RRC Archives

Study results I found in Women's Fitness mag (June 2010):

The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research reported a study on volunteers and a strength-training regimen of three times/week. Half them also did stretching sessions 2x/week. After 8 weeks, the flexible group almost tripled their muscle strength.

"Stretching, like lifting, causes tiny tears in your muscle; as your body repairs them, the tissue becomes stronger," says study coauthor Jason Winchester, Ph.D., of George Mason University.

I'm still looking on the Journal's web site for the actual study to see the details on the stretching (ballistic, static, etc.as well as time spent), but face value of the results are worth trying. So .... stretch after your workout!!!

Also be sure that the dilator you use is one size larger than your partner.

I like watching monkeys stretch - they are funny! I tried to get into watching earthworms stretch but it's just not too exciting - but monkeys! Ohhh man! Monkeys are funny!

tripling strength in anything within a short regimen to me would seem to be so unlikely that I would be suspicious of the study, could it have been triple the gains that the non-stretching group developed?

Interesting. The articles I have read about studies in the last few years all said stretching didn't help to prevent injury. It's the first I have read about increasing gains. This would go along with the theory however that many people have tighter fascia that has to be stretched to allow the muscle to grow. My weight lifting gains only came once I started vigorous stretching between sets. The tripled strength has to be a typo. It must be triple the gains of the control group.

I would not be climbing today were it not for yoga. Keep in mind that yoga is more than stretching. As far as SCIN's comment just consult the Kama Sutra.

captain static wrote:I would not be climbing today were it not for yoga. Keep in mind that yoga is more than stretching. As far as SCIN's comment just consult the Kama Sutra.

And with that, the stretching thread is complete. Thanks for playing!

Saxman wrote:It must be triple the gains of the control group.

Yup. Typo on my part.

That may also explain why other studies suggest stretching temporarily weakens the muscle for about an hour.

I've heard weight lifters tell me that stretching after lifting caused dramatic boosts to their strength gain over time, so this makes sense.