I'm just getting back to "real" exercise and this study just came out, so this is one of my tips of the week this week--which, if you haven't read these, means, I'm going to try it myself!
They found that stretching before exercise does protect against muscle injury. They've debated but a paper was just presented describing a study on the cellular level of mice (ok, I can't help picturing mice doing yoga ). If the muscle was stretched first, gentle "passive" stretching, then special injury preventing cells showed up among the muscle fibers. It's best if done just before vigorous exercise.
Trish
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Always warm up with aerobics before stretching. Walk or cycle 10-15 min before stretching. Every stretching class begins with marching, step aerobics or some kind of floor exercise at the gym I'm with. They'll tell you, never stretch a cold muscle. It's a good way to tear things.
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I wanna see the mice do pilates.
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That's not to say you shouldn't stretch before VIGOROUS excersize, just warm muscles up with light aerobics before you DO stretch. Thought I'd clarify that.
When I don't take class, I start with 15 min on the treadmill, at about 2.5 mph to keep my heartrate around 115-120. Then I do the Life Circuit (weights) on light weight for the first reps, then I go up 5 lb and do a second set.
Be sure to cool down also. I do 15 more min on the treadmill at about 2.0 mph so my heartrate slows to about 110. In a class, the cooldown would be stretching. I take a shower and go shopping.
I saw mice do aerobics once. It was scary.
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Quickie Warm Up
My sport is tae kwondo karate, and stretching to the extreme is all around in there somewhere. (I know a lot of men who have learned how to do a lateral split by s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g until it hurt for years.) BUT FIRST, WARM THE MUSCLES BEFORE YOU PULL OR TEAR SOMETHING STRETCHING.
How to warm up quickly - 60 to 120 jumping jacks usually warms me up pretty good and only takes a minute or two. However, TAH on 3/1, I've got to hold my tummy muscles in really tight to do any jumping jacks right now. So I'm working into them slowly.
Be careful. I've pulled leg muscles so badly I couldn't walk for a week or jump for a month by not warming up first.
Thanks for being there, Linda
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Sounds like I need to clarify--these "tips" are really just bits of information I'm finding useful as I read around in the medical literature. I thought they would be useful to others too. They aren't supposed to be the last word on a subject.
So let me clarify what I took away from this study--
1. gentle passive stretching released the protective anti-inflammatory chemical--pushing a stretch to the extreme or "bouncing" did not release the protective chemical. If it hurts or it tears, it's not the kind of stretching they were studying.
2. The gentle passive stretching needed to be done before vigorous exercise in order to be protective--that is, you wanted to release this chemical into the muscles that you were going to tax before you taxed them. Stretching after exercise did not release this particular chemical. "Vigorous" obviously means something different for everyone, depending on fitness.
Warm up before the stretch and cool down were not covered in this study. Neither apparently were relevant to the release of this particular chemical. That doesn't mean that they are irrelevent, just not part of this particular chemical interaction.
I thought it was good to know that there was hard evidence that a particular kind of stretching does indeed help prevent soreness and is worth doing--not just for fit athletes but for anyone taxing their muscles--even if that is walking or beginning weights.
Soreness stops a lot of people who start exercise and aren't fit and this seems a way to minimize it and keep on track.
Trish
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Thanks Trish, that sounds like good information. It may sound nuts to do all this prep work, but if you want to do it long term, you gotta do it right.
So many people jump right in, mess themselves up, and turn right off. I can't tell you how many people I have seen during their first visit to a gym running at level 8 on a tred mill. Of course you never see them again. Maybe that's the plan, get their money and let them literally knock themselves out first try.
Thanks for being there, Linda
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Ok, then it sounds like it's more of the kind of stretch you do when you first wake up, like an all over thing, unkinking and stuff. And OUCH, don't ever bounce during ANY kind of stretch!
A friend of mine was in the lotus position during a yoga class and I guess the instructor wanted her to press her knees down farther, because the instructor came over and pushed my friend's knee down with her hand, tearing a muscle in her knee. Poor thing is still limping around.
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I happened to bump into the argument for warm-ups according to a preventive care specialist on the faculty of the Univ. of California, Irvine, so I figured I'd stick it in here:
Sudden all-out exercise floods your body with stress hormones and lower immune response so you can get more colds and flu etc. 5 to 10 min of warmups (walking etc.) also lower blood pressure, incrase blood flow to the heart, and allow you to work out longer and burn more calories. They may even help prevent exercise induced headaches. They may also help muscle cells metabolize blood sugar.
So, warm up your whole body with walking etc., gently stretch the muscles you're going to use (hold each stretch for at least 60 sec for the best release), then do something that's strenuous for you.
I'm giving it a try this week.
Trish
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That sounds more logical. I just took a broadsword class today (yes, swords), and before we picked up a sword, the instructor had us warm up with a few jumping jacks and gentle stretching. 5 hour class, 3/4 of it was learning a routine with a sword partner. Can't wait to see what my back feels like tomorrow.
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Hi all,
Just wanted to add my two cents in here. I coach soccer, and have been trained to begin with an aerobic but easy-going warm-up of about 10-15 minutes (dribbling around with the ball, or playing tag or something like that), with several interruptions to do gentle stretches. The warm-up is supposed to be active enough, though, that one sweats a little. I too have been cautioned not to stretch cold muscles.
I know we're not talking about playing soccer yet here, but even when I run, I don't stretch beforehand. I run easily for a little and once I'm sweating a bit, then I do some easy stretches.
Also very important, but often neglected, is to cool down, which is supposed to prevent cramping from blood pooling in the legs (probably I'm not explaining this exactly right...) and is also less stressful on your heart I think.
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