Flexibility

I know you're not supposed to stretch before lifting weights. How many of you stretch after/how long/ what kinds of stretches?

I am very limber in my legs/arms but bending over isn't all that great, especially when i try to touch my chin to my chest when bending over (OUCH!)

I do very easy and slow stretches before exercises or randomly in the day and a bit of stretching after exercise.
I usually hold the position for at least a minute. I stretch whatever feels tense.

what? stretching warms up the muscles for activity.

I know you're not supposed to stretch before lifting weights.

since when

I know you're not supposed to stretch before lifting weights. How many of you stretch after/how long/ what kinds of stretches?

I am very limber in my legs/arms but bending over isn't all that great, especially when i try to touch my chin to my chest when bending over (OUCH!)

what the hell? where did you get this gem of information from? whoeve said stretching warms up your muscles was correct.

'cold' joints can get injured easily while lifting, a good example is sticking a rubber band in cold water for a few minutes and trying to stretch it, it will snap, stick it in warm water and it will stretch twice as far :)

anyways, I usually do 5-10 minutes of light cardio before lifting to warm up and get the heart rate up, and then stretch after that and before lifting, also dont forget to stretch after you lift, as that is just as important

edit: oh and most gyms Ive been to have some type of chart or poster up on good stretches you can do and what muscles they target.

You should always do 5-10 minutes of light aerobics to get the blood flowing to your muscles before you stretch. Do some light stretches, nothing major, and then you're ready to workout. If you want to do some light stretching afterward, that's fine, too. However, if you do a lot of stretching, you are actually making yourself more vulnerable to injuries while lifting.

I always do 5-10 minutes of stretching before working out and then a few warm up sets on my big lifts. Need to have full range of motion for a lot of exercises, especially things like squats. In particular I stretch to warm up my back (lower and spinal) and my hips/glutes because I use those muscles in exercises requiring extended range.

Thought maybe you guys would find this useful. Specially the kickboxer types. I use this as a guide myself.

Hope it helps someone out.
Enjoy

Tricks Tutorials.com (http://www.trickstutorials.com/index.php?page=content/flx3)

There are two kinds of stretching: static and dynamic. Static is where you hold the stretched position for awhile.

BAD right before a workout. You are weakening your ligaments, decreasing your ability to workout and increasing your chances of injuring yourself.

Dynamic is where you mimic the full range of motion at a speed that more closely represents how you will stretch it during the workout. Easiest way to do this is grab lighter weights and do a warmup set. Not only will it help with flexibility, you'll get that blood pumping and those muscles all readied up at the same time.

After the workout you can do the static to increase overall flexibility and get that lactic acid moving out of your muscles.

bouncing for stretching isn't very good for you. Can lead to some problems down the road.

All i know is in swimming we stretch for 10 minutes doing holds only. Coach would say bouncing is terrible.

I'm not sure if you were trying to imply that dynamic stretching involves bouncing, but it doesn't

so static stretching is bad before lifting. I knew that. I have no issues with doing my full ranges of motion durring lifts. Squats I go Ass to grass and bench i put the bar down to my chest, etc etc.

Should i be doing a good chunk of static stretches when i'm done lifting. Again, my main problem being my spine. I can touch my toes and all but not much more than that.

Then i'm not quite sure what you mean by dynamic stretching then.

actually nevermind. I didnt read the rest of that post carefully enough. My bad :p

There are two kinds of stretching: static and dynamic. Static is where you hold the stretched position for awhile.

BAD right before a workout. You are weakening your ligaments, decreasing your ability to workout and increasing your chances of injuring yourself.

Dynamic is where you mimic the full range of motion at a speed that more closely represents how you will stretch it during the workout. Easiest way to do this is grab lighter weights and do a warmup set. Not only will it help with flexibility, you'll get that blood pumping and those muscles all readied up at the same time.

After the workout you can do the static to increase overall flexibility and get that lactic acid moving out of your muscles.

Actually, there are 3 types of stretching. Static, Dynamic, and Ballistic.


Edit: main types of

Just to grab a quick list:

1. ballistic stretching
2. dynamic stretching
3. active stretching
4. passive (or relaxed) stretching
5. static stretching
6. isometric stretching
7. PNF stretching


Ballistic stretching is a sub-type of dynamic stretching, but feel free to disagree.

who gives a shit... what is the best way to limber up by back.

before your weight training dynamic stretching.
core trunk
Tricks Tutorials.com (http://www.trickstutorials.com/index.php?page=content/flx3#ddf_5b)

after weight training relaxed stretching
Tricks Tutorials.com (http://www.trickstutorials.com/index.php?page=content/flx3#dsf_2b1)

If your trying to increase your static passive flexibility in your back, think about adding some isometric/pnf stretching in your weight training workout.
Treat the isometric's/pnf as resistance/weight training 3 sets of 10 to 30 second tensions while in a stretched position.
The site i posted explains the isometric stretching,how to do them etc.

Hope thats helpful.

Just to grab a quick list:

1. ballistic stretching
2. dynamic stretching
3. active stretching
4. passive (or relaxed) stretching
5. static stretching
6. isometric stretching
7. PNF stretching


Ballistic stretching is a sub-type of dynamic stretching, but feel free to disagree.

Ballistic is a sub-type of static stretching according to that tricks tutorial site.

BTW, I'm looking for a simple but complete easy to follow guide for stretching. Any ideas? This tricks tutorials site has a lot of shit in it, it's kinda overwhelming. Maybe it's just because it isn't organized so neatly, but I got really confused.

Sport Stretch by Micheal J. Alter 2nd edition, i believe would be a great book to look into, 311 stretches for 41 sports..All neatly organized for each sport and simple explaitions in english, how to's etc.

Another good book i recommend is Ultimate Flexibility "A complete guide to stretching for Martial arts" By Sang H Kim. As the title suggests its focus is on the martial arts, however it has a ton of info worth a read plus easy to follow routines ( upper and lower body ).(best bet others than the one above)


Others worth a look. ( bit more indepth stuff )
Pavel Tsatsouline - Beyond Stretching
Thomas Kurz - Stretching Scientifically

You may check out a few sites (torrents) some videos and pdf's are floating around (demonoid).