The Truth About Stretching and HEAVY Pulling

One part of a single leg groiner, an excellent
active warm-up

For a long time conventional wisdom has suggested that athletes and lifters stretch before training or competing.  The idea being that stretching before rigorous activity prevents injury and helps improve overall performance.  However, there is a lack of scientific evidence to support such an idea, and elite strength and conditioning coaches now understand that there is not only no evidence to suggest that stretching before training prevents injury or improves performance, but that it can actually limit strength and power output.  Some studies have concluded that individuals saw a reduction in strength after just 30 to 60 seconds.  The reason this occurs, without getting too scientific, is that a stretched muscle needs time to take up the slack caused by stretching before it can reach peak contraction.  The longer and harder you stretch, therefore, the longer you have to wait before the muscle will be able to reach peak contraction again, (Heyward, 2010).

Now, how does this concept apply to you?  If you are an athlete who is at all interested in improving your strength and power, you should not stretch prior to training or competing.  You severely inhibit your strength and power output if you do so.  Instead, you should use a dynamic warm-up in order to properly prepare your body.  Regardless of what type of training you are doing, your warmup should be at least 15 minutes long and should include a general warm-up and a dynamic warm-up.  What you do is up to you, but the exercises should activate your central nervous system, (which is more responsible for strength and power output than your actual muscles themselves) and your muscles.  Begin with simply calisthenics like jogging, skipping, jumping jacks, etc.  This gets blood flowing, increases heart rate, and activates the central nervous system.  After 5 minutes of this general warm-up, go into a dynamic warm-up.  This should be sport/activity specific, mimicking the movements and activating the muscles that will be utilized during the workout or competition.  These can be anything from pushups, to groiners, to resistance band work, to glute/ham raises, pull ups, body weight squats, lunges, skipping, skipping with a bound, sprinting, and everything in between.  While most people would rather touch their toes for 30 seconds then squat, it is much more beneficial to both your health and your results in the gym to take the time and get a good active-dynamic warm-up in before training.  Next time you lift, take 15 minutes to properly warm-up.  Don't stretch, but use calisthenics and body weight exercises to activate and get blood flowing to the muscles that will be taxed during your training.  I promise you, doing this on a consistent basis will not only make you feel better during and after training, it will enhance your performance which is what we're all in the gym to accomplish in the first place.

Today was the last heavy deadlift day of the first 3 weeks cycle of postseason training.  After a dynamic warm-up and some explosive med ball throws we got into a heavy deadlift workout.  Everyone was pushing each other and working their ass off.  There's nothing better than training with a group of guys who get excited when someone steps onto the platform to pull some big weight.  Leonte, Mattera, Rizz, Mancino, and CJ Vines and fought through a brutal workout and got better today.  Love liftin' with these guys they walk the walk and show what embracing the grind is all about!

World class powerlifter Dan Green
How do you get a back like that?
Start with Heavy Deadlifts

General Warmup
Dynamic Warmup

Groiners--2x10
Lateral Slide Steps--2x5 steps each direction
Body Weight Box Squats--2x10
Glute Bridges--2x10

Power
Underhand Backwards Med Ball Throws--6x2

Strength
Deadlift (Sumo)--1x4 at 8 RPE, 2x2 at 9 RPE
--Worked up to 396 lbs for a set of 4, and 430 lbs for 2x2

Assistance
Deficit Deadlifts (Conventional)--8x1 w/ 60 seconds rest between lifts

Upper Back Muscle Building
Strict Lat Pulldowns--4x10

Muscle Building/Conditioning--3 Rounds
DB Goblet Squats--10
Lying Swiss Ball Leg Curls--15
Anti-Rotation Band Hold--30 seconds/side

Joe Meglio of Meglio Fitness, a former FDU student
performing anti-rotation press (kneeling)

Abs
Straight Leg V Sit Up--3x20


Finally, I'd like to say good luck to my boy Jim Rizz as he goes to play in the Senior Classic in Salem, Virginia this Friday.  You've earned it brotha go enjoy it.  For everyone else share this with your friends, enjoy the workout and don't forget to get a proper warm-up in beforehand.  If you'd like to check out the source of the information in the first paragraph I left the text citation below.



Heyward, V. H. (2010). Advanced fitness assessment and exercise prescription. (6 ed., p. 290). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.