is there such thing as over-stretching?

[WanderingMonk]

Hi,

I read somewhere that you can over-stretch like over-stretching a rubber band which will result in permanent loss of performance in muscles, is that even possible?

Thanks

wm

[PLCrane]

Yes. Normal stretching causes elastic deformation of the connective tissues. Like a rubber band, everything will return to its normal length. If you go past the limit, you will cause plastic deformation, which is not reversible. If you go past the limit of plastic deformation, something will tear.

[IronFist]

If you stretch too much you can lose some elasticity of your muscles. That means that you may lose some maximal strength. Pavel said that old time strong men didn't stretch much to keep their muscles more elastic (and therefore able to generate more sudden force and lift more). And in one of Pavel's books, I think he mentions Bill Wallace as saying that when he got to the point where he could go ****her than doing normal splits, his kicks lost some of their snap, so he detrained himself and lost a little flexibility in order to get more power back.

PLCrane, connective tissues? I thought (proper) stretching was just about stretching the muscles and nothing else (ie. no ligaments or other connective tissue).

IronFist

[PLCrane]

Iron Fist,

Yeah, connective tissue holds the muscle fibers together so it's one muscle and not a bunch of spagettti. Tendon is also ct, and that's the part that generally tears when you go too far.

Hm, now you've got me wondering. I've read something about actin and myosin getting pulled too far apart, but I can't whip off an explanation of that before my first coffee and without checking references.


PLC

[Ford Prefect]

Stretching correctly is a key factor in this too. You shouldn't stretch ligaments and tendons because any micro-damage to them will be pretty much there for the rest of your life. Most people don't really stretch the muscle and stretch the ligaments.

For example, if you feel a hamstring stretch behind your knee or immediately above it, you are stretching wrong. If you round your back doing things like toe touches, you are doing it wrong. Etc etc. You can severely damage connective tissue or build up a lot of damage by doing this.

[Shaolin-Do]

Sitting on the ground, legs out in front, touch your toes.

I always feel this in the back of my knees. F*cking me up?

[Ford Prefect]

Yup. You are stretching your ligaments and not the muscle. A hamstring stretch will be felt in the middle-back of the thigh. If you round your back while you do it, you are doing a double-whammy!

[Shaolin-Do]

Dont round my back, but I do feel it in my knees...

[Ford Prefect]

Tony M is correct.

[rubthebuddha]

tony is typically correct, the dirty bugger.

anyhoo, when you're stretching, slowly play around with a stretch until you feel it where it's needed. like tony said, flexing is one way to bring a stretch to the right area. sometimes it's adjusting your hips on some supine stretches to get the proper bend, or whatever. just like a horse stance, play with a stretch until it feels just right, but is helping you improve.

[Shaolin-Do]

Trogdor The burnanator! Burnanating the land!
dun dun dun dun

[rubthebuddha]

you play the trogdor game yet?

[Shaolin-Do]

Trogdor game?!
Nope.
But that cartoon is f*ckin hilarious.

Edit: was going to post a link, but didnt want to give away your secret identity.
Or your avatars should I say...

[rubthebuddha]

if anyone on this forum doesn't know who my avatar is, then they haven't been paying attention. about one quarter of all the posts on this forum have at least one homestar reference.

[Shaolin-Do]

Excellent...
How do you post links without writing the url?


We need a mischevious grin on here....