How to stretch

Stretching is probably one of the most misunderstood practices in fitness.

Most trainers and coaches will spend a long time with their clients perfecting their squat form, adjusting their deadlift technique, teaching them most optimal bar path for their bench press, but when it comes to stretching they’ll just say “ok, now go stretch for 5 mins” before they dip off to their next client.

The scientific research also reflects this with tonnes of research done on the main lifts but relatively little done on stretching and the research that is performed is often done poorly.

I’m sure you all already know abouts the benefits of stretching, both physical and mental, so I’ll just cut right the chase and discuss how you can get the most out of your flexibility training.

Firstly, you have to understand that there are 4 types of flexibility:

Dynamic Active

Dynamic Passive

Static Active

Static Passive

Dynamic simply means the joint is moving, static means the joint is stationary.  

Active means that your muscles are working to hold the position or perform the movement and passive means your muscles are relaxed and you’re letting gravity, a partner, or some other equipment put you into a stretch.

Dynamic active flexibility

An example of dynamic active flexibility would be a roundhouse kick in martial arts. The hip joint is moving and the person is using their muscles to perform the movement.

A physiotherapist may assess your dynamic passive flexibility by lying you on your back and moving your hip into internal and external rotation. You’re completely relaxed and as the therapist moves your limbs into their maximum ranges.

Static active flexibility can be shown when a person holds the top position of a roundhouse kick, holding their leg high in the air. Here you can see how dynamic active flexibility leads to static active flexibility if the final position is held for a period of time.  

Static passive flexibility

Full middle splits, resting on the floor is a perfect example of static passive flexibility.

A good flexibility program will have elements of all four types of flexibility, as improving just one doesn’t necessarily improve the others. For best results you need to be specific with your goals and comprehensive in your assessment. For example, if you want to improve the height of your kicks, training exclusively static passive stretches will only get you so far.

But what if you just want to get a little more flexible but don’t want to commit to a full flexibility training program?  

I got you.

Firstly you’ll have to get very specific on where you want to increase your flexibility, this will give you a clear focus and allow to pick the most effective exercises to achieve your goal, saving you time and energy. Let’s say you want to loosen your hamstrings.

Now you need something to measure against to make sure you’re making progress so take a photo of your forward fold. Reach down with straight legs and touch your toes, be strict with yourself and don’t bend your knees. Take the photo side on from an easily repeatable angle so when you test again you get accurate results.

Then you want to pick a few exercises with the specific goal of improving your hamstring flexibility. I would suggest two dynamic active exercises, one for each side of the hip joint and one static passive exercise.

Standing leg lift holds to increase hip flexor strength so you can pull yourself deeper into the position and single leg good mornings to stretch the hamstrings are my go to exercises. Aim for a few sets of each exercise. For the passive stretch, a standing bent leg hamstring stretch is perfect for beginners. 3 sets of 90s on each leg is a great place to start.

You can add these three exercises at the end of your sessions or just perform them on their own 2x week, it’ll take around 10 mins.

This is part that not many people know.

It’s not just doing the stretches that matters, it’s how you do them.

During your static stretches, whether they’re passive or active, you need to be contracting the muscles on either side of the joint you’re stretching to get the best results. Some people call it isometric stretching, others call it contract-relax stretching and other more advanced techniques called contract-relax-agonist-contract stretching (CRAC) are also valuable tools for gaining more range.

These techniques all stem from a technique called PNF stretching, or proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, which was developed as an injury rehabilitation technique to restore range of motion.

Contract-Relax stretching works like this:

Get into the stretch position, try to relax as much as possible into the stretch by taking 5 – 10 long deep breaths. Once you’ve noticed the stretch sensation change or diminish, you can begin to contract the muscle you’re stretching. For the hamstrings this usually involves trying to bend the knee or extend the hip or both. This contraction is done without moving. This is very important. Do not come out of the stretch position. From an outside perspective, it doesn’t look like there is any movement. Hold this contraction from anywhere from 5 – 30 seconds. Longer and stronger contractions are for more seasoned stretchers.

Once you’ve completed your contraction, exhale and slowly stop contracting the muscle, take another breath and on the exhale try to go deeper into the stretch. Breath hear until the sensation dissipates again and repeat this whole process another 2 or 3 times or until you find that you can’t go deeper into the stretch.

A more advanced version of this technique is known as CRAC stretching. After the first contraction and relaxation you then contract the opposing muscle (the agonist) to the one you’re stretching. In our hamstring example that would be the hip flexors which can be done by squeezing the quadriceps muscles and also the smaller hip flexors by attempting to lift the thigh. You would perform this contraction anywhere from 5 – 30 seconds depending on your experience level and then exhale, relax, and go deeper into the stretch. Repeat until max range is achieved.

These contractions serve to lessen the stretch reflex by taking advantage of two involuntary phenomena in the body called reciprocal and autogenic inhibition.

You can use these principles for all joints in the body and achieve incredible results.

I hope you found that useful, as always if you have any questions send me a message on Instagram!

Happy training!