jlorenz
11-28-2009, 05:40 PM
New York Times
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Phys Ed: How Necessary Is Stretching (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/phys-ed-how-necessary-is-stretching/)
... runners, as a group, didn’t have exceptional elasticity, although this varied from person to person.
....Far more telling was the correlation between the various runners’ tight or loose hamstring muscles and their running economy, a measure of how much oxygen they used while striding. Economy is often cited as one of the factors that divide great runners from merely fast ones. Kenyan distance runners, for instance, have been found to be significantly more economical in their running than comparable Western elites.
... they found that, across the board, the tightest runners were the most economical. .... Inflexibility, in other words, seems to make running easier.
...
“It’s been drummed into people that they should stretch, stretch, stretch — that they have to be flexible,” says Dr. Duane Knudson, professor of biomechanics at Texas State University in San Marcos, who has extensively studied flexibility and muscle response. “But there’s not much scientific support for that.”
In fact, the latest science suggests that extremely loose muscles and tendons are generally unnecessary (unless you aspire to join a gymnastics squad), may be undesirable and are, for the most part, unachievable, anyway.
“To a large degree, flexibility is genetic,” says Dr. Malachy McHugh, the director of research for the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York and an expert on flexibility. You’re born stretchy or not.
...
What happens to our muscles and tendons, then, when we dutifully stretch before a run or other workout? Doesn’t this lengthen our muscles, increasing our flexibility and range of motion?
According to the science, the answer appears to be no.
...
If you can reach past your toes, you’re more than flexible enough.
If, on the other hand, “you can’t get anywhere near your toes, and the lower part of your back is practically pointing backward” as you reach, then you might need to try to increase your hamstring flexibility, Dr. Knudson says, to avoid injuring yourself while running, cycling or otherwise exercising. ... “You won’t get a lot of change,” Dr. Knudson says, ” but a little may be all you need.”
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Phys Ed: How Necessary Is Stretching (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/phys-ed-how-necessary-is-stretching/)
... runners, as a group, didn’t have exceptional elasticity, although this varied from person to person.
....Far more telling was the correlation between the various runners’ tight or loose hamstring muscles and their running economy, a measure of how much oxygen they used while striding. Economy is often cited as one of the factors that divide great runners from merely fast ones. Kenyan distance runners, for instance, have been found to be significantly more economical in their running than comparable Western elites.
... they found that, across the board, the tightest runners were the most economical. .... Inflexibility, in other words, seems to make running easier.
...
“It’s been drummed into people that they should stretch, stretch, stretch — that they have to be flexible,” says Dr. Duane Knudson, professor of biomechanics at Texas State University in San Marcos, who has extensively studied flexibility and muscle response. “But there’s not much scientific support for that.”
In fact, the latest science suggests that extremely loose muscles and tendons are generally unnecessary (unless you aspire to join a gymnastics squad), may be undesirable and are, for the most part, unachievable, anyway.
“To a large degree, flexibility is genetic,” says Dr. Malachy McHugh, the director of research for the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York and an expert on flexibility. You’re born stretchy or not.
...
What happens to our muscles and tendons, then, when we dutifully stretch before a run or other workout? Doesn’t this lengthen our muscles, increasing our flexibility and range of motion?
According to the science, the answer appears to be no.
...
If you can reach past your toes, you’re more than flexible enough.
If, on the other hand, “you can’t get anywhere near your toes, and the lower part of your back is practically pointing backward” as you reach, then you might need to try to increase your hamstring flexibility, Dr. Knudson says, to avoid injuring yourself while running, cycling or otherwise exercising. ... “You won’t get a lot of change,” Dr. Knudson says, ” but a little may be all you need.”