Well it can be confusing because of how the words static and passive are interchanged all over the place. Some people actually believe they are two different things. But they're not really.

Here's the definition from the article:

Static-passive flexibility (also called "passive flexibility") is the ability to assume extended positions and then maintain them using only your weight, the support of your limbs, or some other apparatus (such as a chair or a barre). Note that the ability to maintain the position does not come solely from your muscles, as it does with static-active flexibility. Being able to perform the splits is an example of static-passive flexibility.

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So static is something without movement. And passive is something that doesn't involve active muscle contraction by you in order to stretch the muscle. So the author puts it together for a more complete name. It is basically the kind of flexibility you develop in gym class and what pretty much everyone defines as flexibility. You bend down and touch your toes and that is static flexibility, and as mentioned, doing the split. Whether it is gravity, your bodyweight and the floor or wall, or a partner pushing against you, that is static (passive) stretching. The muscle is slowly forced to an extended postion and held there.


This kind of stretching is very good for cool down after any kind of workout but it doesn't transfer very much into real world flexibility which involves dynamic and active flexibility.

As I've hopefully pounded into lots of peoples heads, never do static stretches before working out (there is one exception but it's really unusual so I won't bother). If you are tight and need it do dynamic stretches which can serve as a warmup also.

Static stretches make you weaker, they tune down your CNS (they deaden it), they screw with your coordination.....the list goes on. They basically do the opposite of preparing your muscles for battle, they put them to sleep.


I can relate the static flexibility to your typical martial arts class. You start class by (maybe) warming up and then doing a bunch of static stretches. A big part of that is working on a split and perhaps doing partner stretches simulating a side kick postion. The instuctor thinks:

1. It is preparing you for the workout and preventing injury: false.

2. It is developing flexibility which will be called to action in your martial arts. For instance doing the splits is giving you a high side kick and/or round kick. False. Because static flexibility and dynamic flexibility are two different things. In this typical class what will actual lead to high kicks, for the most part, is practicing high kicks.

So in a nutshell, although it has benefits that are mostly confined to cool down and recovery, and to developing active static flexibility, stretching without movement mostly makes you better at stretching without movement.

The other two types of flexibility:

"Dynamic Flexibility"
Dynamic flexibility (also called "kinetic flexibility") is the ability to perform dynamic (or kinetic) movements of the muscles to bring a limb through its full range of motion in the joints.

"Static-Active flexibility"
Static-active flexibility (also called "active flexibility") is the ability to assume and maintain extended positions using only the tension of the agonists and synergists while the antagonists are being stretched (see Section 1.4 [Cooperating Muscle Groups]). For example, lifting the leg and keeping it high without any external support (other than from your own leg muscles).

Both of these types of flexibility have their own specific way of stretching to develop them. Dynamic stretching (not to be confused with ballistic stretching) uses momentum. You build on it slowly with controlled movements to bring the muscles to their full range of motion.

Active stretching would be something like bringing you leg up in front of you as high as you can and holding it there. It is "active" in the sense that you are using your own muslces to bring the leg up and to stretch the associated muscles. So you can see that static-passive flexibility might contribute to this somewhat but the only real way to do it is the active stretches.

The article goes into all of this in-depth.

BTW, when is comes to grappling, I would encourage PNF and Isometric stretching. IMO, they are the ones that will be most useful in that regard. All in the article

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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.