We are headed out to Los Angeles tonight see one of the last performances of Wicked!
Anyway, for your reading pleasure, here are some really insightful articles on the new ways for athletes to stretch! This is the exact opposite of what I was taught as a young girl in Cross Country.
Stretching: The Truth
WHEN DUANE KNUDSON, a professor of kinesiology at California State University, Chico, looks around campus at athletes warming up before practice, he sees one dangerous mistake after another. “They’re stretching, touching their toes. . . . ” He sighs. “It’s discouraging.”
Pre-Activity Stretching May Hinder Athletic Performance, UNLV Study Finds
Contrary to the prevailing idea that stretching enhances athletic performance, a new study by University of Nevada, Las Vegas kinesiology researchers found that certain stretching may actually reduce performance by decreasing leg power.
The study, which appears in the September 2008 issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, investigated how two typical stretching techniques for the hamstrings and quadriceps muscles in the legs affected measures of strength and power in a group of male and female athletes.
Specifically, participants were asked to perform a vertical jump and seated knee flex on three occasions after a typical duration of basic static (holding) and ballistic (bouncing) stretches, or no stretching at all. While little or no difference was found in vertical jump and leg torque, power measures for the stretching groups were significantly reduced.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Mark // Nov 7, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Good article…thanks for sharing!
Have fun!
Marks last blog post..Exercise With Your Kids
2 Dr. J // Nov 8, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Like you,. I learned the traditional stretching style. When I started running long distance, I gravitated toward warming up as I ran, so I stopped stretching. Even with the martial arts now, I just do the technique slowly at first and add to that as I warm up, and I feel it’s a much better way to go!
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