Well, since all the writers on this site have touted the benefits of flexiblity, I have stretched and stretched and stretched, almost to the point of having Gumby-like flexibility. At the end of a good streching session, I can spread my legs in a V and come within an inch or so of touching my forehead to the ground. However, in one of Charles Staley’s books, he said that being very flexible is a detriment to athletes in power sports, since they cannot store significant amounts of elastic energy in a muscle in an eccentric movement. As a power athlete can this flexibility really hurt my performance?
Crap, I can’t remember who wrote about this, but it has been addressed in T-mag. Maybe the second Ian King interview? Or maybe the Charlie Francis interview? I think Shugart did the article, but it was an interview as I recall. AAAYYYY! The Human T-mag Index has failed! (Maybe the search engine at T-mag will help you find the answer.)
what type of strecthing routine did u follow? my bigest problem is flexability and stretching of the lower back
Never fear! In many of Ian Kings books he says that he has only come across two or three athletes in his career that he thought were too flexible. He said flexibility training is the only form of training where he thinks more is better.
Most of what I have read says stretching before training may hurt the elastic response or your muscles and be detrimental to that days lifting.
The main problem I had was that I got burnt out on stretching since I did it so often and now don’t at all.
king for some reason is also a big fan of static stretching. I read an article by poliquin (as i recall) sayin that you should be just flexible enough for your sport-- his example was his leg flexibility for squatting was just adequate, but with that flexibility he could only kick you in the shins, so its a good thing hes a lifter, not a martial artist.
I just read Pavel T’s book “Relax into Stretch.” He adresses this issue exactly. Dman put it nicely in his post. Pavel also shoots static or relaxed stretching out of the sky! It was really interesting and I am excited to try it. Anyone interested in lack of or too great of flexibility should read it.
i read the book it was certainly intresting altough i stil cant stretch my lower back so some advice would be greatly apreciated:)
I think stretching is good - to a point. my personal experience was that when I trained in martial arts and got very flexible (for me, anyway) in the lower body I did not feel as strong on my squats. On the other hand, distance running was much easier. So I believe that stretching DOES make a difference, and that it should be a component of everyone’s fitness routine, but that the specific amount of stretching should be tailored to your own particular sport. And yes, too much flexibility can adversely impact power sports.