Let's start by keeping an open mind.

I admit it. I Enjoy a stretch from time to time. However, in my opinion, it is not magical from a performance and recovery standpoint. Its like scratching an itch, it feels good and helps me greater relax (which in itself is beneficial and better discussed in another blog).

I'm going to be candid about the point of this blog. I want to challenge an old dogma: to be a high level athlete, you need to static stretch. Straight up, you don’t. If that statement makes you feel some type of way, I challenge you to keep an open mind. PLEASE give me a chance to explain myself.

Before we jump in, let's clarify what static stretching is. Static stretching is where an athlete passively holds a position, for a given period of time, for a targeted muscle group. One might static stretch to:

Increase flexibility/ mobility * these are different things but typically used interchangeably.
To reduce likelihood of injury or rehab injury.
To warm up before a training session or competitive event.
To increase performance, for example increased vertical jump, faster sprints, etc.

Unfortunately, literature and anecdotal evidence simply does not support any of this. To begin to understand why benefits are minimal, it is important to understand what is happening during a passive stretch. Or more importantly what is not happening.

What is happening when we stretch?

No one really knows, however there are two proposed mechanisms.

Plastic: The intentional act of stretching will make muscle fibres get longer and more extensible (this is what most individuals think is happening).
Neurological: The intentional act of stretching will downregulate the nervous system and Golgi Tendon Organ(GTO), allowing greater range of motion.

The answer to which it is, is most likely both. It just depends on hardcore you go. Hold a stretch for 5 min, you're most likely going to create some plastic changes. However, the way that most athletes and fitness enthusiasts stretch, it's probably neurological.

Plastic changes are what we want if we want to create lasting and real change in our flexibility. I know you have spent some time stretching. You held a few positions for 30ish seconds. You got up and thought “wow, I feel so opened up and loose” to find out only a few hours later or the next day, all that sweet new range of motion is gone. Boom, neurological change and not mechanical. Think about it, we all know that one individual who stretches their hamstrings daily, but still can’t touch their toes!

Well I'm sure you want some actually lasting changes, so what do you do? Before you go holding pigeon pose for 5 minutes please read on.

You probably thought to yourself ‘I just need to hold my stretches for way longer than I'm good’. Before you do that, let's take a look at this analogy I stole from Paul Fabritz.

Take a rubber band and stretch it out. If you hold the rubber band stretched for a short period of time, it will snap back and return to its original resting length with force and velocity.

Now take that same band and hold the stretch for a very long period of time, say hours. Now the band will have an actual change to its length. Now the elastic is not as ‘tight’. When pulled back it will not snap back with the same force and velocity as before.

Our muscle-tendon units have elastic qualities. These elastic qualities passively help you to produce force for key movements in your sport. To a certain extent, you need your muscles and tendons to be stiff to perform safely and at your best in your sport. This makes long duration hold, in most situations, no bueno for athletes.

Flexibility is Task Specific

How much flexibility is enough?

Well, what does your daily task list demand of you? What does your sport require? What positions do you need to get into for your job?

There is no one size fits all to flexibility. To accomplish the most advanced poses in yoga, one would have to develop great flexibility. If you want to get better at yoga, holding positions for a long period of time actually makes a lot of sense.

However, in a sport like basketball, you need to produce high amounts of impulse from shallow joint angles. Like passive force production, long duration stretching can alter the joint angles where we can actively produce the most amount of force. To illustrate, here is a comparison of countermovement jumps in a basketball player vs a box jump record setter.

NBA player Andrew Wiggins at the bottom of his countermovement jump.

Evan Ungar at the bottom of his record setting box jump attempt.

To clarify, I do not think the box jump athlete jumps like this because of passive stretching. He does not have a time and environmental constraint limiting his time to produce force. All he cares about is generating as much impulse as possible. However, it brings home the idea that there are trade offs to more flexibility and mobility due to the changes in length-tension relationship. Having to get lower to jump the same height is not ideal, and getting more flexible could have these implications.

But what about injury reduction? What if you do not have the ability to get into the positions that the game demands? Well, great point for the advocates of passive stretching.

We need to have ENOUGH flexibility to get into these positions, but what if you can not produce force while you're in said positions? If you're forced into an awkward position, you better have the ability to decelerate and subsequently get out of that position. Passive stretching can be good for opening up ranges, but I opt for the methods that give me strength THROUGH greater range of motion.

Mobility vs Flexibility

Ask 10 different coaches what their definition of mobility is and each will be different. I think of mobility as follows.

The ability to display strength and control (control meaning the ability to resist undesired movement) through a given movement task. The ability to go through a squat range with our chest up, knees over toes and arch in our feet would be mobility specific to a squat.

When it comes to how much mobility you need, remember it is task specific. The specifics for basketball and other sports fall out of the scope of the post. That being said I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't tell you some ways to better improve your mobility if you feel like you need it.

So how do we improve mobility then?

When it comes to selecting the methods l use to accomplish a goal, I always want the methods that will deliver the greatest return on investment, are simple, and are safe. When it comes to training mobility then, performing the task under load with great intent and slow tempo usually is all that is needed to tick the needle forward.

For my athletes the common method I go to is slow loaded exercise options, usually accentuating the eccentric phase.

Here are some examples….

Here you see the athlete slowly lowering under control and pausing at the bottom. The goal of this movement is to gain better ranges of motion in the ankle joint, a key for basketball players to get into proper acceleration, deceleration and jumping angles.

Continuing to build better ranges of dorsiflexion. The athlete can press each foot into one another and alternate letting each foot “win” to overload the movement. This eccentrically loads the dorsiflexors of the foot to help gain more length and strength.

Many athletes have tight hamstrings. This is my favorite hamstring “stretch”. The toes elevated put greater emphasis on the hamstrings, allowing for a greater loaded stretch.

Hip Internal Rotation is crucial for basketball players to get into key positions and also help efficiently dissipate forces.. Like the tib raise above, this positions allow the athlete to eccentric load the internal rotators by utilizing gravity and the weight of the other leg.

This is an oversimplification BUT if we get “tight” muscles stronger, your muscles will feel more comfortable resting at longer lengths. This should mean more range of motion that will be both useable and lasting.

There is also greater return on time invested. For a basketball player, there is a lot to balance in day to day life. That means selecting the best options that will give us the best return. Slow loaded performance of the task will lead to faster adaptions, last longer, and help build other important qualities.

So Static Stretching Is Hot Garbage?

Nah. There are applications where stretching makes sense. If I have an athlete who loves to stretch after practice or training, all the power to them. They are probably not holding it long enough to matter. One benefit of holding stretches is the focus it lends to breath. Focusing on full deep breaths can help with parasympathetic drive, which does positive implications on recovery.

If you like to stretch, that’s awesome, keep doing it. All I am asking is that:

Stop doing it before you play sports. It is not a safe and effective way to prep for competition.
If you want to be more mobile, try using slow loaded exercises like the ones above.
Continue to keep an open mind. I have seen many of my athletes conquer knee pain, touch their toes, and be extremely durable all with out long duration stretching.

All the best and until next time!

Stretch for success? Maybe not......