The Effects of Stretching on Strength Performance

It's common for people to ask me "does stretching have any effect on my strength?" The answer is yes. It is also common for people to ask me "does stretching lower my strength?" That is much more unclear. Various factors must be taken into account. Each of these factors are based on the bio-mechanical demand of a specific task. Here are two examples which demonstrates the correlation between strength and flexibility.

Example #1: A power lifters capability to deadlift.

A deadlift involves extension from three specific areas. They are the ankle, knees and hips. To aid in hip extension it is often beneficial to have low flexibility on the hamstrings. This is down to an improved reflex arc. The reflex arc is the elastic property within a skeletal muscle fibre which triggers the muscle to tighten as it goes deeper into a stretch. So there you have it. Low hamstring flexibility can add poundage to your deadlift. It should also be noted that participants who are particularly inflexible will struggle to get into the correct starting position to lift the bar in the first place so don't overdo tightening up your hamstrings. You should still practice cool down stretches.

Example #2: A martial artists capability to kick.

Let's take a turning kick (a.k.a. Round house kick) as our example. Say you wanted to land a strong turning kick to a pad held at stomach height. You will need to be capable of kicking at stomach height but if you only have the flexibility to do that but are incapable of kicking higher you will struggle. Your tight groin muscles will resist against the upwards motion of your kick, you will risk injury and increase your chances of gaining muscle soreness the next day.
If however you can kick much higher than stomach height you will find the kick easier. This is because the flexible adductors will allow the kick to flow through without substantial resistance. The range of motion you have (in this case the capability to kick head height) past the range of motion you need to perform a set task (in this case a kick to stomach height) is called the flexibility reserve. The more flexibility reserve you have the less lightly you are to sustain an injury.
You can also have too much hip flexibility for kicking. People who are capable of performing a box split past 180 degrees often find that they struggle to retract their leg quickly after kicking. This is due to a low reflex arc and can result in slower counter escapes in sparring.

To conclude this post I will just say that with every sporting task you can have too much or too little flexibility. Always consider these vital factors:

1. Consider the bio-mechanical demands of the sporting skill that you intend on completing. Just consider what I said on deadlift strength, flexibility and the reflex arc. Too much flexibility will lead to poor elastic property's of a muscle whilst  wry low flexibility will put a halt on a full range of motion.

2. Where there is flexibility there should be strength. If you improve your flexibility without placing resistance work into the mix you will find that performance benefits of improved flexibility will be low. There is no point in increasing your range of motion if you don't have the strength to operate the muscle within that range. Make flexibility practical.

If you liked this post you may also like:

Competition Prep for Armature Athletes

http://icankeepup.blogspot.it/2015/09/competition-prep-for-armatures.html

Lower Limb Development

http://icankeepup.blogspot.it/2015/10/lower-leg-development.html