About Stretching Benefits and Mechanisms
There is a large body of research that links improved flexibility to a whole raft of benefits. These include the obvious ones like improved functionality. Examples include being able to dress without pain, play with your kids, turn your head while driving and getting up off the couch with ease. These results stem from biomechanical and neurophysiological changes.
Stretching also improves recovery from exercise and prevents the type of stiffness that can result from cardiovascular and strength training activities. These changes stem from local adaptation in muscles and joints, as well as changes in pain perception in the brain.
Other well-known benefits include improved posture, sports performance, pain management, a reduced likelihood of injury (due to improved biomechanics in the body) stress management, relaxation and sleep (from endorphins and other chemicals released during stretching,) and mindfulness. Another very important change is lowered blood pressure via a combination of chemicals but also from structural remodeling of arteries.
How long does it take?
Research also tells us that although you’ll feel more flexible after just one session, you won’t stay that way-unfortunately! Though the brain can change quickly, the growth of new tissue takes longer. Over time, your muscles will adapt and grow longer, like adding a link in a chain, but it takes around 2 months for new links to grow. (Google “Davis’s Law” if you’re interested.) It’s just like strength training, where it’s a couple of months before you notice real changes in shape and size.
How often?
To bring about significant changes in any muscle group that you target, training “frequency” (a key principle in sports science) needs to be at least 2 times per week, per muscle group.
How hard?
Interestingly, for muscle to grow longer (technically known as “mechanotransduction”), the “duration” of a stretch ( “duration” is another key principle in sports science) is more important than intensity. What does this mean? It means you need to hold stretches for around two minutes at about 60% of your maximum. We’ll help you achieve this with a timer and some breathwork. The “no pain no gain” mantra still applies, but holding a stretch at a point of mild discomfort is a better way of describing it.
Will it work?
Sometimes, clients ask me if stretching will work for them, as if their stiffness is special! Often it’s because they’ve stretched before and haven’t got very far. Generally, this is because they didn’t follow the steps above. But in terms of it “working,” if you follow the protocols above, there’s no question at all that you will succeed. It’s just like eating. If you eat more than you need, you’ll gain weight. It’s a biological process that unfortunately, you can’t control. Same with stretching. Apply a regular tensile stress to your muscles, and they will gradually grow longer. In fact, I challenge you to follow the protocols above and NOT become more flexible!
Maintenance
Do you need to go on stretching forever? It depends. If you want to continue to improve, the answer is “yes you do.” Have you ever looked at retired athletes? Generally, they don’t look the same as when they were competing. It’s the old “use it or lose it principle.” On the other hand, once you get to a happy flexibility place, and you want to maintain it, one session per week can be enough. By then though, you might be addicted, and the thought of only stretching once a week will be abhorrent!
Summary
There you have it! Stretching results in changes in both the brain and body which take some time to become permanent or “plastic.” A consistent program focused on key muscle groups will bring about these changes. If you’re stiff and sore or want to improve your performance, commit to a couple of months, and see how you feel. You might love it and become a lifelong “stretcher.” If you don’t, at the minimum, surely you can spare 45 minutes a week for the sake of your mind and body?
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