Re: Stretching

[Guest guest]

Yoga is beyond amazing. You stretch muscles that you could not get to in any other way. I thought I'd 'try' it one day and have been hooked ever since. Plus, you can't beat the spiritual, meditative qualities that are a fringe benefit. Yoga is exercise for the mind, body and soul. Ashtanga Yoga is for strength training and stretching. There's a pose that targets the muscle beneath your abs. Hold the pose properly and you'll feel it!

Helen

From: " john roberts " <johnhrob@...>

Reply-

Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 14:37:02 -0500

< >

Subject: RE: [ ] Stretching

As a jogger I have very tight hams and stretch them while sitting on the ground. I was under the impression that bouncing and/or using the weight of of your upper body to push the stretch was not good... however I'm chronically tight and need to stretch more.. I've heard good things about Pilates and Yoga, any experience pro/con out there?

JR

-----Original Message-----

From: Micky Snir [mailto:mickys@...]

Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 2:05 PM

Subject: RE: [ ] Stretching

Hi Suz. I¹m obviously not a match for your expertise. I¹m just a layperson reading around on the Internet and some books, and the only formal certification I have is hardly related to my Job, though my boss does not really know thatŠ

I¹ll use Laymanese in my attempt to answer your questions, though I am obviously not equipped to debate the issues.

So if for example you try to stretch your hamstrings by standing, straightening you legs and bending forward from the hip, then if you also bend you lower back (trying to touch your toes), you will stretch some connective tissue in your lower back. Stretching the hams is most probably better done with a flat back, and somewhat bent knees. Sure, you can¹t touch the toes of your feet this way, but this not the goal of stretching the hams. Obviously when you stretch your muscles, there¹s tension on the connective tissue as well. However, biomechanically you can do the stretching in a way that puts more stress on the tendons. You don¹t want to stretch tendons, since they are highly not plastic. My layknowlege says that a stretched tendon does not shrink back to its original size, or that it takes ³forever². And that¹s the connection to destabilizing joints: stretched tendons hold the bones to the joint more ³loosly², thus harm joint ³stability².

I hope I connected some dots, though I admit I could be dead wrong, and again, I¹m just a layperson and cannot debate this, or come up with references. The reason I sent my original email is to let people know that there are also dangers in stretching.

Micky.

P.S. I did only 2 shoulder presses with 100#. One from the bottom, shoulder level, and the second only down to a bit below parallel. And that¹s concurrently with both arms, each arm holding a 100# dumbbell (AKA a CRONIE unit)Š

-----Original Message-----

From: Suzanne Cart [mailto:massuz@...]

Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 6:02 PM

CR Support Group

Subject: [ ] Stretching

Micky, I gotta ask. How does one stretch " connective tissues and not only muscles? " I can't figure out how to DO that. If I stretch my hamstrings, just for example, am I not stretching the fascia and the tendons along with the muscles? Except for possibly an isolated stretch of the iliotibial band, I'm at a loss to understand what you're getting at. What do you mean when you say that stretching can harm joint stability? What IS joint stability? Are you talking about injuring the joint by overstretching? And how is it that I'm even more likely to " harm joint stability " if I stretch " connective tissue and not only muscles? " Connect the dots for me. This sounds like a whole new branch of exercise physiology that I missed somewhere.

Francesca, the debate about stretching is normally held in another email group on down the hall. They've been debating this issue for years because nobody wants to admit that nobody really knows the answer. I'll just tell you what I do, because that's what I was TAUGHT to TEACH people to do when I prepared for my AFAA certification exams in personal training/weight room training. (Note: AFAA is to NSCA and ACSM as Alfred E. Neuman is to Geroge Bush and Al Gore, so take my advice with a grain of skepticism.) Anyway, I was TAUGHT to warm-up for approximately 8 minutes. You're " warm " when you feel lightly sweaty. Then stretch LIGHTLY, gently for 3 or 4 minutes. THEN do your workout, whatever that may be for the day. FOLLOWING the workout and a cooldown, stretch relatively more DEEPLY for 10 or 12 minutes.

Hey Dave. No, I don't shoulder press 120# for 40 reps. Kale isn't THAT good!

Suz