stretching before or after activity

[Hanuman]

hi guys ive run into a bit of confusion over when you should stretch i remember at school before sports we would do some as well as laps of the track etc but a lot of advice in general is not to stretch or the difference between dynamic and static stretches which confused me all the more as some advice is to not stretch just "warm up" which i find an ambiguous and generally unhelpful term. any advice would be greatly appreciated thx

[Alexander Svensson]

As I understand it dynamic stretching can be used before exercise and static stretching should be done afterwards.

The difference being that static stretching where you hold the strerched position for longer time (more than 20-30 seconds I think) Will tire out the muscles. While short dynamic stretching will just warm them up.

I bet someone else could give a more detailed explanation.

[Joseff Lea]

The way I like to think of it is: before activity you stretch the joint, this just means putting the joint through it's full ROM to warm it up but not stretching the muscles for example I stretch my hip joint by  lifting it up and around but I let my leg bend so that my hamstrings aren't stretched. 
F1 covers most of my actual flexibility work but if I need to some serious stretching I do it at the end when everything is warm.
I don't like dymanic stretching before hand as I tend to get a little overzealous with the ROM and can feel things tugging in a bad way. I've also read something about stretching before strength work inhibiting the muscles ability to produce force but I don't know any more than that.

This is just my take on it more experienced members will doubtless have sounder advice

[Connor Davies]

Standard advice is to do dynamic stretches before your workout and static stretching afterwards.  Prolonged static stretching limits power output by like, 3% or something so it's not a major difference.

 

Personally, I do a long pancake stretch before I do any straddle work, because I need the extra range of motion in order to even complete the exercise.  GST is a bit different from most sports because you need that extra range of motion, which makes the stretching worth doing even if it does limit your power output somewhat.

[Jon Douglas]

Gymnasts do static stretching (in the vein of our integrated mobility) before every workout. I give this a bit more of a dynamic swing because, yeah, warmup. Despite the general advice to avoid it, I haven't noticed a problem as long as I stay away from 'serious' stretching, like holding for a minute or more.

[Hanuman]

I tend to have a workout cycle whereby I do sprinting on track one day followed by a day of gymnastic strength exercises

So if I am interpreting correctly for difficult positions required in gymnastic exercises it may be more beneficial to use static stretching but maybe for my sprints I should just employ dynamic or ROM activities?

[Connor Davies]

I tend to have a workout cycle whereby I do sprinting on track one day followed by a day of gymnastic strength exercises

So if I am interpreting correctly for difficult positions required in gymnastic exercises it may be more beneficial to use static stretching but maybe for my sprints I should just employ dynamic or ROM activities?

Yup.  Prolonged static stretching will reduce your explosive strength potential, and there's a good chance you'll injure yourself trying to sprint in a ROM that your body can't handle.

[Jon Douglas]

I tend to have a workout cycle whereby I do sprinting on track one day followed by a day of gymnastic strength exercises

So if I am interpreting correctly for difficult positions required in gymnastic exercises it may be more beneficial to use static stretching but maybe for my sprints I should just employ dynamic or ROM activities?

Sounds good. My view of it is limbering up, but not going for any new ROM when warming up for strength or explosive work. That's for afterwards.

[Alessandro Mainente]

i'll share with you the warm up of Morandi that i usually perform everytime also in my gym, separated from the team.

 

5 minutes of floor run.

 

while moderate running;

-10 single arms rounds  clockwise and counterclockwise

-10 double arms rounds clockwise ad counterclockwise

-10 double arms swing in every directions, low medium and high, followed by 10 rpetitions of boucing swing near the point of max elongation, do not sacrifice the amplitude of movements to do more reps

-wrist rounds, different movemnt

-10 ankle rounds followed by 10-15 hips dynamic movement

 

while standing

 

-double leg squats for 10-20 repetitions, followed by 4-7 exercises to involve hamstring and adductor. the exercises are dyanamic repetitions that increase the ROM rep by rep, exercise by exercise

-STATIC STRETCH every position is composed by 5 seconds hold, chest, back, shoulders, hips, adductors, hamstring, calves ,feet , neck and wrist. Repeat the sequence for 2-3 times

in total a sequence is composed by 15-18 positions. IF you can do split you hold split. at those level you can do split for warm up, oversplit is for the post workout

-5 minutes of wall extension

-specific exercises as push up, pull up etc.

[Jon Douglas]

i'll share with you the warm up of Morandi that i usually perform everytime also in my gym, separated from the team.

 

5 minutes of floor run.

 

while moderate running;

-10 single arms rounds  clockwise and counterclockwise

-10 double arms rounds clockwise ad counterclockwise

-10 double arms swing in every directions, low medium and high, followed by 10 rpetitions of boucing swing near the point of max elongation, do not sacrifice the amplitude of movements to do more reps

-wrist rounds, different movemnt

-10 ankle rounds followed by 10-15 hips dynamic movement

 

while standing

 

-double leg squats for 10-20 repetitions, followed by 4-7 exercises to involve hamstring and adductor. the exercises are dyanamic repetitions that increase the ROM rep by rep, exercise by exercise

-STATIC STRETCH every position is composed by 5 seconds hold, chest, back, shoulders, hips, adductors, hamstring, calves ,feet , neck and wrist. Repeat the sequence for 2-3 times

in total a sequence is composed by 15-18 positions. IF you can do split you hold split. at those level you can do split for warm up, oversplit is for the post workout

-5 minutes of wall extension

-specific exercises as push up, pull up etc.

Nice! Thanks a lot for that!

Would you mind going into a little more detail on the ankle movements?

[Alessandro Mainente]

It's a little but hard to explain

-rounds clockwise and counterclock wise

-there are some stretch for the neck of the foot

-then with a loop bad 1-2 sets of high repetitions working against medial deviation and distal deviation

-then some assisted inside/outside-squat variations trying to move the effort of the external /external side of the ankle

-then some balance with proprioceptive board

-a movement used in my gym but not very often is a light walk on the external part of the ankle then on the internal.

[Jon Douglas]

It's a little but hard to explain

-rounds clockwise and counterclock wise

-there are some stretch for the neck of the foot

-then with a loop bad 1-2 sets of high repetitions working against medial deviation and distal deviation

-then some assisted inside-squat variations trying to move the effort of the external side of the ankle

-then some balance with proprioceptive board

-a movement used in my gym but not very often is a light walk on the external part of the ankle then on the internal.

Cool, I understand thanks a lot!

[Daniel Burnham]

i'll share with you the warm up of Morandi that i usually perform everytime also in my gym, separated from the team.

 

5 minutes of floor run.

 

while moderate running;

-10 single arms rounds  clockwise and counterclockwise

-10 double arms rounds clockwise ad counterclockwise

-10 double arms swing in every directions, low medium and high, followed by 10 rpetitions of boucing swing near the point of max elongation, do not sacrifice the amplitude of movements to do more reps

-wrist rounds, different movemnt

-10 ankle rounds followed by 10-15 hips dynamic movement

 

while standing

 

-double leg squats for 10-20 repetitions, followed by 4-7 exercises to involve hamstring and adductor. the exercises are dyanamic repetitions that increase the ROM rep by rep, exercise by exercise

-STATIC STRETCH every position is composed by 5 seconds hold, chest, back, shoulders, hips, adductors, hamstring, calves ,feet , neck and wrist. Repeat the sequence for 2-3 times

in total a sequence is composed by 15-18 positions. IF you can do split you hold split. at those level you can do split for warm up, oversplit is for the post workout

-5 minutes of wall extension

-specific exercises as push up, pull up etc.

This is very similar to the warmup that the guys do at our gym if you take out most of the skill elements. I do most of this everyday myself as well.

[Hanuman]

Wow really indepth feedback I love this forum thx so much guys

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

Sounds good. My view of it is limbering up, but not going for any new ROM when warming up for strength or explosive work. That's for afterwards.

 

There is very little chance for any sprinter to do too much stretching...

If you are wondering whether you should stretch or not Hanuman, chances are that you should, twice!