3.3 Stretching

First Author:  Austin Hickey

Second Author: Chris Ross 

Article - Stretching

Definition of Stretching: 

3.1  Three Reasons for Stretching^[2]

               1. Increases Flexibilty - If you do not stretch regularly, your muscles are never elongated and this reduces flexibility and coordination.

               2. Reduces Risk of Injury - Stretching before you exercise, or do anything active, allows your muscles to become loose and will prevent strains, tears, and cramps during your training.

               3. Improve Recovery of Muscles - Stretching after you do exercise is very important because it keeps them from getting dense quickly, and that will improve ones recovery of the muscles that have been used.

3.2  Two forms of stretching^[3]   

               1. Active Stretching - Active stretching is stretching the muscles through various types of continuous movements.  An example of this would be lunges.  When doing lunges, the muscles in your leg are stretched every time you do a lunge.  Also, yoga includes many types of active stretches.

               2. Passive Stretching (also known as Static Stretching) - Passive, or static, stretching is the most common type of stretching in which you stretch your muscle to the furthest point, and then hold that stretch for an extended period of time.

3.3 Common stretches for runners  

• Calf stretch

• Ankle stretch

• back stretch

• shoulder stretch

• groin stretch

• quad stretch

• hamstring stretch

• lower back stretch

• hip stretch

Dynamic Stretching Warmup

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