I firmly believe static stretching is often over-prescribed; an easy default recommendation for some fitness professionals too lazy to dig a little deeper.
“Tight” hamstrings? Go stretch those bad boys.
“Tight” hip flexors? Better go stretch!
Bad hair day? Yup, you need to stretch.
SPOILER ALERT: 👇👇 this is not the correct way to stretch your hip flexors.
I don’t feel static stretching is a complete waste of time mind you.
Sometimes (<– key word, sometimes) it plays a crucial role in helping people get out of pain and addressing varying muscular imbalances or postural issues.
SIDE NOTE: Most people don’t realize that what we deem as “stretching” isn’t really doing what we think it’s doing. In order for a muscle to really gain length you need to increase the number of sarcomeres in a series. This takes a…………..metric………..fuck………ton…………of……………………………………………….time.
I could be out-dated in my research vernacular, but I believe it takes upwards of 20-60+ minutes of holding a continuous stretch to actually increase it’s length to any degree.
What most of use are doing when we drop down to the floor to stretch something for 30-seconds is increasing our tolerance to the stretch.
And even if static stretching is deemed necessary, none of this takes into account the most important – albeit most overlooked – detail.
Performing it correctly.
Take the hip flexors for example. Everyone loves stretching their hip flexors.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Thing is: You’ll rarely see someone do it right. Instead, despite endless efforts – sometimes to the tune of weeks, months, and years of “stretching” – nothing ever changes.
Many people will still point to the same area that feels “tight.”
I’m by no means the first person to point this out: guys like Mike Reinold, Mike Robertson, Dr. Evan Osar, and Cobra Commander have been pointing this out for years.
SIDE NOTE #2: I’m actually more inclined to toss in some dedicated hip flexor STRENGTHENING exercises in lieu of stretching (but that’s for another time).
So lets take a look at how to properly stretch the hip flexors, shall we?
Here’s the deal: Whether or not someone should stretch and/or utilize the foam roller is up to them. There’s research and anecdotal evidence to back up both sides of the argument
I find value in both as a coach. Considering we’re talking about a 5-10 minute “investment,” and the abyss of benefits involved – improved tissue quality, increased tissue extensibility, decreased likelihood of injury, a more primed CNS, 1007% increase in general level of sexiness – I feel implementing both is a no-brainer.
There’s a degree of expectation management involved, however:
1. Foam Rolling – harder doesn’t mean better. People seem to be under the impression that the more you grimace and induce “pain,” the more benefit you’re getting.
Here’s the progression most people take:
“Soft” Foam Roller —> “Hard” Foam Roller —> Rumble Roller (the one with those spikey thingamabobbers) —> PVC Pipe —> Barbell or Straight Up Lead Pipe —> Live Grenade.
Some people take foam rolling to the next level, as if the goal is to earn a Badge of Hardcoreness. BTW: that badge needs to happen. I do not agree with this approach and find it defeats the purpose.
I also understand there are camps out there who feel foam rolling is a complete waste of time. I tend to call in like with THIS response from Kevin Neeld.
2. Stretching – Lets be honest: this is the first thing that gets “tossed” when there’s a time crunch with training. I hate doing it, you hate doing it, the Easter bunny hates doing, everyone hates doing it. However, it’s hard to discount the mountain of research and anecdotal evidence that it works and does help people feel better.
And I know most people reading along agree with my train of thought: “I should do more of it.”
A funny thing: people tend to stretch what “feels good” or what they’re good at. Or, more commonly, they stretch, but they’re not stretching what they think they’re stretching.
I.e., not a good hip flexor stretch
Nonetheless, while I could keep going on and on and on I want to defer to my colleague, Shane McLean, who offers up some of his insights and “go to” rolling and stretching strategies he uses with his clients.
Enjoy.
To Roll and Stretch Or Not To Roll and Stretch (That is the Question)
Foam Rolling
Don’t you love that person who grabs the foam roller, plonks himself in the middle of the gym and proceeds to twist, grunt and grimace like a game of Twister?
Yeah, that person definitely needs a talking too.
Foam rolling is either better than sliced bread or a complete waste of time depending on whose camp you’re in. However, there is plenty of middle earth ground.[footnote]100 points to Shane for a Lord of the Rings reference. I don’t know 100 points of what, but he gets them nonetheless.[/footnote]
You should think of foam rolling as a poor man’s massage. Having hands on you with the massage therapist inflicting pain is definitely more effective than the roller. However, foam rolling is cheaper and more accessible.
Just don’t go overboard.
Mike Boyle explains his rationale for foam rolling in The New Functional Training for Sports2nd edition. He thinks foam rolling can help combat muscle creep.
Muscle creep is the extensibility of soft tissues which are those loaded under low pressure for an extended period of time.
A stretched muscle will attempt to go back to its resting length but will give up and in an attempt to bridge the gap will lay down more fibers. If the stretch is applied slowly enough the muscle will change its length and retain that change (Myers 2009, 36).
Doesn’t that sound creepy?
One study by back guru Dr. Stuart McGill concluded that “sitting with the back slouched for as little as 20 min can result in increased laxity in the posterior spinal ligaments” (McGill and Brown 1992).
Now if that doesn’t strike any fear into you to sit up straight this instant I don’t know what will. Prolonged spinal flexion can reduce back muscle protection of the underlying spine due to increased laxity. (1)
The muscles in the back already take a beating and going straight from the office to the squat rack would be as pointless as poking yourself repeatedly in the eye, for fun.
However, showing your muscles a little love with foam rolling to decrease muscular tension before crushing your squats and deadlifts sounds like a much better idea.
Foam rolling before warming up sets the table for a better warm up. A better warm up means a better training session and less chance of you ending up on the DL. Doesn’t that sound like a good idea? Thought you would see things my way.
Here are my five preferred must do rolls to help combat the creep and to feel and move well:
1) Foot Massage With Ball
2) Hamstring Roll
3) Piriformis Roll
4) Lower Back Roll
5) Thoracic Spine Roll
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgNWSQx08Hw
Stretching
Stretching is one of those topics that fitness professionals will never sit on the fence about. It’s either the devil incarnate or it’s the cure all. Both sides will argue till their blue in the face.
When coaches get into a pissing match, it’s never pretty. There is plenty of name calling, hair pulling and chests puffed out. However, like with most polar opposite points of view, the truth lies somewhere in between.
Let Mike Boyle be the voice of reason here.
“A lack of flexibility seems to be a causative factor in many of the gradual onset injury conditions that plague today’s athletes. Overuse problems like patella-femoral syndrome, low back pain, and shoulder pain seem to relate strongly to long term tissue changes that don’t respond to dynamic stretching.” (2)
If static stretching good enough for Mike, it should be good enough for the rest of us. Besides, if you stretch for a few minutes it will feel good and the universe will not blow up.
Combining foam rolling for the back of your body with a few stretches for the front may help improve your range of motion and help the stretch tolerance of the foam rolled muscle.
Here my preferred “go to” stretches:
1) Hip Flexor
2) Half Kneeling Quad
3) Biceps
4) Chest
5) Anterior Deltoid
References
1. Is Activation of the Back Muscles Impaired by Creep or Muscle Fatigue? Daniel Sánchez-Zuriaga – Michael Adams – Patricia Dolan – Spine – 2010
2. The Effect of Static Stretch and Warm-up Exercise on Hamstring Length Over the Course of 24 Hours. Volkert Weijer – Gerard Gorniak – Eric Shamus – J Orthop Sports Phys Ther Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy – 2003
About the Author
Shane “The Balance Guy” McLean, is an A.C.E Certified Personal Trainer working deep in the heart of Dallas, Texas.
No, Shane doesn’t wear a cowboy hat or boots. After being told that his posture blows by Eric Cressey, he has made it his mission to rid the world of desk jockeys and have fun while doing so.
After all exercise is fun and never a “work” out.
You can follow Shane on Twitter HERE, and Facebook HERE.
Counting today’s post, four out of my last five entries have had a number included in the title. That’s never happened before.
Wanna know what else I’ve never done?
Gotten a speeding ticket.
Tried calamari.
Deadlifted 2000 lbs.
Cried to the movie Notting Hill.[footnote]Which is a complete lie. I totally cried during that scene when Julia Roberts’ character was standing in front of Hugh Grant’s character and was all like “I’m just a girl standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.” Fucking waterworks.[/footnote]
Nevertheless, in conjunction with Dean Somerset putting his Ruthless Mobility resource I sale TODAY (through July 4th) I wanted to share a few thoughts on the topic (mobility/movement/general badassery) that maybe some of you reading would find useful or interesting or mildly captivating.
Captivating like this picture of a kangaroo punching someone in the face:
1. Anterior Pelvic Tilt Doesn’t Always Have to be Fixed, Nor Is It Bad. Everything Will Be Okay. Seriously.
New Client: “I’m so excited to work with you. I was told by my previous trainer I had anterior pelvic tilt.”
Me: “Okay, explain.”
New Client: “Well, I went in for my assessment and he told me I had anterior pelvic tilt and that it needed to be addressed and that he’d write me a program to fix it.”
Me: “I see. How long did you do the program for? And, was it fixed?”
New Client: “I worked with him for eight months, and I don’t know if it was fixed. All I know is that we did a metric shit-ton of stretching, corrective exercise, and very little strength training.”
Me: “Well, that’s unfortunate. Excuse me while I go toss my face into a brick wall.”
Okay, the brick wall comment didn’t really happen…but everything else stated above was said verbatim as I sat down with a new client recently.
Without going into the particulars I went on to state that roughly 7 billion other people in the world “suffer” from anterior pelvic tilt, and that it’s truly reached pandemic levels of clusterfuckedness.
In short: I explained that, aside from scenarios where excessive anterior pelvic tilt may be causing pain or movement dysfunction, having it was not a disease or a scenario which always required intervention.
In fact, APT is considered anatomically neutral. I.e., Your lumbar spine has a natural lordotic curve.
No, it’s not. According to a published study by Herrington 2011, 85% of males and 75% of females presented with an anterior pelvic tilt, 6% of males and 7% of females with a posterior pelvic tilt, and 9% of males and 18% of females presented as neutral. Anterior pelvic tilt is also the most common postural adaptation in athletes according to Kritz and Cronin 2008, and it seems to naturally occur with athletes that do a lot of sprinting. Therefore, it’s actually normal for healthy individuals to possess APT, and the average angle of anterior pelvic tilt ranges from 6-18° depending on the study and methods used to determine the angle, with around 12° appearing as the norm (ex:Youdas et al. 1996, Youdas et al. 2000, Christie et al. 1995, Day et al. 1984).”
As I recall, there’s no definitive test or “screen” which can correlate “x-degrees” of APT and one’s vulnerability to pain and dysfunction.
Some people have APT and walk around in considerable pain, while others have APT (even excessive APT) and have no issues what-so-ever.
However, those coaches with an acute eye for assessment and movement can often use a plethora of screens and tests to ascertain whether or not APT may be something that’s needs to be addressed.
@bensy8585@tonygentilcore1 It needs to be controlled when necessary. Ex: squatting in APT = poor pattern. PPT to neutral, squat cleans up.
To reiterate, APT is not always wrong (or bad)…but it can be problematic once we start allowing ill-prepared people to load the pattern and not only that…begin to add repetitions and/or speed.
Often, it’s the LACK of ability (or our proclivity to refrain from) posteriorly tilting the pelvis when bad things start to happen.[footnote]Here is where a more corrective strategy may become more prevalent. If someone is “stuck” in APT due to dominant and weak force couples then it behooves us to address them with things like foam roller, manual therapy, additional stretching/mobility work. Janda’s Lower Cross Syndrome can’t be ignored.[/footnote]
As Tony B mentions above: There’s a big difference between cueing someone to arch like crazy (and thus encouraging excessive APT, resulting in poor positioning and increased instability) and cueing someone to posteriorly tilt the pelvis to nudge them into a more neutral spinal position.
NOTE: As Mike Robertson notes in THIS article, there is no such thing as a bad cue. However, there does exist poor cues when they’re not applicable to the individual or are used haphazardly (because you heard someone else use it).
2. Thoracic Spine Endurance is Often Overlooked
A huge shout-out to Mike Reinold for hammering this point home in a recent Inner Circle I watched on How to Improve Thoracic Extension.
Mike noted that in order to improve t-spine extension it is important to work on mobility (Windmills, Bench T-Spine Mobilizations, Quadruped Extension-Rotations, etc), however we can’t dismiss the importance of ENDURANCE in order to maintain it.
Mike also noted that with regards to posture, “sitting upright is fictitious.” The amount of hours many of us spend in a flexed position far out-weigh the number or hours we’re upright. As such, keeping an upright posture is freakin exhausting.
My words, not his.
Building spinal endurance (not strength) is key here.
Don’t get me wrong: strength is (and always will be) important. A healthy dose of horizontal rowing (DB rows, seated rows, chest supported rows, Seal rows) is never a bad thing.
However, when we’re talking about our “posture muscles” – the muscles that need to be on all day in order to keep us upright – endurance is the name of the game.
3. Lack of ROM Isn’t Always Because You Need to Stretch More
The second someone is told that they lack range of motion (ROM) in any part of their body, they’re immediately shown 37 different stretches and ways to “smash” their tissue.
Many end up cranking this joint and yanking that joint till their blue in the face.
One of the more common examples I like to use here is lack of shoulder flexion (or ability to elevate the arms above one’s head).
Many people are unable to do so without some form of compensation via forward head posture, rib flair, and/or excessive lumbar extension. Picture on the left.
The fix can be any number of things: addressing lat length, fighting a zombie, poor anterior core control, poor tissue quality in the pecs/pec minor, you name it.
And none of those approaches would be wrong. Fighting zombies is awesome.
However, stretching tends to be the “go to” modality for many fitness professionals, and frankly it isn’t always the answer.
Oftentimes, taking the time to teach people to get 3D expansion of the rib cage with their breath (front, side, and into the back) and then learning to fully exhale (to get rib cage down and promote better engagement of anterior core) will help to “open up” the thorax.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tested someone’s shoulder flexion and saw an immediate 10-20 degree improvement after having them perform ten good breaths.
I call it my Gandalf moment.
Except, you know, I’m not a wizard.
Did Someone Say Gandalf?
For more insights on the topic and wizard-like shenanigans I’d recommend checking out Dean’s Ruthless Mobility.
You get FIVE hours of content (digital or DVD) from one of the smartest coaches I know on assessment, corrective exercise, and how to get people moving better.
What’s more, CEUs are available AND it’s on SALE at close to 50% off the regular price.
I’m an avid reader. At any given time I’m reading 3-4 books at once. I’m always working my way through something related to my field. These are what I like to call the “hafta reads.”
Meaning, I hafta read “x book” in order to stay sharp and on top of things related to my profession (HERE are some of my favs).
Not coincidentally these are also the books which (sometimes) take me F.O.R.E.V.E.R to get through, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Topics like humeral anterior glide syndrome or the Patheokinesiologic model of movement doesn’t make for light reading.
In addition I like to read a fair amount of non-fiction, particularly self-improvement books or books on behavioral economics. As you can surmise, I’m always the life of the party!
I have a 40 minute commute to and from work each day, so I’ll also be working my way through a book from Audible.com, assuming I’m not listening to ESPN or EW Radio.
And like any true nerd I’m always game for a good piece of fiction, particularly science-fiction.
I started reading The Martian by Andy Weir two days ago, and I cannot put it down. Without giving away too many details it’s about astronaut Mark Watney (who’s sense of humor given his circumstances is impressive) and how his crew was forced to evacuate the planet while thinking him dead.
Only he’s not!
Mark is stranded on Mars’s surface with no way to signal Earth that he’s alive. OMG I’m biting my fingers nails as I type this!
It’s sooooo good. And not for nothing, is currently being made into a movie starring Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain and directed by Ridley Scott.[footnote]BRB…I just peed myself a little[/footnote]
As is the case every time I read something, I try to find parallels between what’s being written and how I can apply a certain theme or idea to what I do as a coach.
If you can believe it, I found something.
The Martian is about a guy who’s stranded and alone on a desolate planet. I, along with many of my colleagues, often feel stranded and alone when it comes to going against the grain on some common fitness myths and fallacies.
Take for instance……..stretching.
Ever notice how everyone has tight hamstrings or tight hip flexors? Also ever notice how having “tight hamstrings” (and stretching them) is the answer for everything?
Low back pain? Tight hamstrings.
Your butt “winks” at the bottom of a squat? Tight hamstrings.
Chronic hamstring strains? Tight hamstrings!
Bad hair day? It’s tight hamstrings, yo!
Facetiousness aside, this isn’t to imply that there aren’t people out there who have short or stiff hamstrings (or short and stiff anything). They do! Likewise, by all means, there are millions of people who could benefit from stretching those sons-of-bitches, and could benefit from some additional stretching in general.
There’s no denying the many advantages that static stretching provides. I’m not hatin. Although, I’d be remiss if I didn’t state that how most people stretch (and for what length of time they stretch) really does nothing other than increase the tolerance to the stretch.
I.e., you’re not “lengthening” anything.
In order to increase the length of a muscle you need to either 1) lengthen bone (um, ouch!) or 2) in the case of someone who truly presents as short or stiff, increase the total number of sarcomeres in series (which takes a metric shit-ton of stretching).
Ask physical therapist Bill Hartman how long someone really needs to stretch in order to have a significant affect and/or to add sarcomeres, and he’ll tell you the starting point is 2-3, 10 minute holds per day. Working up to 20 minute holds.
That cute 30-second “stretch” you’re doing isn’t really doing anything.
However getting back to my original point, I do find the default suggestion of telling someone to “just go stretch” is a bit overused. While a great piece of advice for some people, it could be a nightmare for others and the exact reason some people remain in pain and never see much improvement(s).
And it’s with that I’d like to highlight some common stretching mistakes and misconceptions.
1. Are You “Tight” or Just Out of Whack?
You’d be surprised how often it’s the latter. Simply put: most people aren’t so much tight as they are misaligned.
It goes back to something physical therapist and strength coach, Mike Reinold, brought up in casual conversation not too long ago.
Which is more important to hammer first: stability or mobility?
Those trainers and coaches who swing on the stability side of the pendulum tend to be the overly cautious type who have their clients stand on BOSU balls.
Those on the mobility side snuggle with their copy of Supple Leopardevery night.
Neither approach is inherently wrong so much as they’re flawed (if haphazardly assumed as “correct” for every person, in every situation).
If you strengthen (stabilize) in misalignment you develop imbalances. If you stretch (mobilize) in misalignment you develop instability.
Take someone who presents with excessive anterior pelvic tilt. It’s not uncommon for said person to complain about constant “tight” hamstrings, and no matter how often they stretch them, they stay tight.
You would think that after weeks, months, or sometimes even years of non-stop “stretching” they’d see some improvement, right?
Wrong.
The reason why they feel tight all the time has nothing to do with their hamstrings, but rather pelvic positioning. Unless you address the position of the pelvis – in this case, excessive anterior pelvic tilt – you can stretch the hamstrings until Taylor Swift writes a song about not being broken up with (<– not gonna happen), and you’ll never see improvement.
Think about it this way: in this scenario the reason why the hamstrings feel tight is because they’re lengthened and firing on all cylinders. By stretching them you’re just feeding into the problem in the first place!
We could easily chalk this up to the classic Lower Cross Syndrome as popularized by Dr. Vladomir Janda and stretch what’s tight (hip flexors, erectors), and that would be a step in the right direction. Cool.
But I feel for most people that’s not going to solve the problem and raises another issue altogether (which I’ll discuss below).
For most people the bulk of their efforts should revolve around including more things which encourages posterior pelvic tilt. Things like…..
Posterior Pelvic Tilt Hip Thrust
Cueing PPT When Squatting and Deadlifting
Reverse Crunches
Deep Squat Belly Breathing w/ Lat Stretch
** Oftentimes the lats are stiff/short and pull people into more of an extension posture. This breathing drill helps to turn off the lats while also cueing PPT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SndY5ctyU8U
2. You’re Doing It Wrong
You know how I said above that performing hip flexor stretches (stretching what’s tight) may be beneficial but that it brings up another issue altogether. No? Oh, you skipped that part? Well, FML!
Let me repeat:
We could easily chalk this up to the classic Lower Cross Syndrome as popularized by Dr. Vladomir Janda and stretch what’s tight (hip flexors, erectors), and that would be a step in the right direction. Cool.
But I feel for most people that’s not going to solve the problem and raises another issue altogether (which I’ll discuss below).
Stretching the hip flexors is fine and dandy, and a good idea…..assuming you’re doing it correctly.
Here’s how most people stretch their hip flexor, though:
Most aren’t cognizant of pelvic positioning and just go into MORE anterior pelvic tilt and end up hanging on the ligaments of their lumbar spine. This is NOT a hip flexor stretch, and I’d argue is doing more harm than good.
Instead, I coach people to do what I like to call “doing shit right.”
Here’s how you perform a proper hip flexor stretch:
– In the half kneeling position, think chest up.
– Dig the toes of your trailing leg into the ground (toes point into the floor).
– On that same side, squeeze the glute of the trailing leg…..HARD!!! This will posteriorly tilt the pelvis. This cue alone will DRASTICALLY increase the effectiveness of the stretch.
– From there, without cranking through the lower back, gently shift your weight forward a few ticks. It won’t take much. The idea here is to move into a “deeper” stretch through the hip joint itself and not the lumbar spine. SQUEEZE THAT GLUTE!!!!
If you’d like to up the ante, because the rectus femoris crosses two joints – the hip and knee – you can place one hand on the wall for support and reach back and grab the ankle of the trailing leg with the other hand and perform the stretch in that fashion. Honestly, though, most will feel plenty enough of a stretch without doing that.
3. Are You “Tight” or Just Unstable?
I posted this Tweet the other day:
If I had nickel for each time someone told me they had “tight” hamstrings, only to test 5/5 on the Beighton Score, I’d have a lot of nickels
This sorta mirrors my comments above – when discussing alignment – but deserves a bit more love here.
I can’t tell you how many athletes (particularly baseball players) and even general fitness clients I’ve assessed who adamantly tell me how “tight” they are (and have been told how tight they are from physical therapists) only to pass every range of motion test with flying colors and test a 5/5 (technically 9/9) on the Beighton Laxity Score.
In geek speak it’s called protective tension.
Yet, there they are……stretching, stretching, and doing more stretching.
STOP IT!!!!
These people have so much ROM and are so unstable that the body perceives it as a threat and as a results ends up putting on the emergency breaks (your body doesn’t want you to hurt yourself!).
Muscle will hold tension in the presence of implied instability of associated joints. Muscles will relax when the implied instability of the associated joint(s) is improved.
Stretching a tight muscle without improving stability will result in a muscle that remains tight.
As classic example is the person who has a poor squat pattern due to “tight hips.” They lean forward too much, their knees cave in, and they present with all sorts of compensation patterns because they’re so tight.
Of course, they’ve been doing nothing but stretching and implementing a litany of hip mobility drills to address the problem. To no avail.
Try this: have that same person hold a 5-10 lb plate with their arms extended out in front of their body and see what happens. PRESTO……..more often than not you’ll see a profound difference on not only how the squat looks, but how deep they can go.
Holding the weight out front serves as a counterbalance (easier to hip hinge back) and forces the anterior core to engage. Hence provides more stability.
And this phenomenon can be applied to other things as well. As Dean Somerset has noted on several occasions, “muscles do not have origins or insertions, merely anchors to bone.” The body is essentially one muscle connected by fascia. Anyone who disagrees can read Thomas Myers’ Anatomy Trains and get back to me on that.
Or you can watch this video by Dean and see how he’s able to increase one’s hip ROM by having them perform a few repetitions of planks (done correctly).
1. Raise your hand if you stayed up last night to watch the entire broadcast of the Oscars.
*Sheepishly raises hand*
Yes, I stayed up till just past midnight to see 12 Years a Slave win Best Picture and to watch director Steve McQueen and company be handed the statue by Will Smith.
I know it’s borderline silly to spend 4-5 hours of my night watching a bunch of attractive, rich people who make their living pretending to be action heros, real-life heros, icons, and pirates celebrate other attractive, rich people and hand one another a golden statue. Especially when there are so many other pressing issues going on around us.
Even so, I’m a firm believer that movies and film offer all of us a sense of release and escape. Whether it’s calling a “time-out” from worrying about a mid-life crisis or a recent break-up, or even if it’s just two hours inside, away from this insane Polar Vortex, movies give us everything from joy and happiness to awe and inspiration. Not to mention there are a select few that do a bang-up job at scaring the bejesus out of us and making us destroy the back of our pants.
What’s more, as someone who loves (LOVES film), I can appreciate the hard work and talent it takes to do what those people do. Whether it’s sitting there and reveling in the cinematography of Gravity, the costume/set design of The Great Gatsby, the unabashed “holy-shit-I’m-really-uncomfortable-watching-this-but-this-is-what-happened-so-suck-it-up-Tony” realism of 12 Years a Slave, the side boob and overall “cleavaginess” of American Hustle, or the breakneck speed and cadence of Captain Phillips (Tom Hanks’ last scene in that movie is one of the best acted scenes I have ever watched), I’m always appreciative and thankful for the movies.
So what can I say: the Oscars are my SuperBowl – albeit without the large pizza and pretzels on the side.
Lisa and I sat down at 7PM to watch the pre-show festivities, although to be honest I’m not really as much of a fan watching and listening to the fashion mumbo-jumbo. It’s all Elvish to me. I was actually sitting on the couch reading during that portion of the telecast, but I was listening to Lisa’s commentary which was hilarious.
In fact, I was thiiiiiiiiis close to starting a #shitlisasayswhilewatchingtheoscars on Twitter, but I elected not to
All in all I was very pleased with the show. Ellen was Ellen, and there were a handful of times Lisa and I broke out and laughed our butts off. How bout those pizzas!
I fully expect that random pizza-delivery guy to have an agent by now, and to have his own reality show greenlit by summer.
I can’t say I was surprised by any of the winners. I was secretly hoping that DiCaprio would somehow snake out a win for Best Actor for his role in Wolf of Wall Street, but I knew that either McConaughey or Chiwetel Ejiofor (you know, the guy who’s name no one can pronounce) were the favorites.
Spoiler Alert: McConaughey won.
I was happy to see Jared Leto win, and was really happy to see Alfonso Cuaron win for Best Director (Gravity).
And, OMG, can you freakin believe Helium won for Best Live Action Short?????? (<— Yes, that’s sarcasm).
All in all, as always, I loved every second and can’t wait till next year.
2. This is really out of character for me, and I know this is going to raise a few eyebrows, but I watched a Tracy Anderson DVD over the weekend wrote an article on deadlifting for Men’s Health last week.
They won’t literally destroy you – that’s a bit much – but it stands to reason they’ll offer a change of pace to your routine if you’re looking to add a little variety. Check them out!
4. I received a question recently that I felt would be better served answering here since I’m able to reach more people on this blog and I’m sure many reading have toyed with the same topic.
Q: Tony, where would static stretching fit into a week of working out? Do you recommend it on recovery days, or a specialized flexibility training day? Post-workout? Before bed?
A: As with anything: it depends. Not a sexy answer, but it’s the truth.
Stretching for the sake of stretching isn’t necessarily a good thing. While their intentions are in the right place, I see many people flopping on the stretch mat at local commercial gyms doing what they deem as “stretching,” but all I really see is a complete waste of time.
Stretching IS important – as a society it’s crystal clear that we sit a lot, and as such things tend to get adaptively short or stiff. This is something that definitely needs to be addressed, because if it isn’t one runs the risk of developing muscular imbalances that not affects posture but can lead to pain or injury down the road.
The thing is: the vast majority of people tend to stretch what they’re good at or what feels good. What’s more, people tend to get into positions thinking they’re stretching one muscle, when in fact they’re not even close. Does this one ring a bell?
Many would recognize this as a hamstring stretch. Wanna know what I see? A lower back stretch.
Moreover, you could argue whether or not traditional stretching actually does anything? Doing a few 30-second stretches here and there won’t really mount to much. If a tissue is truly short it has lost sarcomeres In order to really make a difference, you need to increase the series of sarcomeres and that takes A LOT more than a few 30-second stretches.
In fact if you asked Bill Hartman how much stretching it actually takes to make a difference, he’d say you need to cumulatively hold a stretch anywhere from 20-60 minutes!
Of course, that’s not practical for most people.
This isn’t to say that some stretching isn’t better than no stretching……but rather just to give some people a semblance of expectation management.
And then there are other factors to consider. Someone who scores high on the Beighton Laxity Test certainly doesn’t need to go out of his or her way to perform a lot of static stretching.
Another thing to consider is HOW people stretch.
One key factor that many people tend to conveniently gloss over is alignment. Stretching the hip flexors is an often targeted area for most people, and rightfully so. Because we tend to sit in flexion all day, it stands to reason many people need a crowbar to “un-glue” their hips. To counteract this many will opt to stretch, like this:
Notice the massive extension pattern and anterior pelvic tilt she’s in? This isn’t really accomplishing anything other than to run the risk of developing femoral anterior glide syndrome (where the femoral head is literally jammed forward.)
Unless this person cleans up he starting position – brace the anterior core, squeeze the glute of the trailing leg, getting, encouraging more posterior pelvic tilt and getting out of extension – she can do this stretch for hours on end and really not accomplish anything.
Now all of this isn’t say that I’m poo-pooing on stretch altogether. It DOES have its place, and it DOES serve a purpose. But I just feel more people need to be cognizant of what they’re stretching and more importantly, HOW they’re stretching.
I feel stretching before a training session is best. What good is it to stretch before bed when you’re just going to lie down anyways?
I’d rather see people address tissue quality, mobilize, stretch, and then “cement” that new length with appropriate strength training.
Again, the idea is to encourage more “neutral,” get into more optimal alignment, and then train.
The order I prefer is this:
Foam Roll—Dynamic Warm-Up—Dedicated Static Stretching—Lift Heavy Shit
After rolling out, you’d hit up your standard dynamic warm-up (THIS or THIS may help), perform some static stretching to help lengthen the tissue (for most people hitting up areas like the glutes, hip flexors, lats, and pecs would be ideal), and then go…..you’re a free bird. Fly fly away.
Okay, before I jump into this week’s list of stuff to read, I had to share THIS video I came across on the homepage of Yahoo! this morning.
Basically it’s a video of a Miami based teenager – who’s incarcerated for drug possession – acting very flippant (in every sense of the word) with the judge sentencing her.
Not amused with her shenanigans, the judge hands her the smack-down and doubles her fine (the reaction is priceless), and then, sentences her to 30-days in county jail. BOOM!
I think Miami should give this guy a ticker-tape parade, the key to the city, or name a street after him or something. A free ticket to an all-you-can-eat-buffet? Anything!
Those who enjoy my writing style and sometimes “tough love” approach will appreciate this article by Hamilton.
I’m sorry, but “going for a walk” is not working out. Nor is going to the gym to casually putter away on the elliptical while watching The Real Housewives of Whogivesashit (or where ever the current season is filming).
You actually have to strain a little bit, and maybe even break a sweat! I know, weird.
But trust me: it’s for you’re own good. If you need a little motivation, this column may be exactly what you (or a friend, or a family member, or a colleague) needs.
I thought this was a bang-on job by former CP intern/coach, Jordan Syatt, explaining this often confusing concept on cleaning up one’s squatting technique.
It’s a very subtle differentiation, but something that many people make the mistake of doing, oftentimes leading to injury.
Check it out and show Jordan some love!
The guys owns a 3x bodyweight deadlift, so he knows what he’s talking about.
2nd edition. He thinks foam rolling can help combat muscle creep.
