Why Invest Your Time Warming-Up And Doing Stretching And Mobility Exercises? - Part 1A

The nervous reflex response is to send a message to the muscle to contract so that the muscles avoids trauma. This contraction stiffens the muscle, so if you stretch too far you defeat the objective of stretching - you actually shorten your muscle.

Overstretching and forcing the muscle beyond the point of 'reflex tension' brings pain, and microscopic tears in the muscle fibre. These microtraumas cause scar tissue to form in the muscle tissue which in turn cause a loss of elasticity. Your muscles can become rigid and painful. Therefore 'no pain, no gain' does not apply in stretching: physical suffering in weight raining and running may bring physical improvements, but the do not do so in stretching.

When stretching you must not activate 'reflex tension', but remain within the pain-free zones of 'easy tension' and 'development tension' as in the animation below:

For this reason 'the rule of the last centimetre' advocated by Roberto Sassi in the Italian running magazine 'Correre', issue 8 of January 1982, by which in every successive repetition you should extend the muscle a little further - by a millimetre to a centimetre - is recommended.

BREATHING

Breathing should be slow and rhythmic, under control, and should feel natural. Before starting an exercise, breathe in, and then as you move, breathe out. As you maintain your position breathe gently. Do not hold your breath.

DYNAMIC STRETCHING

Dynamic stretching involves moving parts of your body and gradually increasing reach, speed of movement, or both.

Dynamic stretching is not to be confused with ballistic stretching. Dynamic stretching consists of controlled leg and arm swings that take you (gently!) to the limits of your range of motion. Ballistic stretches involve trying to force a part of the body beyond its range of motion. In dynamic stretches, there are no bounces or "jerky" movements.

An example of dynamic stretching would be slow, controlled leg swings, arm swings, or torso twists.

Dynamic stretching improves dynamic flexibility and is quite useful as part of your warm-up for an active or aerobic workout, such as a dance, running or martial-arts class.

Dynamic stretching exercises should be performed in sets of 8-12 repetitions.

Tired muscles

Focus Question: What happens to your muscle if you keep exercising it once you reach the full range of movement?

Be sure to stop when and if you feel tired. Tired muscles have less elasticity which decreases the range of motion used in your

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