Performance Area > Injury, Prehab, & Rehab talk for the brittlebros

Stretch to Win

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LBSS:
Stretch to Win (http://www.amazon.com/Stretch-Win-Ann-Frederick/dp/0736055290) is an excellent book. Its purpose is to lay out the foundations of the authors' methodology and then describe how to apply those principles for personal use. The principles are described first. Then there is a quick, well-written anatomy lesson that goes into basics about different types of fascia and muscle tissue and how they respond to stress (whether it be good or bad). Then the authors describe a self-evaluation that the reader is supposed to undertake before proceeding with the last part of the book. That's all laid out very clearly, with each step broken down and some helpful cues given. After that the authors give detailed descriptions of each layer of stretching, from the core stretches (which I'm doing now), down the chain of to sport-specific stretches.

Couple of interesting takeaways:
1) Stretching to a count (10 seconds, 20 seconds, whatever) is dumb. Your muscle doesn't know what a second is so setting an arbitrary length of time makes no sense. It's better to cycle stretching with your breath, pushing a little bit with the exhalations and relaxing with the inhalations, until you feel the muscle release some of its tension.
2) It's important to stretch the core (hips) first before moving to the extremities, and to stretch muscles/tissues that just cross one joint before moving to multi-joint muscles/tissues.

Couple of downsides:
1) This isn't really a fault of the book, because I can't imagine how you would describe it in writing, but I've had a hard time knowing when to stop a particular stretch, i.e. when the muscle has "released its tension." But this may simply be a result of my muscles being super, super tight!
2) The stretch descriptions are generally adequate to very good, but a couple of the ones I've followed so far either aren't explicit enough or I'm too dumb to understand what to do.

On the whole, though, a really, really worthwhile book. I'm looking forward to incorporating a little bit of sense into my stretching and seeing how my flexibility, posture, performance, etc. improve. And for $13.57 on Amazon, the price is right.

One last thing: A lot of fitness-industry products will get "testimonials" from "pro athletes." These tend to be minor-league types, or obscure Pan Am games qualifiers or whatever. And often, the athlete met the product-seller one time, or they had a phone consult, and the product-seller tries to say that the athlete is a client, or a friend, or whatever. The athletes giving testimonials for Stretch to Win are legit high-level pros, and they're obviously really clients. Donovan McNabb is the model for some of the stretches at the end of the book and you know these people don't have enough cash lying around to afford McNabb's endorsement rates. Anyway, testimonials only mean so much, but these are still impressive. Eric Cressey may train some minor-leaguers and may have spent some time with Curt Schilling after he retired, but Ann and Chris Frederick work extensively with elite-level pros at the peak of their careers. Think Al Vermeil or Dan Pfaff. These people obviously know their shit.

JackW:
Just ordered a copy now.  Nice write up.

adarqui:

--- Quote from: LBSS on September 24, 2010, 11:34:49 am ---Stretch to Win (http://www.amazon.com/Stretch-Win-Ann-Frederick/dp/0736055290) is an excellent book. Its purpose is to lay out the foundations of the authors' methodology and then describe how to apply those principles for personal use. The principles are described first. Then there is a quick, well-written anatomy lesson that goes into basics about different types of fascia and muscle tissue and how they respond to stress (whether it be good or bad). Then the authors describe a self-evaluation that the reader is supposed to undertake before proceeding with the last part of the book. That's all laid out very clearly, with each step broken down and some helpful cues given. After that the authors give detailed descriptions of each layer of stretching, from the core stretches (which I'm doing now), down the chain of to sport-specific stretches.

Couple of interesting takeaways:
1) Stretching to a count (10 seconds, 20 seconds, whatever) is dumb. Your muscle doesn't know what a second is so setting an arbitrary length of time makes no sense. It's better to cycle stretching with your breath, pushing a little bit with the exhalations and relaxing with the inhalations, until you feel the muscle release some of its tension.
2) It's important to stretch the core (hips) first before moving to the extremities, and to stretch muscles/tissues that just cross one joint before moving to multi-joint muscles/tissues.

Couple of downsides:
1) This isn't really a fault of the book, because I can't imagine how you would describe it in writing, but I've had a hard time knowing when to stop a particular stretch, i.e. when the muscle has "released its tension." But this may simply be a result of my muscles being super, super tight!
2) The stretch descriptions are generally adequate to very good, but a couple of the ones I've followed so far either aren't explicit enough or I'm too dumb to understand what to do.

On the whole, though, a really, really worthwhile book. I'm looking forward to incorporating a little bit of sense into my stretching and seeing how my flexibility, posture, performance, etc. improve. And for $13.57 on Amazon, the price is right.

One last thing: A lot of fitness-industry products will get "testimonials" from "pro athletes." These tend to be minor-league types, or obscure Pan Am games qualifiers or whatever. And often, the athlete met the product-seller one time, or they had a phone consult, and the product-seller tries to say that the athlete is a client, or a friend, or whatever. The athletes giving testimonials for Stretch to Win are legit high-level pros, and they're obviously really clients. Donovan McNabb is the model for some of the stretches at the end of the book and you know these people don't have enough cash lying around to afford McNabb's endorsement rates. Anyway, testimonials only mean so much, but these are still impressive. Eric Cressey may train some minor-leaguers and may have spent some time with Curt Schilling after he retired, but Ann and Chris Frederick work extensively with elite-level pros at the peak of their careers. Think Al Vermeil or Dan Pfaff. These people obviously know their shit.

--- End quote ---

nice writeup mang..

i stretch that way, trying to relax my breathes and holding a position for who knows how long, sometimes minutes at a time actually.. i just let the muscle turn to jello as i'm in the stretching, easing into a deeper stretch.. i don't really like stretching my quads though, seems to bug my knees/patella.. hamstrings/calfs/lats/rear delt/triceps/chest/adductors seem to be all i stretch.. quads/hip flexor/back/glutes react badly.

LBSS:
Maybe you're doing it wrong, then? Or if not "wrong" then at least there's another way that you're not seeing? IDK, I feel like, barring some actual physical problem, you should be able to stretch everything without pain.

adarqui:

--- Quote from: LBSS on September 28, 2010, 04:01:09 pm ---Maybe you're doing it wrong, then? Or if not "wrong" then at least there's another way that you're not seeing? IDK, I feel like, barring some actual physical problem, you should be able to stretch everything without pain.

--- End quote ---

dno, stretching my quads leaves them weak for an entire day or so, then they get hurt doing jumps/movements etc.. actual stretching of them can aggravate the patella tendon also, perhaps it has something to do with my osgoodslotters or whatever, when i was growing up..

my hip flexors are chronically shortened, due to a very fast growth spurt, there's really nothing that can be done to help them other than leaving them alone.. stretching them really causes alot of aches.

peace

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