Muscle Stretching to Prevent Injuries

First off, injuries happen. Despite whatever precautions you take, eventually something will get dinged. So, starting on such a positive note let me tell you what you can do so at least you wont invite an injury.

* Do a general warm-up-this will get the blood flowing to raise your body temperature and give your muscles more elasticity. A warm-up also puts some blood into he joints so you get smooth action instead of grinding!

*Stretching- some experts say yes and others say no. The no group says you will stretch the supporting muscles thus making the support structure loose causing an unstable platform for your prime movers. The yes group is of the theory that a loose muscle will not snap as easy as a tight one. The debate rages back and forth. So what I do is whatever makes me feel mentally and physically ready under the bar. I start with a light weight for higher reps and as I get heavier and more warm, I increase the range of motion. By the time I hit my top end weight, Im warm and loose but only in the plane of motion that Im working. I do like to stretch in-between sets to increase blood flow and stretch the fascia.

*Progressive workload- I mentioned this above. Progressive workload basically means to slowly find your limits. Don?t rush into heavy weights. Work up slowly and make sure everything feels right.

*A.R.T.- Active release rocks! No kidding folks. It both fixes and prevents injuries. The method basically adjusts your musculature by returning your muscles to their proper working order. Sometimes muscles adhere to each other because of scar tissue and A.R.T. frees them back up. Avoid over training- Effort is good but there is a limit to what the body can handle. Dont exceed your recovery abilities or it will manifest itself as an injury. Eat well, get your sleep and dont train too frequently.

There are tons of ways to hurt yourself and get a sports injury but ego lifting and faulty technique are two of the biggest. The reason is because the people that lift this way are of the type of personality that dont take to friendly advice. So if you have been lifting for a short period of time or have never spent some serious time in the books learning, youre a good candidate for this group. If you dont know ask, and that way maybe you will enjoy a long and happy experience with physical activity.

That takes care of the basics of stretching.

Now here is an article by my friend and personal trainer Nick Nilsson on stretching for the advanced trainer.

How Stretching Can Explode Your Muscle Growth

Not only is stretching important for flexibility, it is
CRITICAL for massive, rapid muscle growth.


When you think about gaining muscle, stretching is probably not the first thing that pops into your head. But did you know that stretching plays a critical role in building muscle?

Every muscle in your body is enclosed in a bag of tough connective tissue known as fascia. Fascia is important for holding your muscles in their proper place in your body. But your fascia may also be holding back your muscle growth. Think for a moment about your muscles. You train them and feed them properly. They want to grow and will grow but something is holding them back. They have no room to grow!

Because fascia is so tough, it doesn't allow the muscle room to expand. It is like stuffing a large pillow into a small pillowcase. The size of the muscle won't change regardless of how hard you train or how well you eat because the connective tissue around your muscles is constricting the muscles within.

The best example of this is the calf muscle. The lower leg is riddled with fascia because of its tremendous weight-bearing duties in the body. It is because of this fascia that many trainers have great difficulty developing their calves.

The solution: stretching.

Using the pillowcase example from above, imagine you can expand the size of the pillowcase by stretching it. Suddenly, the pillow within has more room and will expand to fill that new space. By stretching your muscles under specific conditions, you can actually stretch your fascia and give your muscles more room to grow.

The key to effective fascial stretching is the pump. The best time to stretch to expand the bags that are holding in your muscles is when your muscles are pumped up full of blood.

When your muscles are fully pumped up, they are pressing against the fascia. By stretching hard at that time, you increase that pressure on the fascia greatly, which can lead to expansion of the fascia.

One of the major reasons Arnold Schwarzenegger had such incredible chest development was that he finished his chest workouts with dumbell flyes, an exercise that emphasizes the stretched position of the pectoral muscles. He would pump his chest up full of blood during the workout then do flyes, holding the stretch at the bottom of the flye. This gave his chest room to grow to amazing proportions.

Fascial stretching is more rigorous than regular stretching but the results can be amazing. When you stretch hard enough to cause the fascia to expand, you will really feel it! When you are stretching the fascia, you should feel a powerful pulling sensation and pressure as the muscle works against the fascia to expand it.

Be sure you do not stretch so hard that you cause the muscle to tear or cause injury to yourself. You will rapidly learn to distinguish the difference between good stretching and a bad stretching. You should not feel any sharp pain, just a steady pull.

Hold each stretch for at least 20 to 30 seconds as you must give your fascia time to be affected by the stretch. Stretch hard like this only when you have a fully pumped muscle as you must give your fascia a reason to expand. If your muscles aren't pumped, just stretch normally.

One set of hard stretching after each set you do for a muscle group, besides the obvious benefits of increased flexibility, can have an incredible effect on the size of your muscles and their further ability to grow.

Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of BetterU, Inc., an internet-based personal training company. He has been training for more than 14 years and has been a personal trainer for more than 8 years. He is the author of the training eBooks "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of", "Gluteus to the Maximus" and "Specialization Training" (click here now for more information on these books).

Stretching and Flexibility Exercise Pages




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Ray Burton is a 15 year veteran weight loss coach who specializes in helping busy moms and parents maximize their results.