Static Stretching

Audio Transcript

Claire Bartholic: Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Runners Connect, Run to the Top Extra Kick podcast.

Our question today is from Ian about static stretching.

Ian sent us an email with this question: Is it bad to do static stretching before you run? If so, why? When should you do your stretching or is it bad to stretch at all?

Claire: To stretch or not to stretch, the answer is not quite as simple as it seems, and stretching is a bit of a hot topic in the running world.

Maybe it’s not quite as controversial as the endless debates over what type of running shoe is best, but it might be a close second.

Let’s imagine any time you’ve seen anyone go for a run, in movies or on TV.

The runner always starts off with a few toe touches, maybe grabs his ankle behind his butt for the classic quad stretch, does a few trunk twists, and is out the door.

Or let’s say you’re getting together with a group for an easy five-miler.

When you’re standing around waiting to start, undoubtedly, someone is lunging over their shoes, holding a hip flexor stretch, and someone else has their toes propped up on the curb, stretching out their calves.

It’s hard not to feel like you should be doing some stretching, too, but is all of this doing any good? Maybe, maybe not. Let’s go into it.

The debate in the running world over stretching is alive and well. How to stretch, when to stretch, what to stretch, and even if you should stretch at all, are all points of contention.

Ultimately, the purpose of stretching, however you do it, or don’t do it, is to increase flexibility.

But coaches, experts, and runners, disagree over the role flexibility plays in preventing injury or boosting performance, how to improve it, or even it’s very definition.

So, what’s a runner to do? Let’s break down this flexibility thing into bite-sized pieces. There are at least three definitions of flexibility that may matter for runners.

The first concept is passive flexibility. This is the ability of a muscle ligament, or tendon, to get into and to hold an extensive position while under an external force, like your body weight.

This type of flexibility is static stretching, and it could be like bending at the waist to touch your toes, while keeping your knees straight.

The next concept is your active flexibility. This is the range of motion you can achieve by using your own strength with no external forces.

An example of this would be lying on your back, and extending your leg into the air, to stretch your hamstring without using your hands or a strap to aid any motion.

The third concept is dynamic flexibility, which includes motion into the equation. An example of this would be a forward leg swing.

The range over which you can swing your leg forward defines your dynamic flexibility in your hip muscles.

For runners, it’s pretty clear that dynamic flexibility is a significant performance factor, because if you are flexible enough to extend your leg well behind you in each stride, your running economy, form, and therefore speed, will improve.

As you can probably guess from those definitions, dynamic flexibility, or your range of motion while running, is very important to have, but active and passive flexibility might not be as critical.

In fact, it’s unclear that increasing passive and active flexibility plays any positive role in running performance.

At least two significant studies have found that, at least for elite runners, performance in flexibility evaluations was inversely correlated with running economy.

In other words, the more flexible runners had worse economy, which means they had to work harder to generate a certain speed. Not what you want.

One way to think about that, is imagine your legs as a rubber band. The tighter the rubber band is, the more snap and spring it can generate. The stretchier and looser the band is, the less spring it’s able to generate.

Here’s a real-world example for you.

Nick Symmonds, one of the fastest American 800-meters runner in the country, famously is unable to touch his toes. The spring in his legs is tight and powerful.

But the conversation about stretching is not complete without talking about injury prevention. Not only do we runners want to be fast, but we want to be healthy and resilient.

Does stretching help there?

The studies are unclear about that as well. In spite of the seemingly negative effect of flexibility on running economy, and the unclear effect on injury risk, most runners still make flexibility routines a part of their regular training.

Often, it does seem to help provide a recovery benefit, perhaps by improving blood flow to sore or tight areas, or by helping to work out some scar tissue.

Since injuries often begin as a feeling of tightness, it’s possible that the process of actively stretching the muscle, does provide some benefit in breaking up that scar tissue.

There are four fundamental techniques that you can use to improve your flexibility, which differ along the active passive spectrum, as well as their specificity to running.

I’m going to talk about them in order from least to most specific.

The first one is static stretching, the next one is active isolated stretching, or AIS, mobility- drills is number three, and running drills is the fourth one.

Let’s talk about static stretching that you asked about, Ian.

When most people think of improving flexibility, they immediately think of static stretching.

You elongate a muscle, tendon, or ligament, to its limit, hold it there for a period ranging from 30 seconds to two minutes.

If you are going to do these, always do them after a run, not before, so that the muscles are warm. This improves blood flow to promote the healing that occurs after stretching.

The downside of static stretching is that any gains in flexibility that you make are purely passive, which means they have a limited application for running.

Active isolated stretching or AIS, involves sets of short muscle-activated stretches, that are about two seconds per repetition, and they target specific muscles, tendons, or ligaments, in various zones.

The basic principle involves contracting the muscle opposite the one you’re are trying to stretch. So, you contract the quad to stretch the hamstring, for example.

The purpose in holding for only two seconds is to not allow the muscle to contract defensively and negate the benefit of the stretch.

Some other benefits of active isolated stretching are that it can serve as an effective warm up for running, so you don’t have to wait until after running.

It also promotes neuromuscular development, and improves fine motor control, thus offering significant gains in running form through increased body awareness.

But a drawback of AIS is that some runners, as they are prone to do, will go a bit too far with AIS and end up getting injured. So, just like any kind of new activity, start slow and try not to overdo it.

The next stretching technique is dynamic stretching or mobility exercises.

Dynamic stretching, such as Jay Johnson’s Myrtl routine, incorporates exercises that improve your mobility because you are working your muscles through a range of motion in a manner just like running.

In this way, you get to work on your strength and range of motion in a way that is very specific to running.

The good things about dynamic stretching are they’re short, five to ten minute routines. You can perform them on your own or as a warm up or a cool down.

They develop core strengths specifically in the glutes and hips which, also with mobility, can serve as bonus strength training and they’re pretty easy to learn.

Finally, we have running drills. While not often thought of as flexibility improving exercises, running drills are in reality some of the most specific mobility work that runners can perform.

Traditional exercises such as skipping, butt kicks, or high knees, as well as more advanced drills like karaoke, improve strength and form in a dynamic manner.

In other words, drills improve functional flexibility better than anything else that I’ve talked about.

You don’t have to wait to do it until your muscles are warm, they are perfect for warm ups, cool downs, rest days, or in the aisles of the grocery store if you like. It’s all good.

The only down side to drills is that grown men and women skipping down the street or doing the grapevine, looks simply ridiculous.

But, hey, I think all runners could stand to add just a little bit of silliness to their lives, don’t you agree?

So, getting back to your question, Ian. No, stretching isn’t bad, but you might want to reconsider what kind of stretching you do.

And after you’re done running and stretching, you probably need to rehydrate, and that’s where EnduroPacks come in. All the electrolytes you need with none of the sugar you don’t. Go to runnersconnect.net/enduropacks to learn more.

If you are getting something out of listening to these podcasts, you would make my day by leaving a review on iTunes so we can continue to bring fresh episodes of the Extra Kick to your ears every day.

Finally, we’ve got to thank our sponsor.

Running in hot, humid, summer weather, can really begin to wear on you and your system. So, what’s the first thing you reach for after an especially sweaty run?

Well, if you usually grab a traditional sports drink, you are getting a ton of calories, artificial flavors and colors, and some unpronounceable ingredients that you don’t need. And if you hydrate with just plain water, you’re missing out on replacing the essential nutrients and electrolytes that you lost in your sweat.

You can hydrate better with EnduroPacks. EnduroPacks is a fast-acting liquid made by runners for runners, that provides natural, vegetable-based nutrients and 13 essential electrolytes to keep you at the top of your game.

No sugar, sweeteners or artificial ingredients. Just a hint of natural lemon for a clean taste. Check it out for yourself at runnersconnect.net/enduropacks.

Have a great run today.