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Old 05-13-2006, 02:04 PM
EricT EricT is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 6,314
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Before I post any further I wanted to interject my own opinion of the "warming up" section above. The author has used various sources and all of those sources don't necessarily mesh. Some of it seems downright contradictory. In fact, I think you should take this whole section with a grain of salt. Last time I checked I couldn't "rotate" my elbows.

I personally don't believe that static stretching is a useful part of "warming up". Especially for us bodybuilders. And if you need to do static streches BEFORE you do dynamic, then you aren't doing the dynamics properly. If one insists on a static stretch, then I think that PNF is a better choice.

He mentions Kurz in this section so let me give you what Kurz actually has to say on this subject:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kurz
Flexibility improves with an increased blood flow in the muscles, so after your aerobic activity, you can follow with dynamic stretches—for example, leg raises to the front, sides, and back, and arm swings. Leg raises are to be done in sets of ten to twelve repetitions per leg. Arm swings are to be done in sets of five to eight repetitions. The athlete should do as many sets as it takes to reach his or her maximum range of motion in any given direction. Usually, for properly conditioned athletes, one set in each direction is enough.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kurz

Doing static stretches before a workout that consists of dynamic actions is counterproductive. The goal of the warm-up, which is to improve coordination, elasticity and contractibility of muscles, and breathing efficiency, cannot be achieved by doing static stretches, isometric or relaxed. Isometric tensions will only make the athlete tired and decrease coordination. Passive, relaxed stretches, on the other hand, have a calming effect and can even make an athlete sleepy.

Static stretches reduce maximal strength (Kokkonen et al. 1998) and impair activity of the tendon reflexes (Rosenbaum and Hennig 1995). By making fast dynamic movements immediately after a static stretch, an athlete may injure the stretched muscle.
Static stretches before dynamic stretches?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kurz
Don't! Never do static stretches before dynamic stretches...
Further reading

http://www.stadion.com/column_stretch12.html Kurz on Warm-UP

http://www.stadion.com/column.html Kurz

Don't get me wrong. This is a GREAT technical resource!
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If you act sanctimonious I will just list out your logical fallacies until you get pissed off and spew blasphemous remarks.

Last edited by EricT; 05-15-2006 at 10:14 AM.
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