Stretching And Flexibility PLR Ebook

Table of Contents

A
actin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
active
exibility . . . . . . 11
active stretching . . . . . . 18
aerobic activity . . . . . . . 26
agonists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Alter, Judy . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Alter, Michael J . . . . 2, 41
Anderson, Bob . . . . . . . 41
ankle, range of motion of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
antagonists . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
autogenic inhibition . . . . 9
B
ballistic PNF stretching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
ballistic stretching . . . . 17
Beaulieu, John E. . . . . . 41
benefits of stretching . 25
Blakey, W. Paul . . . . . . 41
books on stretching . . . 41
butter
y stretch . . . . . . 51
C
chinese split . . . . . . . . . . 38
circadian rhythms . . . . 34
clasped-knife re
ex . . . . 9
collagen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
collagenous connective tissue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
common stretching mistakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
concentric contraction . 6
connective tissue . . . . . . . 5
contract-relax, PNF stretching technique . . . . . . . 21
contract-relax-antagonist-contract, PNF stretching
technique . . . . . . . . 21
contract-relax-bounce, PNF stretching technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
contract-relax-contract, PNF stretching technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
contract-relax-swing, PNF stretching technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
contractile proteins . . . . 3
cooling down . . . . . . . . . 28
Cooper, Robert K. . . . . 41
counting during stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
CRAC, PNF stretching technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Croce, Pat . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
D
dierent types of
exibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
dierent types of stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
duration of a stretch . . 31
Dworkis, Sam . . . . . . . . 41
dynamic
exibility . . . . 11
dynamic PNF stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
dynamic stretching . . . 17
dynamic warm-up stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
E
early-morning stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
eccentric contraction . . . 6
elastic connective tissue 5
elastin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
elbow, range of motion of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
endomysium . . . . . . . . . . . 5
epimysium . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
extrafusal muscle fibers 7
F
fascia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
fascial sheaths of muscle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
fascicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
fasciculi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
fast-twitch fibers . . . . . . . 4
fixators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
exibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
exibility, factors aecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

exibility, limiting factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Frenette, Jean . . . . . . . . 42
frog stretch . . . . . . . . . . . 51
front split . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
G
general warm-up . . . . . . 26
golgi tendon organ . . . . . 7
groin and inner-thigh stretch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Gummerson, Tony . 2, 42
H
Health for Life . . . . . 2, 42
HFL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 42
hip, range of motion of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
hold-relax, PNF stretching technique. . . . . . . . . . . 21
hold-relax-bounce, PNF stretching technique . . . 21
Index 60
hold-relax-contract, PNF stretching technique . . 21
hold-relax-swing, PNF stretching technique . . . . 21
I
innervate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
interdependency of muscle groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
intrafusal muscle fibers 7
inverse myotatic re
ex . 9
isolation oered by a stretch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
isometric agonist contraction/relaxation. . . . . . . . 21
isometric antagonist contraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
isometric contraction . . 6
isometric stretching . . . 19
isotonic contraction . . . . 6
Iyengar, B. K. S . . . . . . 42
J
Jerome, John . . . . . . . . . 42
joint rotations . . . . . . . . 26
joints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
K
Kim, Sang H. . . . . . . . . . 42
kinetic
exibility . . . . . . 11
knee, range of motion of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Kurz, Tom . . . . . . . . . 2, 42
L
Lala, Marco . . . . . . . . . . 42
lengthening reaction . . . 9
leverage oered by a stretch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
ligaments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
limiting factors of
exibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
lower back stretches . . 49
lumbar spine, range of motion of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
lying buttock stretch . 50
lying `V’ stretch . . . . . . . 54
M
McAtee, Robert E . . . . 43
mechanoreceptors . . . . . . 7
Mehta, Shyam . . . . . . . . 43
metabolic accumulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Mira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
mitochondria . . . . . . . . . . 4
mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
mobility, factors aecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
mucopolysaccharide . . . . 5
muscle fibers . . . . . . . . . . . 3
muscle spasms . . . . . . . . 36
muscle spindle . . . . . . . . . 7
musculoskeletal system 3
myofilaments . . . . . . . . . . 3
myofybrils . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
myosin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
myotatic re
ex . . . . . . . . . 8
N
neck, range of motion of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
neuromuscular junction 3
neutralizers . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
nuclear bag fibers . . . . . . 8
nuclear chain fibers . . . . 8
P
pacinian corpuscles . . . . 7
passive
exibility . . . . . 11
passive stretching . . . . . 18
perimysium . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Peterson, Susan L. . . . . 43
plyometrics . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
PNF stretching . . . . . . . 20
post-isometric relaxation techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . 20
prime movers . . . . . . . . . . 5
proprioception . . . . . . . . . 7
proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation. . . . . . . 20
proprioceptors . . . . . . . . . 7
psoas stretch . . . . . . . . . 52
Q
quadricep stretch . . . . . 53
R
ranges of joint motion 55
reciprocal inhibition . . . 9
reciprocal innervation . . 9
references on stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
relaxed stretching . . . . . 18
relaxed warm-up stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
repetitions of a stretch 32
respiratory pump . . . . . 32
risk of injury from a stretch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
runner’s start . . . . . . . . . 52
S
sarcomeres . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
seated calf stretch . . . . 51
seated hamstring stretch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
seated inner-thigh stretch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
seated leg stretches . . . 51
Index 61
Shields, Andrew T . . . . 43
shoulder, range of motion of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
side split . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Silva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
slow-twitch fibers . . . . . . 4
Smith, Ann . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Solveborn, Sven-A . . . . 43
split-stretching machines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
sport-specific activity . 28
stabilizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
static stretching . . . . . . 18
static warm-up stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
static-active
exibility 11
static-active stretching 18
static-passive
exibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
static-passive stretching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Sternad & Bozdech . . . 43
stretch receptors . . . . . . . 7
stretch re
ex . . . . . . . . . . 8
stretch re
ex, dynamic component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
stretch re
ex, static component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Sullivan, John Patrick 43
synergism . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
synergists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
T
tendons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Tobias, Maxine . . . . . . . 43
torn tissue . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Type 1 muscle fibers . . . 4
Type 2A muscle fibers . 4
Type 2B muscle fibers . 4
types of
exibility . . . . 11
types of stretching . . . . 17
V
videotapes on stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
W
warm-up stretching . . . 27
warming down . . . . . . . . 28
warming up . . . . . . . . . . 25
wrist, range of motion of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Index 62
i
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . 1
Disclaimer . 1
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1 Physiology of Stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1 The Musculoskeletal System . . . . 3
1.2 Muscle Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.1 How Muscles Contract . 3
1.2.2 Fast and Slow Muscle Fibers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Connective Tissue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 Cooperating Muscle Groups . . . . . 5
1.5 Types of Muscle Contractions . . . 6
1.6 What Happens When You Stretch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.6.1 Proprioceptors . . . . . . . . 7
1.6.2 The Stretch Reex . . . . . 8
1.6.2.1 Components of the Stretch Reex . . . . . . . 8
1.6.3 The Lengthening Reaction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.6.4 Reciprocal Inhibition . . . 9
2 Flexibility . . . . . . . 11
2.1 Types of Flexibility . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 Factors Limiting Flexibility . . . . 12
2.2.1 How Connective Tissue Aects Flexibility . . . . . . . 13
2.2.2 How Aging Aects Flexibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3 Strength and Flexibility . . . . . . . 14
2.3.1 Why Bodybuilders Should Stretch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3.2 Why Contortionists Should Strengthen . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.4 Over exibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3 Types of Stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.1 Ballistic Stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2 Dynamic Stretching . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.3 Active Stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.4 Passive Stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.5 Static Stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.6 Isometric Stretching . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.6.1 How Isometric Stretching Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.7 PNF Stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.7.1 How PNF Stretching Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
ii
4 How to Stretch . . 25
4.1 Warming Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.1.1 General Warm-Up . . . . 26
4.1.1.1 Joint Rotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.1.1.2 Aerobic Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.1.2 Warm-Up Stretching . . 27
4.1.2.1 Static Warm-Up Stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.1.2.2 Dynamic Warm-Up Stretching . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1.3 Sport-Specific Activity 28
4.2 Cooling Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.3 Massage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.4 Elements of a Good Stretch . . . . 29
4.4.1 Isolation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.4.2 Leverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.4.3 Risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.5 Some Risky Stretches . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.6 Duration, Counting, and Repetition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.7 Breathing During Stretching . . . 32
4.8 Exercise Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.9 When to Stretch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.9.1 Early-Morning Stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.10 Stretching With a Partner . . . . 34
4.11 Stretching to Increase Flexibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.12 Pain and Discomfort . . . . . . . . . 35
4.12.1 Common Causes of Muscular Soreness . . . . . . . . . 36
4.12.2 Stretching with Pain . 37
4.12.3 Overstretching . . . . . . 37
4.13 Performing Splits . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.13.1 Common Problems When Performing Splits . . . . 38
4.13.2 The Front Split . . . . . . 39
4.13.3 The Side Split . . . . . . . 39
4.13.4 Split-Stretching Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Appendix A References on Stretching . . . . . . . 41
A.1 Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
A.2 Additional Comments . . . . . . . . . 44
Appendix B Working Toward the Splits. . . . . . 49
B.1 lower back stretches . . . . . . . . . . . 49
B.2 lying buttock stretch . . . . . . . . . . 50
B.3 groin and inner-thigh stretch . . 51
B.4 seated leg stretches . . . . . . . . . . . 51
B.4.1 seated calf stretch . . . . 51
B.4.2 seated hamstring stretch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
B.4.3 seated inner-thigh stretch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
B.5 psoas stretch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
B.6 quadricep stretch . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
B.7 lying `V’ stretch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
iii
Appendix C Normal Ranges of Joint Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
C.1 Neck 55
C.2 Lumbar Spine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
C.3 Shoulder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
C.4 Elbow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
C.5 Wrist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
C.6 Hip . 56
C.7 Knee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
C.8 Ankle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

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1.1 The Musculoskeletal System

Together, muscles and bones comprise what is called the musculoskeletal system of the body. The bones provide posture and structural support for the body and the muscles provide the body with the ability to move (by contracting, and thus generating tension). The musculoskeletal system also provides protection for the body’s internal organs. In order to serve their function, bones must be joined together by something. The point where bones connect to one another is called a joint, and this connection is made mostly by ligaments (along with the help of muscles). Muscles are attached to the bone by tendons. Bones, tendons, and ligaments do not possess the ability (as muscles do) to make your body move. Muscles are very unique in this respect.

1.2 Muscle Composition

Muscles vary in shape and in size, and serve many di erent purposes. Most large muscles, like the hamstrings and quadriceps, control motion. Other muscles, like the heart, and the muscles of the inner ear, perform other functions. At the microscopic level however, all muscles share the same basic structure.

At the highest level, the (whole) muscle is composed of many strands of tissue called fascicles. These are the strands of muscle that we see when we cut red meat or poultry. Each fascicle is composed of fasciculi which are bundles of muscle fibers. The muscle fibers are in turn composed of tens of thousands of thread-like myofybrils, which can contract, relax, and elongate (lengthen). The myofybrils are (in turn) composed of up to millions of bands laid end-to-end called sarcomeres. Each sarcomere is made of overlapping thick and thin filaments called myofilaments. The thick and thin myofilaments are made up of contractile proteins, primarily actin and myosin.

1.2.1 How Muscles Contract

The way in which all these various levels of the muscle operate is as follows: Nerves connect the spinal column to the muscle. The place where the nerve and muscle meet is called the neuromuscular junction. When an electrical signal crosses the neuromuscular junction, it is transmitted deep inside the muscle fibers. Inside the muscle fibers, the signal stimulates the ow of calcium which causes the thick and thin myofilaments to slide across one another. When this occurs, it causes the sarcomere to shorten, which generates force. Chapter 1: Physiology of Stretching 4

When billions of sarcomeres in the muscle shorten all at once it results in a contraction of the entire muscle fiber.

When a muscle fiber contracts, it contracts completely. There is no such thing as a partially contracted muscle fiber. Muscle fibers are unable to vary the intensity of their contraction relative to the load against which they are acting. If this is so, then how does the force of a muscle contraction vary in strength from strong to weak? What happens is that more muscle fibers are recruited, as they are needed, to perform the job at hand. The more muscle fibers that are recruited by the central nervous system, the stronger the force generated by the muscular contraction.

1.2.2 Fast and Slow Muscle Fibers

The energy which produces the calcium ow in the muscle fibers comes from mitochon- dria, the part of the muscle cell that converts glucose (blood sugar) into energy. Di erent types of muscle fibers have di erent amounts of mitochondria. The more mitochondria in a muscle fiber, the more energy it is able to produce. Muscle fibers are categorized into slow- twitch fibers and fast-twitch fibers. Slow-twitch fibers (also called Type 1 muscle fibers) are slow to contract, but they are also very slow to fatigue. Fast-twitch fibers are very quick to contract and come in two varieties: Type 2A muscle fibers which fatigue at an intermediate rate, and Type 2B muscle fibers which fatigue very quickly. The main rea- son the slow-twitch fibers are slow to fatigue is that they contain more mitochondria than fast-twitch fibers and hence are able to produce more energy. Slow-twitch fibers are also smaller in diameter than fast-twitch fibers and have increased capillary blood ow around them. Because they have a smaller diameter and an increased blood ow, the slow-twitch fibers are able to deliver more oxygen and remove more waste products from the muscle fibers (which decreases their “fatigability”).

These three muscle fiber types (Types 1, 2A, and 2B) are contained in all muscles in varying amounts. Muscles that need to be contracted much of the time (like the heart) have a greater number of Type 1 (slow) fibers. When a muscle first starts to contract, it is primarily Type 1 fibers that are initially activated, then Type 2A and Type 2B fibers are activated (if needed) in that order. The fact that muscle fibers are recruited in this sequence is what provides the ability to execute brain commands with such fine-tuned tuned muscle responses. It also makes the Type 2B fibers dicult to train because they are not activated until most of the Type 1 and Type 2A fibers have been recruited.

HFLTA states that the the best way to remember the di erence between muscles with predominantly slow-twitch fibers and muscles with predominantly fast-twitch fibers is to think of “white meat” and “dark meat”. Dark meat is dark because it has a greater number of slow-twitch muscle fibers and hence a greater number of mitochondria, which are dark. White meat consists mostly of muscle fibers which are at rest much of the time but are frequently called on to engage in brief bouts of intense activity. This muscle tissue can contract quickly but is fast to fatigue and slow to recover. White meat is lighter in color than dark meat because it contains fewer mitochondria.

Chapter 1: Physiology of Stretching 5

1.3 Connective Tissue

Located all around the muscle and its fibers are connective tissues. Connective tissue is composed of a base substance and two kinds of protein based fiber. The two types of fiber are collagenous connective tissue and elastic connective tissue. Collagenous connective tissue consists mostly of collagen (hence its name) and provides tensile strength. Elastic connective tissue consists mostly of elastin and (as you might guess from its name) provides elasticity. The base substance is called mucopolysaccharide and acts as both a lubricant (allowing the fibers to easily slide over one another), and as a glue (holding the fibers of the tissue together into bundles). The more elastic connective tissue there is around a joint, the greater the range of motion in that joint. Connective tissues are made up of tendons, ligaments, and the fascial sheaths that envelop, or bind down, muscles into separate groups. These fascial sheaths, or fascia, are named according to where they are located in the muscles:

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