Common Dryland Mistake: Stretching

• Flexibility is the property of being flexible; easily bent or shaped.
• Mobility is the ability to move or be moved freely and easily.

By strict definition, mobility implies less aggressive within a larger scope.

Kelly Starrett (Physical Therapist and Strength Coach) defined mobility as
“a movement-based integrated full-body approach that addresses all the elements that limit movement and performance including short and tight muscles, soft tissue restriction, joint capsule restriction, motor control problems, joint range of motion dysfunction, and neural dynamic issues. In short, a mobilization is a tool to globally address movement and performance problems.”

I prefer the broad, proactive terminology of mobility and will use it during this series.
Now, let’s break down mobility!

Mobility is a diverse topic and recent research suggests statically stretching a muscle for 30 seconds daily is optimal (Davis 2005; Brandy 1997).

I always felt this was inadequate and tried various other means to enhance my immobile body.  I have done elongated stretching routines, mixing contract/relax (PNF), resisted, and passive stretching. I have done this by myself, with partners, and even in a 100-degree yoga room.

Mobility is a subject I’m constantly researching and exploring new means, as I’m not satisfied with the results I’ve seen, read and observed. Moreover, there is a discrepancy between the research and anecdotal evidence.

Prior to my research, I tried all these various modes in an attempt to be more mobile, simply put, because I’ve seen elite athletes stretch and do acrobatic measures on television and in real life my whole life! If Michael Phelps, David Beckham, and LeBron James stretch, then isn’t it beneficial?

However, within my doctoral program and since, I’ve truly become obsessed with research. This is mostly driven for rehabilitative purposes, but I’m still interested in the differences between elite athletes and regular folks.

I started living on PubMed and the CoachSci forum attempting to find answers.

I’ll admit, research doesn’t hold all the answers, but for stretching I found numerous articles.
This series will discuss what I’ve learned, how to implement mobility into your training program.

Known and Unknowns
Many basics on mobility are unknown 1) how much do the tissues change in length 2) what is the optimal duration, 3) what structures influence mobility?

• Muscle structures: muscle with proper extensibility is generally associated with an optimal usable range of motion
• Ligaments and joint structures: ligaments can limit the range of motion due to their role as joint stabilizers. On the other hand, ligaments that are too loose can be problematic causing joint instability
• Nervous system: sometimes there will be a lack of usable range of motion despite adequate extensibility of the muscles and ligaments. In this case, the nervous system can send sensation limiting the range of motion.
• Other factors: elasticity of skin, adhesion between the muscle fibers and adhesions between the muscle and fascia