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Stretching and Warm-Up for Houston Health and Wellness

Houston health and wellness experts know that stretching and warm-up is an area that has been studied for quite a few years now. The idea of stretching and warm-up is to reduce the chance for injury. Notice I said reduce because injuries cannot be totally avoided. For simplicity sake, I'm going to refer to this combination as a warm-up. Yes, they are a little different, but stretching should be used as part of the warm-up. Light cardio, static stretching, active dynamics and other modalities such as foam rolling have been used independently or in some kind of combination to warm-up for Houston health and wellness.

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Long, slow running, biking or ellipticaling (not sure what the proper term is) is quite often used as a means to increase core temperature in trainees or warm up. While it does increase core temperature, it does little to improve flexibility and may not get the body ready for an intense session of lifting as some may think. Trainees and trainers tend to use 5-10 minutes of this before beginning the workout.

Static stretching is the oldest by far and is performed by holding a position without bouncing for a designated time period. This causes an increase in the length of the muscle resulting in an improvement in flexibility. The bounce or bouncing was considered harmful and has been commonly referred to as ballistic stretching. The irony is that just about every movement we perform, some type of this bouncing action takes place. Regardless, this method has been used for many years to improve flexibility and typically involves holding a position for 20-30 seconds for as many as 3 sets on multiple movements.

More recently, movement-oriented stretching has come to the forefront of Houston health and wellness and is often called active dynamic stretching or a dynamic warm-up. This activity increases core temperature and improves flexibility at the same time. The movement causes an increase in core temperature and teaches the opposing muscle group of the stretched muscle to relax.

The lunge is a perfect example of this type of movement. It's also considered a strength movement, but can also be used for this purpose. As a warm-up exercise, it promotes an increase in range of motion around the hips. Trainees often feel the stretch in the quad of the back leg which is often a tight area. There are multiple variations of lunges, squats and other movements used in this modality. This strategy typically lasts 10-20 minutes before the workout.



Foam rolling is quite possibly the newest form of warm-up. Basically, the "rolling pin" apparatus is used to massage the muscles to improve overall tissue quality. This doesn't provide the same effect as a masseuse, but it's a lot cheaper and is often referred to as "poor man's massage".

The problem with foam rolling is the pain associated with it. This is due to poor to very poor tissue quality and it takes a few sessions to improve. Once progress has been made, pain typically dissipates and the activity becomes more enjoyable. Sessions of foam rolling can last anywhere from 5-10 minutes in length.



Over the last 5-10 years, static stretching was considered a bad choice because research has shown that it temporarily decreases strength by as much as 20%. Because of this, many strength and conditioning professionals decided to not use static stretching in their programs. This research has not had much affect in the personal training industry which could be due to lack of knowledge or interest.

I feel that active dynamic warm-ups and foam rolling should constitute a majority of the warm-up protocol for Houston health and wellness. This is especially true before a lifting or sprinting session. Why would we want to decrease our strength before such an event? The warm-up should begin with foam rolling followed by a dynamic warm-up. Static stretching can also be used at this time, but should be followed with more of a dynamic movement to get the body excited and ready to go. Following this stretching and warm-up guideline will result in fewer injuries and improved performance in your field of play.

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