Stretching vs. warm ups vs. both

M

Maximus

Cathlete
OK, I'm curious about this & we really don't discuss stretching or warming up much on this board.

I've been weightlifting for about 15 years & have never been able to incorporate stretching into my workout, even though I know how important it is to injury prevention & strength training. I have a hard enough time now fitting in my regular workouts, much less adding another hour or two a week of stretching.

However, I've always done a few warm up sets for each body part before I lift. So far it seems to have worked as far as preventing injury is concerned (knocking on wood as I type), but I wonder if adding stretching can make my weightlifting more effective.

So I'd like to hear others' thoughts on this, especially weightlifters--what are your routines? Do you stretch, warm up, or both? If you stretch, when do you do it--before lifting, after, or separately? Have you ever gone w/o it, & if so has it had a detrimental effect on your workouts? And please add any other information I haven't thought to ask..........
 
Laura:

I have read several times that stretching, anything more than a superficial sstretching, is actually detrimental before weight lifing because it temporarily decreases strength. Not what you need before you start hoisting twenty pounders oveer your head!

I'm like you, I find it hard enough to get my weights and cardio in each week, so the only stretching I do is in between sets and what Cathe includes after the workouts, although for legs I hold the stretches much longer than Cathe does.

I keep hoping I will turn over a new leaf and devote several hours per week to yoga etc, but I never do. Maybe with Cathe's new stretching tape I will be more motivated to do a 20/30 minute session after her workouts. Knowing my time limits and personality, I think this is as much stretching as I will ever do. I'm just not the full hour yoga/stretching type. Are you?

Clare
 
For warm-ups, I prefer dynamic stretches that gradually increase the range of motion, rather than static stretches, which I like to do at the end of a workout, when I'm warmed up.

In P90X, Tony Horton uses some very nice dynamic (though he calls them ballistic..which they aren't) stretches, particularly for the shoulders. Simply putting your arms out to the side and making circles, in one direction, then in the other, first with fingers up, then with fingers down, followed by some short static stretches. I find that these dynamic movements really help warm up the shoulder area.

I know that body builders often just use warm-up sets for each body part before doing the heavy lifting. From what I've read, these sets should be quite light, and you should NOT work to failure on them.

I like to either intersperse some light stretches throughout a weight workout, or do a nice, thourough stretch after I work out.
 
Maximus, the older I get (I'll be 43 next week), the more I feel my body craves flexibility training. I make it a priority to include yoga or other stretching into my rotations, not because it helps my strength training per se, but because it's crucial to overall fitness. Just as I wouldn't leave out the strength or cardio component of my workouts, I wouldn't leave out the flexibility component. I agree it takes some thought and maneuvering to include it in your routine, but it's well worth it.

Kathryn, do you do the static stretches Tony does at the beginning of his strength workouts?
 
I do warmup sets at about 60% of my max. Also I forgot to mention I do cardio first, so I'm pretty well warmed up by the time I start my lifting. Also I do those quickie little stretches between sets.

But like Susan I'm not a kid anymore either (I'll be 37 in a month) and my muscles & joints feel so much tighter than they did 5-10 years ago. I have a lot of friends who've switched from weightlifting to yoga and/or pilates. I'm not ready to make that switch & don't know if I ever will be, so I'm trying to figure out how to regain or at least maintain whatever flexibility I have left.

Clare--no I'm like you--I have a really hard time sitting still for more than a minute. In fact one of the reasons I stopped taking karate was b/c I was always fighting w/my instructor about meditating. Couldn't do it. I found it to be really stressful sitting there w/my eyes closed pretending to be clearing my mind (yeah right!) for even 5 minutes.

IA, hopefully Cathe's new tape will help. But I'm wondering, can stretching be done as a stand alone type workout, or should it always be after weight training for it to be most effective?
 
>Laura:
>
>I have read several times that stretching, anything more than
>a superficial sstretching, is actually detrimental before
>weight lifing because it temporarily decreases strength.
>Clare


Claire, do you know if these studies are talking about the average lifters, or are they talking about those who are lifting for maximums, like weight lifting competitors and body builders?

Because I always do rhythmic movement and total body stretching, (not for flexibility) before my workouts and I have no problem going very heavy on heavy days. When I don't do light stretching I find myself burning out much quicker and needing longer rest between sets.

As far as cardio goes, it depends on the workout its self. If we are talking about going 130bpm (or faster) right off the bat, then I need at least eight minutes of rhythmic movement, without the hops, twist and turns (you know, the stuff we used to warm up for :p ) before getting to the body of the workout. If the pace is fast and the warm up is short, then I do need to stretch out. Because starting at a fast pace with a short warm up to me is like having no warm up at all and my quads will get tight, which will lead to fatigue in my low back and I will just have to pause the workout to strech out my quads, hams and low back anyway. So if the warm up is fast paced and only about 4 or 5 minutes, I have to pause the take and do my own stretching.
 
>Kathryn, do you do the static stretches Tony does at the
>beginning of his strength workouts?

Yes, I do. They don't seem excessive to me, and are just about right.
 
>IA, hopefully Cathe's new tape will help. But I'm wondering,
>can stretching be done as a stand alone type workout, or
>should it always be after weight training for it to be most
>effective?

In Cathe's description of Stretch Max, she recommends doing this (or any of the segments) after a thorough warm-up, or after a regular workout. Most "stand-alone" stretch workouts I've seen start with some warm-up moves and/or dynamic stretches, and rightly so, IMO.
 
>IA, hopefully Cathe's new tape will help. But I'm wondering,
>can stretching be done as a stand alone type workout, or
>should it always be after weight training for it to be most
>effective?


If you are going for flexibility I would suggest getting a nice long rhythmic warm up before starting to stretch. I usually will do a short cardio workout of about 15-20 minutes.

When I'm just doing a stretching workout for relaxation, I don't bother warming up because I don't plan to go through my full range of motion, nor am I working for flexibility.

For martial arts I always do my dynamic stretchting (i.e. jumping into the splits, jumping into a back kick, pole ax kicks etc) near the end of my workout because my body is about as warm as it can get.
 
Thanks for the input. It seems if I'm going to get serious about this I'm gonna have to do a little more research & give it some thought as far as how I can squeeze it into my routine.
 
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