Stretching is something we all do. Every day. Stretch our time, stretch our budgets, stretch our relationships.
Somewhere in there, too much s-t-r-e-t-c-h turns into stress. But in all of this stretching, most people are overlooking the obvious. Actually stretching your body is good. In fact, it’s one of the best ways to stay in good physical and emotional shape. Flexibility covers more than being limber. It is a potent antidote to stress that takes little of the precious time in anyone’s busy schedule.
Yet flexibility tends to be a missing fitness link for many Americans, who do know eating right and being physically active are healthy pursuits. But knowing it can be far removed from doing it.
“Flexibility is definitely the most overlooked among the four cornerstones of fitness,” says David Upton, a Ft. Worth-based strength and conditioning consultant and spokesman for the American Council on Exercise. Upton says you can’t be in top shape without flexibility, proper nutrition, cardiovascular or aerobic activity and strength training.
“Omit any one and you omit 25 percent of what you can achieve for your body and state of mind,” says Upton, who works frequently with world-class runners, professional soccer players and elite golfers.
For instance, Upton says studies show 80 percent of the U.S. adult population will suffer lower back pain sometime in life. The reasons for it are not structural problems such as a slipped disk but rather one or more of three things: tight hamstrings, tight hip flexors and/or weak abdominal muscles.
“You can address the hamstrings and hip flexors in a flexibility program you can do in front of a television set,” says Upton. “The abdominals you can address with a strength exercise (such as a crunch or modified situp) during the same TV session.”
The mental benefits of stretching might provide the best motivation to add flexibility to your fitness routine–or make it a starting point if you are currently not doing anything that might loosely resemble a fitness routine.
“Stretching can release tension and bad energy stored in your body,” says Gregory Florez, a personal trainer and consultant for First Fitness, a personal trainer firm with offices in Chicago and Salt Lake City. “Our clients look forward to the assisted stretching portion of our workouts. They feel more relaxed and relieved after our trainers have helped them stretch. We’ve also measured people’s heart rates, and they come down significantly.”
Anyone who takes an exercise class will likely say the same thing. Those final minutes of stretching at the end of an hour feel practically luxurious.
“We were all raised to think exercise is about pain, pushing harder, going through a brick wall or giving 110 percent,” says Bob Anderson, 55, author of the best-selling book “Stretching” (Shelter Publications, $14.95), which has just been released as an updated 20th anniversary edition. “But stretching can be about feeling comfortable and under control. Stretching can be the opposite of stressful. It can be peaceful, relaxing and non-competitive. You get in touch with your muscles and your body. It is completely adjustable to the individual.”
In fact, Anderson says his primary message at fitness workshops and sports camps is to discourage people from making flexibility into another form of competition. Use it instead, he suggests, as a way to stay in tune with your body. Daily stretches–even five minutes at night–can provide a sort of progress report. Plus, Anderson says some research shows stretching can help induce a better night’s sleep.
“I encourage people to go for the feeling of a stretch rather than keeping track if they are reaching farther than before,” he says.
Here’s what Anderson says you should feel in any stretch: tension in the muscles but not pain. Hold it for 5 to 20 seconds, depending on how tight you might be. The longer you hold the stretch, “the less you feel it.” You don’t want the stretch to become increasingly intense.
That’s just the physical part of it.
“It’s my experience that people who stretch regularly do better emotionally,” he says. “They seem to have better control of their temper and their schedules. They learn to make time for stretching. It’s almost like a mini-vacation.”
Laura Ko, a personal trainer and Pilates instructor who operates her Ko Fit company in Chicago, says most of her one-on-one clients say “stretching gives a sense of greater body awareness, life balance and feeling more centered.”
“It is sort of like fitness from the inside out,” says Ko.
Tellingly, Upton says individuals on the cutting edge of fitness–top athletes, trainers, exercise scientists–are “easily sold” that flexibility is a key strategy toward getting better or feeling better or both.
The Olympians who recently finishing leaping, sprinting and landing perfectly across our TV screens have been focused on advanced stretching techniques for years. Gymnasts, for example, go through elaborate routines that even include contracting muscles during a stretch. Track stars wouldn’t think of getting ready–or winding down–from a race any other way than by stretching. And, if newly minted Olympic champions don’t impress you, consider Michael Jordan’s trainer, Tim S. Grover, has used stretching between each weightlifting exercise for years with his most famous client and more than 30 other pro basketball and major league baseball stars, including ex-Bulls Scottie Pippen and Ron Harper and Bulls rookie Marcus Fizer.
“Stretching can dramatically improve your athletic performance,” says Grover, who runs the Chicago-based ATTACK Athletics “sports enhancement” firm (check out www.attackathletics.com). “For example, studies show the proper stretching program can add inches to your vertical jump. Every jump actually starts with a stretch; the muscles rapidly elongate before contracting for the leap. The more you can lengthen the muscles, the more spring you can get in your jump.”
Upton has experienced similar results with clients. He worked with one world-class runner who improved each stride length by a half-inch with a flexibility program and ultimately won 10K races he was previously losing by 20 to 30 meters. He introduced trunk rotation stretches to a scratch golfer who added 20 yards to his drives in 12 weeks by doing the flexibility workouts every day.
OK, so maybe slam dunking or playing scratch golf is not in your future. But getting stronger is a goal everyone can appreciate. Research published this summer shows people who incorporate stretching into their weightlifting programs increase muscle strength at higher rates than non-stretchers. Studies on aging similarly indicate people who follow a flexibility routine will be more independent in their daily lives and decrease their risk of falling.
Interestingly, the most cited benefit of stretching–preventing injury–is hotly debated by exercise physiologists. The controversy centers on whether people benefit more from warming up the muscles with light aerobic activity or by stretching them. What’s accepted is stretching and flexibility-oriented activities (such as yoga or tai chi) will increase range of motion, decrease muscle soreness and stiffness by supplying more oxygen to the blood, encouraging relaxation and improving posture.
Perhaps best of all, flexibility can require the least amount of time in your personal fitness equation (unless you have figured out a way to prepare fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds in a flash). Five minutes in the morning and another five at night can make a noticeable difference. Fifteen and 15 is better still, or you can devote 15 to 20 minutes in the evening. Do it in front of the television if it motivates you, but be forewarned you may come to cherish the quiet time.
“Stretching can seem boring and not give the `pump’ you get from lifting weights,” says Florez. “But you also don’t have to find 30 to 60 minutes in your day to do 20 sets. You can stretch in bite-size chunks. Start with lower back stretches in the morning when you wake up. Do some standing hamstring stretches while taking phone calls during the day and finish at night with some shoulder and hip work while watching the news or `Sportscenter.’
“We have all sorts of golfers, skiers and hikers as clients who have cheated age as long as possible without doing much flexibility work. Now they understand stretching lets them stay active at higher levels.”
Anderson goes mountain bike riding near his Colorado home with a group of cyclist friends most days. The other cyclists, predominantly 10 to 20 years younger, have trouble keeping up with him. He credits a five- to seven-minute stretching routine before every workout, plus “spontaneous stretching” throughout the day and regular but brief stretching sessions each night.
“Age is not the deciding factor,” says Anderson. “Being a doer or non-doer is what makes the difference. Stretching is something you can do regularly and consistently.”
For his part, Upton says we should look for more opportunities to stretch. Working all day in a swivel chair means you might rarely turn your head, neck or trunk during office hours.
“Believe me, I am part of the same group of people who don’t stretch much during a normal day,” says Upton. “If I find the time to stretch, my productivity is up and I feel more energy. It sounds simple, but it works.”
Getting started can be as easy as staying in bed for an extra couple of minutes. Florez recommends starting your flexibility workout with a modified yoga pose that can be done on a firm mattress or you can move to the floor. Lie back and bend your knees to bring the feet flat to the ground. Arms are out and palms up. Gently let the knees and hips fall to one side and just as gently turn your head to the opposite side. Hold this stretch for 20 to 30 seconds, then repeat while flipping directions for knees/hips and head. You will be feeling a good stretch in the hips, neck and lower back.
During the day, Anderson recommends stretching in a doorway several times a day to relieve stress in your chest, shoulders and abdominal muscles. With the door open, place your hands about shoulder-height on both sides of the doorway. Move your upper body forward until you feel a comfortable stretch in the arms and chest. Keep your chest and head up, with knees slightly bent. Hold for 15 to 20 seconds.
These stretches don’t seem like much, but Anderson and others insist flexibility is a much-overlooked ally in staying young.
“I look at stretching as a way to maintain what range of motion you have today,” says Anderson. “I don’t urge people to get more flexible because it usually doesn’t happen to any great degree and people tend to overdo it if they set some unrealistic goal of becoming super limber. If you make stretching a regular part of life and make it comfortable, the more you will do it and the more you body accepts the benefits.”
