Flexibility is the least invested in of the three areas of training:  cardiovascular, strength, and flexibility, but maybe after the results of this study get out, it will be taken more seriously.  The study was done at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by Associate Professor of Kinesiology, Arnold Nelson.  The study found that regular stretching can actually enhance performance, making people stronger and increasing their endurance.  Stretching affects muscles similarly to strength-training, only on a smaller scale.  The suspicion is that stretching is activating some of the things in the cell that exercise activates.

Participants in the study stretched for 40 minutes three times a week.  This might seem like alot of stretching for most people, but for the performance athlete, it won’t seem like such a hurdle.  The study involved 38 mostly sedentary people who were divided in two groups. One group did not do any stretching exercises during a 10-week period while the other group engaged in a program that required stretching the legs for 40 minutes a few times a week. The series of 15 static stretches in the program were aimed at working all major muscles in the legs, including the hamstrings and quadriceps. Several of the stretches, for instance, required sitting on the floor with the legs out and then lowering the chest toward the legs. Participants held each stretch for 15 seconds and then repeated it three times. People in neither group participated in any other kind of regular exercise routine.

Not surprisingly, those on the stretching program improved their flexibility, demonstrated by an average 18 percent increase in the distance they could reach during stretching, according to findings published in the October issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, a journal of the ACSM.

But they also increased their strength, as measured by their ability to perform on weight machines. The amount of weight they could lift one time – their “one-repetition maximum” – increased an average of 32 percent for knee extension exercises and 15 percent for knee flexion exercises. Their muscular endurance – defined at the number of repetitions they could do at a weight that was 60 percent of their max – improved 29 percent for knee extension and 30 percent for knee flexion.

In addition, the stretching group saw more modest gains in other areas. Their vertical-jump distance increased 7 percent and their standing long-jump distance increased 2 percent.

Those in the control group saw no improvements in any of these areas, results showed.

Stretching is one of the most under-utilized techniques for improving athletic performance and getting rid of those annoying sports injuries. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that something as simple as stretching won’t be effective.  This study is pretty compelling to make stretching a major part of your training regimen.

With that in mind, always make sure you stretch a warm muscle.  Stretching a cold muscle is a sure way to an injury.  Warm up before stretching if you want to stretch before exercise.  Of course, if you stretch after exercise, your muscles are already warmed up.  Think of your muscles as taffy.  Hard taffy will break, but warm taffy will stretch and stretch.  Stretching shouldn’t hurt.  If you feel like you are pushing the stretch too far, you are. 

Perform safe and perform well.

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