Y O U R G O A L S

After all that exercising, you really ought toease off a bit. Here’s the finest stretchingroutine known to man

Life conspires to shorten our muscles. Everyhour we spend sitting or driving, every mile we run, every weight we lift helps make certain muscles shorter. Unless we stretchthese muscles to help them return to their original lengths, they stay short. Andshorter, tighter muscles ruin our posture, andmake it more difficult to perform simple,everyday tasks.

The stretches shown here will increaseyour muscles’ range of motion to improveperformance in sport and exercise, helpprevent injury and generally make lifemore comfortable for you.

As one muscle stretches, anothercontracts. In this illustration (right),while the calf and hamstrings arestretching, the tibialis anterior andquadriceps are contracting. If any musclestretches too far, the stretch reflex kicks inand the muscle suddenly goes from a stretchto a contraction to avoid injury. Say you fallasleep in a meeting. As your head nodsforward, your neck muscles stretch suddenly,and then just as suddenly contract to jerk yourhead back up.

In sport, you sometimes have too much momentum and the stretch reflex can’t keep the muscle or its connective tissuesfrom stretching too far. A strain, sprain or tear is the end result.

Here’s a scary fact: once a ligament ortendon is stretched too far, it never returns to itsoriginal length, so the joint it connects to ispermanently less stable than before the injury.

Beginner: Accustom your muscles andconnective tissues to stretching exercises,and increase range ofmotion in crucial joints,such as those in yourhips, lower back andshoulders.

Intermediate andadvanced: Dramaticallyincrease range ofmotion for sportand exercise.Some stretchesin thisprogrammebuild strength.

1 Quadriceps

Hamstrings

Tibialis anterior

Calf

2

3

4

COOL DOWN>>

FLEX TIME Most of us think the time to stretch is

right before a cardiovascular or weight

workout. We’re wrong: “The biggest

myth about stretching is that it’s a

warm-up,” says exercise researcher Len

Kravitz. “You shouldn’t stretch until

you’re already warmed up.” A cold

muscle is easily injured, so you don’t

want to stretch until you’ve already

raised the temperature in your muscles

by several degrees. Stretching after a

workout, as part of your cool-down, is

ideal. On the other hand, you don’t need a

warm-up if you just get up from your

desk a few times a day and gently

stretch out tight muscles.

Frequency: At leastthree times a week.Stretch duration: 15to 20 seconds perstretch.Technique: Toperform most of theexercises in thissection, simply getinto the positionshown in theillustration, feel agentle pull in thetargeted muscles,and hold thatposition. Don’t try topush or pull yourselfinto dramaticallydeeper stretches; thatwill simply activatethe stretch reflex, andyour muscles willcontract while you’retrying to stretchthem. This producesmuscle fatigue, if notinjury. Your flexibilitywill improve overtime without addingthat extra,unproductive effort.Try to perform each

stretch three times.You can do all of thestretches indicated incircuit fashion, oneright after the other,and do three circuits.Or you can do eachstretch three timesbefore moving on tothe next.Progress: Increaseeach stretch to 25 to30 seconds’ duration.How long: You canuse this programmeyour entire life, andadd other stretchesyou learn. But if youwant to increase yourstrength and flexibilityfor sportsperformance, moveup to theIntermediateprogramme.

WA L L C A L F S T R E T C H

S I D E B E N D

B U T T E R F LY G R O I N S T R E T C H

C AT S T R E T C H � Start with your backrounded (A), and then allowit to sag (B). Hold eachposition for 3 to 5 seconds,and perform for a total of30 to 45 seconds.

A B

BEGINNER

F I G U R E O F F O U R S T R E T C H

T R I C E P S S T R E T C H S H O U L D E R S T R E T C H

B

A

Frequency: 3 to 5times a weekStretch duration: 20to 30 seconds forstatic stretches (inwhich you hold asingle position).Other stretches aredescribed below.Repeat all stretchesthree times formaximum benefit.Technique: You’ll usethree techniques inthis routine: CR,CRAC and static.

CR stands forcontract-relax, but allyou need to know isthat you flex a musclehard for six seconds,then relax and stretchit for 12 seconds.

CRAC stands forcontract-relax-agonist-contract, butyou don’t have toremember that. All itmeans is that you flexa muscle, thenstretch it, then flexthe opposite muscle,then stretch theoriginal muscleagain. As soon as youfeel that last stretch,you’ll realise whysomeone came upwith this complicatedtechnique. You’ll seeyour muscles gofurther than they everhave before. Just asimportant is thatsecond-to-last step,flexing the muscleopposite the oneyou’re stretching.You’ll actually makeyour musclesstronger here, at thepoint where they’remost likely to beinjured in a match or

a strenuous workout.Finally, you’ll also

do some staticstretches; these aresimple ‘get into aposition and hold it’exercises, similar tothe ones in theBeginner section.Static stretches arefor your hip flexors,knees and lowerback, which mightget hurt during moreaggressive CR andCRAC stretches. Precautions: A studyat the University ofMississippi showedthat CR stretches canimprove flexibility byup to 18 per cent.That’s a hugeincrease, but it comeswith some risk. Youshould feel all thesestretches in themiddle of the muscle.If you feel it moststrongly in a joint,stop the stretch. The next time youtrain, try a gentlestatic stretch for thatbody part. Who needs them:These stretches arebest used duringperiods of hardtraining for specificgoals – preparing fora sports season ortraining for anendurance event suchas a marathon. Atother times you’llprobably want to goback to a programmethat includes onlystatic stretches.

C R O U T E R -T H I G H SG L U T E A L S T R E T C H� Lift one leg as high as you can,then try to lower your leg towardsthe floor while resisting with yourhands for 6 seconds (A).� Now relax your leg muscles andpull the leg into a deeper stretchfor 12 seconds (B).� Repeat with the other leg.

S TAT I C S I D E - LY I N G Q UA D R I C E P S S T R E T C H

S TAT I C S T R A D D L E S T R E T C H

INTERMEDIATE

S TAT I C S P I N A L R O TAT I O N

� Contract lefthamstrings for 6 seconds, trying to lower leg to thefloor while resistingwith a towel.� Relax hamstringsand gently pull left leg

into a stretch for 12seconds (A).� Contract leftquadriceps as you tryto push leg down withboth hands for 6seconds (B).� Relax quadriceps

and pull hamstringsinto a deeper stretchfor 12 seconds (C).� Repeat with theright leg.

� Contract inner-thigh muscles for 6seconds, trying toraise knees towardseach other whileresisting by pushingdown on thighs.� Relax inner-thigh

muscles and gentlypush them into astretch for 12seconds (A).� Place handsunderneath thighs andtry to push legs up for6 seconds as you

contract gluteals (B).� Relax gluteals,return hands to topsof thighs, and pushdown, bringing theinner-thigh musclesinto a deeper stretchfor 12 seconds (C).

INTERMEDIATE

C R A C G R O I N S T R E T C H C R A C H A M S T R I N G S T R E T C H

A

B

C

A

B

C

Static Get into a position and hold it, usually for15 to 30 seconds.

A safe and effective way to increase rangeof motion and limit injuries.

No downside here; it seems to workwell for everyone.

Active-Isolated (AI) Contract a muscle for 2 seconds, then relax and stretch that same musclefor 2 seconds.

If you hold a muscle in a stretchedposition for longer than 2 seconds, thestretch reflex kicks in, rendering thestretch useless and possibly dangerous.

Two seconds in a stretched position is not enough time to fully stretchmuscle and connective tissue, unlessthe stretcher is already a highlyconditioned athlete.

ProprioceptiveNeuromuscularFacilitation (PNF);includes CR andCRAC techniquesdescribed previously

Contract a muscle for 6 seconds, relax it,and then push or pull the muscle into adeeper stretch. Often, a therapist ortrainer helps you perform the stretches.

These techniques ‘switch off’ stretch-reflex mechanisms, allowing a greaterincrease in range of motion.

Physical therapists have been usingPNF successfully for 50 years. Itrequires far more effort than staticstretching though, making it a bad ideaif you have a muscle or bone disease.

� For 6 seconds, try tostraighten your bentarm as you resist bypulling on a towel with

your other arm (A).� Now relax your bent arm and pull itinto a deeper stretch

for a count of 12seconds (B).� Repeat with theother arm.

C O B R A S T R E T C H

P E C T O R A L /S H O U L D E R S T R E T C H

C R T R I C E P S / L AT I S S I M U S S T R E T C H

S TAT I C S I D ES T R E T C H

TECHNIQUE HOW TO DO IT THEORY REALITYF L E X I B L E O P T I O N S C H E AT S H E E T

A B