Hey REPers, Coach Christmas here with our Wellness Topics on Flexibility and Stretching!

Flexibility & Stretching

For us teachers and coaches born in the 80’s and 90’s…remember what it was like to get up and put your socks on in the morning without having to grunt? Yeah, those were the good ol’ days. What I’ve come to understand in the last year was that flexibility is, for the most part, an ability we are born with but lose over time if we don’t work at it

As I’m sure you already know, flexibility is the ability of a joint or series of joints to move through an unrestricted, pain free range of motion. Flexibility will always change from person to person, but for optimal health, minimum ranges of motion (ROM) in major joints are required.

Now, unless you’re a high performance musculoskeletal specialist, I highly doubt you’re carrying a goniometer around to measure your students and athletes ROM. Lucky for you, REPerformance has over 70 fitness assessments, many of them including a range of motion assessments!

How does a lack of flexibility affect your performance? Let’s explore:

• Muscles that lack flexibility tire more quickly, causing opposing muscle groups to work harder. Muscle fatigue can lead to injuries and the inability of the muscles to protect joints from more severe injuries. For example, the hamstrings play a role in stabilizing the knee and preventing ligament tears.
• Decreased flexibility may also lead to abnormal stress on structures and tissues distant from the initial site of inflexibility. For example, tendonitis in the knee can be related to calf tightness.

So how can you improve your flexibility? Through stretching of course!

Flexibility can be improved when you stretch. Utilizing a stretching technique called static stretching AFTER your workout (holding a stretch for an extended period, typically for 30 seconds), will provide that feel good, lengthening sensation. Static stretching usually feels better after exercise, because your muscles are warm. Think of your muscles as cold rubber bands kept overnight in the refrigerator. What’s likely to occur if you take it out and try to stretch it? The results would be, at best, limited ROM. At worst, the band would snap.

Creating a stretching routine with both Dynamic stretching (involves making active movements that stretch the muscles to their full range of motion) BEFORE your workout and Static Stretching AFTER will provide you more opportunities to improve your flexibility.