Do We Really Need To Stretch?
Hope everyone had a nice holiday!
Christmas with my family is never dull, to say the least. I have Porky Pig to thank for this year’s entertainment:
It’s no stretch to say that I must have heard that song close to 25 times in the two days I was actually home – yet everyone still got a good laugh at that poor pig’s expense every time. Thankfully, it looks like 2012 will bring some better music: In case you hadn’t heard, Van Halen will be touring with David Lee Roth!
Speaking of stretching, as one of my favorite clients reminds me on a regular basis, we fitness professionals can’t seem to make up our minds about it. The when and the how are always controversial (Before or after the workout? Static or dynamic?); but this begs a bigger question: Do we need to stretch at all?
We know that flexibility above and beyond normal ranges of motion, in most cases, isn’t better and can compromise stability.
And there are a number of practitioners out there (including renowned physical therapist and strength coach Charlie Weingroff, and my two favorite MATs out in Denver, Colorado: Vince and Debbie) who strongly believe that if you train through full ranges of motion, there’s really no need to stretch. After all, when done through full ROM, resistance training is really just a form of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF): A precontraction of a muscle followed by a full ROM passive stretch.
Since first meeting Vince and Debbie this past September, I’ve pretty much stopped stretching altogether (only a few dynamic mobility drills here and there) and haven’t really noticed a difference in flexibility, so maybe there’s something to it. At the least, it makes sense in theory: As long as you take your body through movements (loaded or unloaded) that cause your muscles to lengthen, you should seemingly be able to keep flexibility at normal levels – provided you don’t spend 40+ hours sitting at a desk, that is…
As for other evidence, one recent study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research also seems to support the idea. In this preliminary investigation, subjects did either only resistance training exercises (back squats, pull-ups, bench press, good mornings, shoulder press, walking lunges, split curl to press and pullovers) through a full ROM or only static stretching for the same muscle groups. All subjects improved ROM in the knee, hip and shoulder joints compared to a control group, but there were no significant differences in flexibility between the stretching and resistance training groups after five weeks.
Granted, the study was short and there hasn’t been much other controlled investigation in this area; still, the results at least provide evidence against the common claim that weight training reduces flexibility, and suggest it may even help improve it.
I still think there’s an obvious place for static stretching in cases of significantly shortened muscles (and dynamic stretches as part of a warm-up), but when maintaining normal range of motion is the goal, you can probably kill two birds with one stone by simply training properly.
Thoughts?
Filed under: exercise research, strength training, stretching
It is also a question I asked myself when introduced to the idea of nerve mobilisations.
Research by Butler has shown that neural tethering can be one of the reasons for losing range in joints. A result, or even a cause, of neural tethering being sub clinical muscle spasm.
While the muscle spasm is potentially trying to protect the ‘tight’ nerve is the muscle unlikely to fully relax no matter how much you try to stretch it. In many cases stretching could in fact make matters worse. Imagine a rope (the muscle) with a knot in it (protective muscle spasm) when you pull either end the knot becomes tighter.
In this instance stretching the shortened muscle would certainly be the wrong thing to do, or at least initially.
So if you are using full ROM regularly then I would agree (and from personal expereince of abstaining from stretching but purely using nerve mobilisation) there is a question over WHEN stretching might be necessary.
Rach – Great points. “Tightness” and loss of ROM are often times not due to shortened muscles, and therefore stretching is not the best remedy. Love the knot in the rope analogy; I use it frequently to explain the concept of myofascial release and differentiate it from stretching, while still emphasizing its importance with regard to increasing tissue length.