We've all heard it before: Stretch before exercise! The problem with most people is they do without ever bothering to find out why. I try not to be so pretentious in person, but in a few cases I've asked familiar folk why he or is standing around the lat pull-down machine pulling an elbow behind his head. Typically, he wants to "loosen up" so he doesn't hurt himself going for an 8-rep max. Sure, static stretching can improve flexibility and range-of motion, but even so it's best done after your workout or before bed (if ROM is a true issue for you, check out PNF stretching). This kind of stretching before your workout is not only counter-productive - but potentially harmful.
The human body is stubborn. We are congenital creatures of habit with literally millions of mechanisms working to maintain homeostasis, which is extremely beneficial in most cases but can be detrimental in the wrong circumstance. In the belly of every muscle, we have sensory receptors called muscle spindles that primarily detect changes in muscle length and the speed of that change. At the most basic level, stretching a muscle causes the spindles to sense potential injury, so they relay a protective message to compensate and shorten through the spinal cord (not the brain, so you have no "choice" in the matter). This mechanism, known as the "stretch-shorten" reflex, can protect against a quick, unexpected stretch (like when you roll your ankle).
Stretching for 10-15 seconds (most common prep that I see) causes the muscle spindle to sense a prolonged risk of injury and signals the muscle to shorten at first chance, i.e. your muscle cowers like a scared puppy even after you've left the room. Releasing the stretch at this point ultimately results in a tighter muscle, decreasing the ability to move quickly and freely and increasing the likelihood of injury. So that's out.
Much like a rubber band, the longer your muscles are subjected to stretch the more accustomed they become to their new length. Beyond 15 seconds or so, the muscle spindles habituate and reduce the signal to shorten (I told you we're stubborn!). So, if you stretch for long enough, you'll reach your goal of loosening up! But do you really want to go into exercise with droopy old rubber bands for muscles? Consider this example:
You've stretched your hamstrings extensively before your 100-meter race. In your normal anatomical position your muscles sit at their normal length, but now they are "loose" rather than taut. Every time you stride your front hamstring lengthens, but instead of sending the message to return to it's proper length through the spinal cord and "springing" you forward, your muscle is fine with the length. Now the signal to shorten must travel to the brain, where you must consciously decide that's the action you want and send the signal on the long road back to your hamstring. Read: every stride takes longer. Still, you are naturally faster than your opponent and the race is nose-to-nose despite your second-rate warm-up. On the last stride you extend as hard as you can to inch ahead, and your loose muscle stretches beyond "the point of no return." By the time the protective signal kicks in, it's too late; your foot lands too far in front of you and the landing force tears your muscle right off the bone. Silly you.
Probably shouldn't have stretched...
So I hope that clears things up: static stretching before your workout can decrease your ability protect yourself from injury and your performance. I think that proves my point; If you want to get hurt while you're being bad at stuff, you're absolutely a chump. But how do you warm-up without "stretching"? Enter: the dynamic warmup - any combination of hops, skips, runs, ballistic stretches and other exercise or sport-specific actions that increases your heart rate and involves active musculature. The main goals before exercise are to: increase blood flow and nutrients to the appendages, and stimulate the central nervous system so you can actually take advantage of muscle spindle activity. Simply moving around accomplishes both much better than stretching can. I've already touched upon a few of the components of "muscle memory," and that term applies here too. By including specific movements, you not only improve coordination for the exercises to follow, but you prime the reflexive pathway and allow signals to move through at faster rate making your actions quick and powerful.
The dynamic warm-up should last about 10-15 minutes and be be specific if you have performance goals - it's a great time to get right with the agility ladder or your clean and jerk technique. For the average individual who just wants to improve their health and well-being, the dynamic warm-up ought to be enjoyable, and can be as basic as simply jumping rope and throwing in pushups and power skips. I could provide more suggestions but it'll serve you to just Google "dynamic warm-up." You'll find a million of 'em.
"Halftime show? No I was just doing my dynamic warmup."
Now on to me. I enjoyed two fatty feasts yesterday. These were they doozies; I was legitimately sad when it was all over.
6:20PM - 1 chicken breast (~8 oz.), 8 whole eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, and peppers all sauteed in coconut oil; spinach and broccoli steamed Buffalo style (with grass-fed butter and Frank's); raw spinach as a garnish.
8:40PM - 1/2 lb. 93/7 grass-fed ground beef and two strips of turkey bacon; peppers and spinach sauteed in the rendered fat; raw spring mix tossed with half of an avocado and some salsa. I kept adding raw spring mix until the beef mixture was gone.
Back to the gym and the starch this afternoon, and two workouts tomorrow (on a Saturday, am I crazy???). I'm anxious to see how the diet holds up over the weekend.
"Please don't let the pizza monster get me!!!"
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