February 16, 2008
Topic:
Thinking differently about flexibility
Although it’s hard to believe just about every single person can drop down and do the splits. Why can’t you? Your nervous system does not like putting your body in positions that’s it’s unfamiliar with. But there is a way to re-train your body and gain an instant increase in your range of motion. Here are some tips.
1. Stretching muscle tissue is not necessary - Your muscles are plenty long enough for you to do the splits or just about any type of flexibility movement. You don’t have to stretch the actual fibers of the muscle. Instead try this. It’s called PNF stretching. It tricks the proprietors in the muscles that govern muscle length. (Kyle will demonstrate)
2. Dynamic stretching – If the muscle is stretched too far or to fast beyond what your nervous system is accustom too you can hurt yourself. Doing slow stretches like we just did will train your nervous system to deal with your muscles being stretched far but unfortunately it will not train your nervous system to deal with a very fast length change in the muscle. What do we do? We must train are muscles to change in length very fast. Try this. (Beth will demonstrate) This is a must for those in sports like tennis, baseball, wrestling, martial arts, where flexibility and fast movement are both needed.
3. You can overstretch - Your muscle is like rubber bands, they have an elastic quality to them that helps in force production. If you stretch too much studies show you can decrease strength potential so don’t over do it.
Question from viewers:
Claudia Henderson
how do i work out my lower abs?
Bill
I am 47 years old and have been doing cardio for a few months. I do approximately 30 minutes five times a week. I am considering starting weight training a few days a week. I have read about split routines, working one body part per week, and the three times per week working the entire body. What in your opinion would be best for someone my age. I have lifted weights in the past, but it has been several years.
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