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Improved Performance through Stretching I have rarely participated in a team practice as a player, coach, or bystander, in which enough time has been reserved for a proper warm up. Although most coaches will admit flexibility is crucial to reducing the risk of injury, it is seldom that a team practice plan includes an appropriate warm up and stretching routine.
This leaves the responsibility of improving flexibility over time on you, the athlete. There are several methods of stretching that will, with time, improve a muscle’s ability to contract and relax.
Static stretching is the most common type of stretch performed, yet is the least effective. Static stretching consists of a “reach and hold” method. When an athlete reaches for his or her toes, for example, and holds that stretch for a set length of time, this constitutes a static stretch. The muscle is pulling back into position against force created by reaching for the toes, and as soon as that force stops, the muscle “snaps” back to its original length, weaker than when the stretch was initiated.
Ballistic stretches consist of quick, rapid, and repetitive movements forcing a muscle to lengthen and shorten in a very short period of time, usually less than a second per repetition. Although this method can be very effective, it produces the greatest risk of injury, and should only be performed by athletes who are already very flexible.
The most effective method of stretching consists of a “contract-relax-contract” method, or PNF (proprioneuromuscular facilitation). This method requires the athlete to lie passively as a partner manipulates a body part to create a stretch, then holds steady as the athlete pushes against that outside resistance. Most of us have seen this being performed by an athletic trainer on the sidelines during games when someone has cramped up during competition.
Learning to combine all three methods into one routine, using a simple tool such as a heavy duty stretch band, enables you to work on your flexibility as often as you like, as long as you take the time to make yourself better. Stretching in this fashion at least three times every day, will not only increase flexibility, it will improve overall health, reduce your risk of getting hurt, and prepare your body for speed and strength training programs which enable us to get faster and stronger, leading to better performance.
Train hard, play harder! |