STRETCHING
Stretching is usually included to all sport activities - mainly at the beginning or at the end of the given sport exercises.
We stretch our muscles during our normal daily activities too, e.g. we do neck circles after sleeping or move our hips after sitting for too long in one place.
Systematic stretching has numerous benefits:
- helps to restore shortened muscles
- accelerates muscle rehabilitation
- increases blood circulation
- reduces cramping
- improves posture
- increases range of motion (ROM) of the joints (which means that joints will be less stiff)
- decreases stress (thus relaxes tightened muscles)
Stretching has several types and many of them are overlapping with each other. Below I would like to write about the two most known ones: active and passive stretching.
ACTIVE STRETCHING
Active stretching means that the stretching exercises are carried out by ourselves, without any external help or using our body weight.
The main advantage is that the risk of injury is minimal. The person who performs the stretching usually knows his/her limits and stops when needed. During active stretching we use our own muscle strength to stretch, which means that we are strengthening at the same time.
To me, this type of stretching is very important. If someone performs an extreme flexibility pose without being able to controll it, it can lead to injury on the short term and more serious health problems on the long term.
PASSIVE STRETCHING
Passive stretching means that the person who performs the exercises has some kind of help - mainly a sports companion, an instructor or a therapist. In any case, it is vital that the helper has the knowledge to help!
It's main advantage is that we can stretch certain muscles/muscle groups if we don't have enough "strength" for it ourselves, furthermore, the performer of the stretch can focus more on relaxation and breathing - this is why this technique should be mainly used during rehabilitation processes and not during flexibility trainings.
If we use our own body weight to stretch - e.g. we slip into a frontal split from above - we perform a passive stretch too.
In my classes you will see both types but whenever we perform a so called passive stretching exercise, we still activate certain muscles to have proper alignment and stability. We never sit or lay in a certain pose 100% passively as this can easily lead to injuries.
I believe that strengthening is just as important as stretching by working towards our flexibility goals.