exercises.
Intermittent Stretching
Stretching prior to a Power or Strength Movement has been show to be contraindicated; dampening both Power and Strength.
However, this research, just published, indicates that the type of Pre Training Stretching preformed prior to a movement can increase or decrease Power, possibly Strength.
"Intermittent but Not Continuous Static Stretching Improves Subsequent Vertical Jump Performance in Flexibility-Trained Athletes", January 2019 - Volume 33 - Issue 1
... A 3 × 30 seconds intermittent stretching protocol increased CMJ performance by 8.1%, whereas a continuous stretching protocol of equal total duration resulted in a transient decrease of CMJ performance of 17.5 and 12.0%, immediately after stretch to 1 minute poststretch, respectively.
... Intermittent and a continuous stretching protocol results in similar increases in ROM,
... Prolonged stretching should be avoided as part of a warm-up performed immediately before explosive muscle activities.
Stretching For Hypertrophy
What's interesting is Dr Jacob Wilson's research on preforming a 30 second stretch immediately after an exercise for Hypertrophy.
In the 1990's one of the better Bodybuilding Coaches was John Parrillo. Parrillo was an advocate of stretching after each exercise set based on his theory as to why it promoted Hypertrophy.
As per Wilson, Parrillo's theory on why stretching for Hypertrophy worked after each exercise set wasn't correct. However, Parrillo was correct that post exercise stretching was effective at increasing muscle mass.
Take Home Information
1) Short Interval Stretching prior to a Power and/or Strength Movement appears to increase the amount of force you can produce; moving the weigh faster or moving more weight in the exercise.
2) Post Exercise Stretching appears to promote Hypertrophy/increase muscle mass.
3) Long Stretching (60 seconds plus) prior to an exercise is contraindicated; decreasing your Power and Strength.
Extrapolated Theory
This amount to guessing on my part. Based on the information above, one Stretching Method that might promote Strength, Power and Hypertrohy is to Stretch for 30 seconds after each set of an exercise.
Doing so...
1) As per Dr Jacob Wilson increase muscle mass.
2) Stretching immediately after an exercise, resting for a couple of minutes, then performing the same exercise, would theoretically increase the Power and Strength you would produce in that set.
To reiterate, that is simply my theory based on the data provided. I am "Test Driving" it now.
Kenny Croxdale
