Stretching

Whenever i am at the gym one of the main things i notice is that 99% of people dont stretch. This just blows my mind!

I know personally that if i dont stretch, I'll start to suffer pretty early on during my working sets. More often than not when im squating or deadlifting without stretching, my flexors feel tight and this can lead to a stabbing pain around my hips which results in me having to cut my heavy sets short. For me this is the worst reason to have to switch around my workout so... warming up and stretching is essential.

Warming up

Muscles are best stretched when they have been warmed up. This doesnt mean going for a 20 minute treamill session and then stretching your quads for a few seconds. In fact... Recent studies have shown that static stretches actually reduce athletic performance prior to a workout.

Probably a good job that i have always favoured dynamic movements and that im a firm believer in structuring a warm up based upon the movement you plan to add the most weight to.

Dynamic stretches include movements such as walking lunges, butt kicks, high kicks, twists etc. Basically anything that uses body weight and momentum. Sometimes i will even use a resistance band just for a bit more of tension.

After i feel warm (I dont base my warm ups on a set time, simply when i feel ready) I will then move onto warming up for my main lift. For example, if i plan on squatting i will do a few sets of slow air squats with pauses at the bottom. Then i will move onto squatting with an empty bar and continue on through something that looks a little like this:

• Air squats x 10 slow paused reps

• 20kg x 8 reps

• 40kg x 8 reps (roughly half my PR)

• 50kg x 5 reps

• 60kg x 3 reps

I will only move onto my working sets once i feel 100% confident that my muscles are firing as i would like and that i can handle the loads.

Cool down

When i warm down i use a combination of static and dynamic stretches.

This prevents blood from pooling and reducing waste build up by stimulating the lymphatic system.

For example if i was cooling down after a leg work out based around squats, i would start to drop the weights back down to an empty bar for my final cool down set. After this i would throw in a couple of dynamic stretches for good measure before moving onto static stretches. I would stretch each leg muscle individually with roughly s 60 second hold (Longer in areas that i am tight such as my hips)

Jody Slaney

#exercise #fitness #stretching #warmup