Why You Should Stop Stretching
Did I get your attention?
Great!
Hopefully, you can approach this article with an open mind because stretching is such an engrained part of our physical fitness culture that we all take it as gospel without questioning why we do it. Whether it’s working out, dancing, or performing, I truly believe we should all stop stretching. We don’t need it. Our muscles were not meant to be stretched. They were meant to be contracted, toned, and strong.
Now let me explain the science of stretching and the real reason behind tight muscles. Hopefully by the end of this I have convinced or at least made you question why you don’t need to s t r e t c h .
The Science of Stretching
First, some definition/clarity on what I mean my stretching. Stretching is the act of taking a muscle and passively make it longer. Key word being passively because I know there is a new craze out there talking about dynamic stretching or active stretching. I’m not talking about those. Actually, I think dynamic or active stretching is just a silly phrase that someone came up with so they can market the next “new” thing. If you really look at what dynamic or active stretching is doing, it’s just movement through your body’s available range of motion which I will talk about later. Now, back to passive stretching.
When you passively stretch a muscle, you’re elongating the muscles fibers. When you elongate those fibers, you are absolutely getting more range and (what people commonly think of as) flexibility - this has been proven. I’m not arguing this point. HOWEVER, you’re getting more range of motion at the expense of something else… strength.
Passively stretching decreases muscle activation and muscle firing speed which means less strength and power. Pulling muscle fibers apart will decrease its ability to contract and therefore not be able to produce the same amount of force to move your joint. You can influence the effects of stretching depending on how far the muscle was stretched, how long the stretch was held, and which muscle was stretched. At best, the stretch felt good and the effects were temporary and the muscle returns to it’s pre-stretched state. At worst, you tore the connections within the muscle fiber and you have a strain. People don’t usually stretch until they tear muscle (that usually happens when someone else stretches you). Regardless, muscles being stretched and pulled apart creates temporary or long lasting weakness.
Do you really want to be weaker and less powerful before a rehearsal or performance?
Tight Muscles and Weak Muscles
When I first introduce the concept of no stretching, the immediate backlash I get is, “But my muscles are tight! I need to stretch them!” Ok, I get it. Some muscles are tight because they are overworked, in which case you may want to decrease its strength because they’re doing too much. And when you stretch a tight muscle…..mmmmmmm, it feels good. I used to stretch, so I get it, I know how good it feels.
BUT, have you asked yourself why these muscles are tight? Why are they overworking? What is the real reason the muscles are behaving this way. Because muscles don’t just decide to be tight one day. Tightness usually develops over time and what you need to realize is, tightness is not the cause of your issue - it’s a symptom.
The cause of muscle tightness (the one I keep seeing) has to do with how the muscular system works together. I have a a whole IGTV post on how the muscle system works together that you can view here. Basically, one muscle is not wholly responsible for one movement. Muscles have movements they are primarily designed for, and other movements they assist in. For example, if you’re standing and move one leg behind you - the muscle primarily responsible for that movement is your gluteus maximus (aka, your butt). However, the hamstrings also assist in this movement. They are the secondary players in this movement. When both these muscles are strong, no issue - glut max does most of the work, hamstrings help.
Now, let’s say your glut max is weak, (You’re a 9-5er sitting behind a desk) and you perform the same movement. With a weak glut max, that muscle won’t be able to exert the same amount of force to move your leg back. So the hamstring now has to pick up more of the work. Your body will automatically use whatever muscle is available to perform the movement. It doesn’t care who should be doing the work as long as the movement gets done. So, it will recruit your hamstring to work harder to make that leg move back because the glut max can’t. Do this enough times and now that overworked hamstring starts to get … tighter.
Now we have a tight hamstring. Conventional physical therapists, personal trainers, and IG influencers can all show you 101 ways to stretch a hamstring and it will feel good, definitely give that overworked hamstring a break, and increase the range of motion in that hamstring but is that the solution to the problem?
No!
All you’re doing is a temporary fix.
The solution to the tight hamstring is to strengthen the weak glut max!!!
Once you start strengthening the weak glut max muscle, it will start taking on its proper responsibility of moving the leg back, allowing the hamstring to go back to assisting in the movement, decreasing how much it’s overworking, and thereby…(trumpet flare, please) not be tight anymore!!!!
That’s it. That’s the beauty of how our bodies work and coordinate together to perform every day movements such as getting up from a chair to those amazing dance routines that I get chills from watching.
Now, this is just the simplest example I could think of to illustrate the relationship muscles have together and how tightness may develop. In reality, when I evaluate and treat someone, I need to look at how the whole body is working together and all the different interplays of primary, secondary, and even tertiary muscles all along your body. When I treat someone, I figure out which muscle(s) is weak and responsible for other muscles being tight. And do you know how many muscles there are in the body? (Ans: 600+) So it’s a fairly complex problem to solve but I love the challenge.
So, have I convinced you yet?
Hopefully the answer is yes…or at the very least, I’ve gotten you to question why you’re stretching, and stretching, and stretching, with the same or no results.
If I have convinced you, then you may be asking, “Well, what do I do instead of stretching?” or “How do I figure out what I need to work on?”
Hi!!!
If you want to know what your specific weaknesses are and how to address them because this blog post gave you that “OMG!, she makes so much sense” moment, then you need to come and see me for an evaluation. As I mentioned before, it’s complicated and the reason your muscles are tight can be different from the person next to you. During your evaluation, I work with you 1-1 for 1 hour and give you a specific exercise program to address your areas of concerns - without stretching.
If you don’t have any particular issues or muscle tightness you are concerned about and just looking for an alternative to stretching, then read my Alternatives to Stretching post (coming soon) to see how you can take out stretching from your routine and still maintain flexibility.
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~ Rebecca xoxo
