Athletes: Are you running through your stretches just once? Well THERE’S your problem!

I’m borrowing one of my favorite one-liners from the show Mythbusters to underscore a common mistake made when stretching:  going through your stretches only once after a workout.

You might wonder why this is a mistake.  Shouldn’t one time through be enough?  Not usually, it turns out.  Remember, the goal of stretching is to either help your body become more flexible, or at the very least, to retain the flexibility you already have.  This presents a challenge any time of the day, whether first thing in the morning or during a lunchtime breather or after a long day of work.  But it becomes a particular hurdle following a workout, as anyone who’s gone for a run or just finished a super-intense training session can attest to the tightness brought on by the continuous contraction of working muscles.  The trick is, in order to stretch effectively, you now have to help those muscles relax their grip and extend back to their full range — maybe even improve upon it.  This rarely happens from one quick pass-through of a stretch.  Think of it:  If the workout was successful, in that it provided the stimulous to increase the strength and/or endurance of muscles, then it stands to reason that those muscles aren’t going to release and surrender to a stretch immediately.  And short-cutting your stretching isn’t just a long-term risk; it can often be felt immediately.  For example, how do you feel when walking out of the gym?  Does your body feel refreshed and loose?  Or are you limping out with aches or soreness, or worse, starting your next training session still stiff from the previous one?

Bottom line:  If you’re an athlete or active fitness enthusiast, what you need is a step-down strategy that gradually helps your muscles safely re-extend and re-elongate.  Luckily, the process to accomplish this is simple:  After your workout, you simply go through each chosen stretch at least 4-5 times.  Let’s call them “rounds.”  Here’s how a good progression of Rounds 1-5 might look:

• Round 1:  The Introduction.  Light stretch, not held for very long, about 5-10 seconds.  Consider this an opener of sorts, a chance for your muscles to get acquainted with the stretch.  If the stretch is unilateral (one side at a time), do both sides before going on to the next round.
• Round 2:  Adding the Breath.  Slightly longer hold, about 10-15 seconds, adding deep breaths to help the muscle(s) start to relax.
• Round 3:  Honing in on “That” Muscle.  Longer hold, about 20 seconds, paying close attention to form, and tweaking it to really hone in on “that” muscle.  You know what I mean — the muscle that’s feeling the stretch enough that your body is trying to alter its form to avoid that stretch.  It’s a good bet that the muscle that feels the stretch the most…is the muscle that NEEDS it the most!  That said, stay tuned to your body’s comfort zone; back off if there’s pain.
• Round 4:  Further Elongation and Muscle Relaxation.  Here is where the pedal hits the medal:  Hopefully you’re able to elongate your muscle notably further than in Round 1, but whether or not this is true, now is the longest hold yet, about 20-30 seconds.  As you hold, scan your body up and down, checking your form, letting your breath move in and out deeply yet easily, and concentrating on relaxing your muscles AND your mind, since your brain and muscles are in extricably linked by way of your nervous system.
• Round 5:  Bonus Round.  If Rounds 1-4 weren’t enough to do the trick, you can either give it one more round OR perform a different, but related, stretch.  Sometimes this is all the body needs to “finish” the flexibility and recovery process.

Yes, this added measure will extend the time invested in your workouts, but so too does your post-workout shower, your pre- and post-workout sports nutrition, and logging your workouts, and you wouldn’t think of skipping out on those, would you?  (I surely hope that especially holds true for the shower.)  Every component of training serves its own vital purpose; it’s been my experience that honoring the purpose of high-quality stretching is well worth the real estate it occupies in your busy schedule!

Note/reminder:  None of this should be attempted without consulting your doctor first, and you should stop if you feel any pain. 

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You already workout — a lot. Why then, do you need to stretch?

It’s perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of stretching I encounter.  Most of my clients and students are, arguably, the athletes among us.  They don’t need my help in understanding the importance of being physically active, and they don’t need me to “enlighten” them on how enjoyable exercise, physical fitness, and/or sports can be.  They already know it, and they’re usually already living that lifestyle, long before they come to one of my seminars or seek my online instruction.

What they ARE often confused about is why their activity or activities of choice aren’t by themselves sufficient in keeping them “agile and supple.”  If they’re runners, they assume their regular runs are enough to “get some movement in their body.”  If they play golf, they know how much better they generally feel, at least in terms of overall energy and well-being, by the end of the golf season, rather than the beginning, when they were first moving their post-winter body through those initial training outings.  If they’re triathletes, or otherwise involved with numerous forms of exercise or sport, they have a hard time imagining that these activities combined don’t “hit all the marks” in terms of moving their muscles through all the ranges needed.

And to a point, they all are correct — again, to a point.  Runners are certainly helping their circulation, cardiovascular vitality, and muscle endurance every time they log a quick 3-miler (or a slow 10-miler, or anywhere in between).  Golfers, by the end of the season, have absolutely amassed an accumulation of action that renders their body and mind in a healthier place, albeit sometimes with some accumulated aches and pains along with it (the latter being largely preventable — read on).  And those athletes and fitness enthusiasts with varied routines, are giving their bodies a powerful range of strengths and agilities, which certainly translates to better overall mobility than if they weren’t training at all.

The issue with all of those groups, however, is two-fold:  Number one, no one can escape the common reality we all share:  Lots of sitting in chairs (and car seats), every single day.  The mechanical changes in our postures and daily movements as a result of this single, repetitive position, poses a genuine and inescapable threat both to the activities we love and our bodies’ mobility in general.  Why?  Because unless we address the muscles that have become tight, and those that have become weak, as a result of the hunched-over seated position we’re in most of the time (come on now, as you’re reading that sentence, tell me you didn’t momentarily sit up taller!), all that happens when we engage in our sports and fitness activities is….you guessed it, we reinforce these very effects, because that’s what our bodies are habituated to.  Yet, all we need are a few easy, targeted stretches — less than 10 minutes a day if that — to arrest and then reverse this effect.  The outcome is not only much greater comfort in our everyday lives — less soreness upon arising, reduced aches from a stiff low back, less tension in our neck, etc. — it will actually enhance our sports and fitness performance!  When you move more easily, you naturally move more efficiently and with better coordination and power.

The second issue we all face — at least, those of us who are actively involved with fitness or sports — is the need for muscle and joint recovery.  If anything, the MORE we have these other activities as part of our week, the MORE we also need to stretch, so that our muscles can return to their full length, so that we can address areas that could stand improvement (i.e. tight muscles that may be hindering our full potential), and so that we can better facilitate our muscles’ ability to repair themselves in between workouts, ensuring they’ll be fresh and ready to go for our next training session.  Without that recovery, suddenly the very actions and workouts that can be so helpful and constructive in bringing us to our goals….become a source of repetitive stress and even injury.  Again, the good news is, you need only invest in about 10 minutes of smart, well-chosen stretches, typically at the end of a workout, to address this problem.  If you doubt this at all, one solid month of regular, proper stretching is all you’ll need to compare and contrast training with and without stretching in the picture.

So give stretching a chance if you haven’t already done so!  It can literally be the difference between flourishing in your activities of choice no matter what your age, vs. having to reluctantly give them up, due to physical wear-and-tear that could have been prevented with just a small and simple intervention.

Evamarie Pilipuf is the owner and founder of The Flexibility Coach, LLC, where she helps athletes and fitness enthusiasts improve their functional flexibility through her stretching and yoga programs.  Find out more about her online instruction at www.TheFlexibilityCoach.com.

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Why stretching and yoga are so useful for sports

It’s exciting to see how much yoga has evolved over just the last 10 years.  Although there is still much attention being paid to retaining its traditions and traditional format (as there should be), there is also an ongoing evolution in applying yoga in a way that takes advantage of modern exercise science, and therefore addresses certain groups of people, goals, and interests in a more personalized fashion.

One such evolution is the use of yoga and flexibility training for sport.  More and more athletes are singing its praises for improving their sports performance, avoiding injury, and keeping their training fresh and progressive.  Not surprisingly, many trainers and coaches are now working yoga into their programs, and are quick to list the positive changes they have seen in their athletes as a result of doing so.  It seems yoga is “seeping” into all sorts of places, and exerting a powerful influence wherever it goes.

But…How exactly can yoga help you, an athlete with an already busy training schedule?  How can stretching actually take your fitness to a whole new level, particularly after age 40?  You might guess that there are vast numbers of reasons – well beyond the scope of this article’s length, but here are just a few of the nuts and bolts:

• A muscle that contracts is a muscle that becomes tight and rigid:  Sadly, as important as it is to strengthen our muscles, both for everyday life as well as for fitness and sport, the very actions that promote this strength, have a flip side effect that must be addressed.  When a muscle contracts repeatedly, it’s constantly being shortened.  This effect can be felt both immediately – most of us can relate to finishing a walk or run and feeling tightness in the back of our legs, but more critically, it can and will be felt over the long haul, in the form of diminishing flexibility.  Left unchecked, this will alter the way we sit, stand, walk through our day, and perform our everyday movements, which in turn will put additional pressure on our muscles and joints.  The only way to alleviate this and avoid future trouble is by counteracting this unwanted effect through proper stretching.  Notice I said “stretching”; you don’t necessarily have to do “yoga” with a capital “Y,” but it so happens that the traditional format of yoga – holding a position, taking deep breaths, staying mindful of the body’s reaction to it – are the key ingredients to getting the most out of a stretch.  So…why not take advantage of this method?
• Yoga promotes better concentration:  We hear the term “mind/body” used in conjunction with yoga, but do we really understand what that means?  When we practice yoga, part of the goal is to fully absorb yourself in the immediate task at hand.  To help this process, we use the breath.  By constantly attending to our breath, we have something to focus on, and a tool to help us maximize the quality of a position or exercise.  But what we also get from working our breath and our mindful engagement, is a strengthening of our “concentration” muscle.  We also learn how to use the breath to relax and release tension.  All of these are skills that translate well to the athlete:  the need to stay focused, to be able to make micro adjustments to form and technique, and the ability to stay calm under the duress of competition.
• The body is only as strong and agile as its low back:  Few of us will be completely untouched by some degree of low back discomfort, whether it’s a momentary achiness that comes from a long car ride or many hours spent sitting at a desk, or a chronic tightness that threatens to diminish your ability to keep up with your favorite activities, or serious injury.  Never mind the effect these issues have on sport, they present a real danger to our quality of life!  Fortunately, yoga and smart flexibility training can help break the cycle of a stiff low back, build strength where it’s needed, and alleviate tightness in surrounding muscles, which often exacerbate the problem.  No matter how “far gone” you feel your inflexible back is, you can make changes that will unlock that tightness and build a healthy and resilient back and core, capable of getting you through your day AND serving you well in your favorite fitness or sports activity!
• Yoga promotes muscle recovery:  Related to the first bullet point, as we age, our body is actually still very capable of an enormous array of challenges, and in fact it’s not unusual to achieve levels of fitness at age 50, 60 and even 70 that far exceed your body’s abilities at age 20, 30 or 40.  Well-documented studies have been done on people well into their 90’s, and the results are the same:  muscles will continue to respond to training as long as we’re alive; there is no “cut off” age for this to happen.  Exciting!  BUT…what does come with age is the increasing need for recovery.  You can workout and train intensely, but the real magic happens afterward, when your body can take the stimulus provided by your movements, and make changes internally.  Muscle tissue will be built and repaired, waste products removed, nerves replenished, fat stores depleted, cellular structures that deal with energy production will be added or better honed.  Plus, movement generates inflammation, which is natural but potentially harmful and needs its own repair process.  All of this requires recovery actions:  good sleep, proper nutrition, plenty of hydration, and stretching.  Basically, you’re doing your part to facilitate the body to do what it needs to do, as opposed to standing in the way of this.  Yoga provides the means of stretching the muscles, improving blood flow, decreasing inflammation, and (indirectly) promoting better sleep and rest.

So the next time you’re thinking of how to make this year your most fit and successful sports year yet, make sure you include stretching and/or yoga in that strategy!

Check out my new 5-minute yoga videos — 37 in all, now a part of www.TheFlexibilityCoach.com!

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When stretching a tight muscle, don’t overlook its “neighbor”

If you’ve landed on this blog, there’s a good chance that you have at least one of the following:

a)  Tight calf muscles

b)  Tight hamstrings

c)  A weak or stiff low back

or…

d)  All of the above

I can say this because these are the top 3 complaints we get over at Flexibility Coach Headquarters.  And although there are many potential causes and many ways to approach remedying the problem, one extremely effective consideration is that of stretching not just the muscle in question, but the adjacent muscle(s) as well.  The reason is simple:  Most of the time, tightness in a muscle is largely the result of overuse or underuse.  For example, runners will tend to overuse their calf muscle, whereas golfers will tend to overuse their low back (often, to make up for lack of flexibility and strength in their core and glutes).  This typically results in chronically tight calf muscles for runners, and a stiff and overfatigued low back in golfers — just to name two examples.

So how does addressing adjacent muscles help in these cases?  Because the very inclination towards overuse in one muscle group rarely occurs in isolation.  One of the reasons runners overuse their calf muscles is because the calf, glutes and hamstrings are what propel the body forward when you run on a flat surface or uphill.  And as was already alluded to with golfers, the tendency towards overdependence on the low back is often due to excess tightness in the hip/glute region.

With this in mind, going back to those same “top 3” muscle groups, here is what you should consider when stretching those areas:

a)  Tight calf muscles:  Make sure you go up your leg and stretch your hamstrings and outer glutes as well.

b)  Tight hamstrings:  Try to include calf stretches, stretches for the glutes, and stretches for the inner thigh/groin region as well.

c)  Stiff or weak low back:  In addition to gentle stretches and strengthening moves in various directions for the low back, you want to also include stretches for the glutes and groin muscles.

Obviously, these are just three examples.  The same principle applies regardless of which muscle or muscle group you’re stretching, but at least this gives you an idea.

And yes, this strategy does require some additional time to stretch all involved muscles, but the tradeoff can be powerful:  better sports performance, reduced injury, and most importantly, protecting your long-term mobility for the activity you can’t imagine not doing!

Looking for reliable online stretching instruction?  Look no further than your stretching expert, The Flexibility Coach.  Become a member today and relieve those tight muscles once and for all!

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Golfers With Tight Low Backs: 3 steps* towards better mobility

I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but our spring this year has been exceptionally mild, a delight for anyone who enjoys outdoor activities. And not surprisingly, golfers have made fast use of the warm, sunny weather, hitting the links in droves long before Memorial Day weekend is even part of the 10-day weather forecast.

But along with these early outings, I’m receiving a spike in inquiries about cranky low back muscles, whose tightness and stiffness are threatening to put the kibosh on an otherwise promising golf season. Thankfully, there’s still time to take action and ensure your handicap remains solely a reference to your game, and not the limitations of your body!

As always, if you’re experiencing low back issues, your first step is to check with your doctor to make sure it is safe for you to engage in stretches or exercises, and to follow whatever guidance your doctor gives you.

Assuming you have the all-clear from the doc, here are three steps to nip a tight, weak low back in the bud:

1. Incorporate gentle stretches for the low back; examples include light twists, elbow-supported cobra, 2-knee to chest, and side stretches.  These are best performed AFTER a workout, as part of the recovery for fatigued muscles.
2. Perform strengthening exercises for the core and low back muscles; examples include the elbow plank and prone opposite leg/reach.  These can be incorporated into a pre-existing workout program or performed as a quick stand-alone routine; just make sure you warm up before engaging in these exercises.
3. Add stretches for your hip/glute muscles:  tightness in this region is extremely common, and the greater the tightness here, the more the body tries to “make up” for this tightness by turning to the low back, which puts additional stress on it.  You can perform these at the end of a workout, or choose convenient chair- or bed-based versions to incorporate into your home or work life.

*Not sure which stretches to choose?  The full “Stretches for Golfers” workout, which includes a printable PDF and companion audio instruction, is available to premium members of www.TheFlexibilityCoach.com.  A sample workout sheet can be viewed here.  A sample audio stretch workout can be listened to here.

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