I'm trying to increase my flexability, i'd like to be able to do the splits, side and front. I've been following the methods explained in the basic stretching guide on this this forum: http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85373 I've also been using mostly the stretches from this other guide: http://www.unique-bodyweight-exercises.com/splits.html I do spend 5 minutes warming up and at least another 5 minutes on dynamic streching with front and side leg raises, and then I go through the 6 stretches in the second guide I copied above. After that, I start working on the actual splits, beginning with side split. I'll get into position and have it so there's only mild tension and i'll just sit there and relax for a minute or two, until I feel relaxed and comfortable. Once that's happened i'll push further into it, wait out the initial tension (but not all of it) then push further again. I stay in this 3rd stage for about a minute or two. In total I spend about 5 minutes on side splits from beginning to end. I'm quite sore by now. I give myself a minute and then ill start on my front split, i pretty much repeat what I did for the side split but I spend about half as much time on it because I do it first with my right leg forward and second with my left leg forward. What i've been finding is that i'm not totally recovered from this by the next day, I still feel sore and to try to do the exact same thing again for a second day straight seems to not be a good idea. So here's my question, for the intensity of the stretches i'm doing (you could call them deep stretches?) should I avoid doing these the following day and stick to only doing light stretching on that day? I will say that i've made good progress so far, but where the confusion has came from is that the first splits stretching guides i've found day you need to do be training every single day. They didn't really specify the differences between light streching or deep stretching or even comment that such things even exist. It just seems wrong to do deep stretching on 2 days in a row, if you're already sore from the previous day it means you haven't recovered yet. From what I know of bodybuilding the worst thing you can do is train sore muscles, it's counterproductive, without rest, there is no recovery. I know this is only stretching and not weightlifting, but the soreness you get from deep stretching is just as bad.
I forgot to mention, i'm a 26 year old male and i've been doing karate for the past couple of months. Learning to do the splits is not required of me, I chose to do this myself. I would also like to note that immediately after going as deep as I can into side splits, I have to very slowly work my way back up and out of it, because my legs will feel like they don't want to move. Once i'm up though, and have finished my stretching, my legs feel good, no pain or anything, they just feel good, and relaxed. The soreness that I feel the next day isn't something that interferes with my daily life, because I don't feel the soreness unless I try to stretch a bit. It does feel though that anything more than light stretching on this day is too much. Really i'm just looking for advice on if i'm doing the right thing. It seems to me that deep stretches should only be done every other day if they're making you sore when you stretchly mildly the day after doing them.
I found some info on that stadion website that's all about stretching with that guy called Tom. 2. Error: Stretching your sore or even injured muscles strenuously. Stretching of sore muscles may further damage them. After all, soreness is a sign of muscle tissue damage and Smith et al. (1993) showed that stretching may cause delayed onset muscle soreness. So, if you feel that a stretch may relieve spasms in the sore muscles, to be safe stretch lightly—only as much as it takes to feel relief. As you can see, it says that stretching itself can cause DOMS, I think that's what i've been experiencing as a result of stretching as far as I possibly can. Silly me, i've made the mistake of giving myself DOMS from deep stretching and then doing deep stretching again the following day. Very very sore after that. Only did it once or twice though because it didn't feel right, so I contuinued my research into the matter.
If you really want results then maybe try and do the thing that I did - right up until the bit where I over-did it and am still suffering three years later (OK I am 57) - don't stretch too hard but DO stretch often. Three times a day at least. Say ten minutes MAX each time - Don't over stretch - That's what I did and I heard a nasty POP/TWANG noise from deep inside my leg... Whoops!!!
CMorgan, please use the search engine of your choice and look up "Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation". (Also called PNF.) It is (in my professional opinion as a physician) one of the best and safest ways to stretch, and from both my research into it and personal experience, it provides surprising results while being quite safe if done properly. It works by taking advantage of how your body senses and responds to the neural signals received when a muscle is stretched. It requires a training partner. I cannot see how anyone can do it safely alone or with a device (like those stretching machines that used to feature Bill "Superfoot" Wallace in their ads), but I may be missing something somewhere. I've successfully used it in training situations as well as in injury rehabilitation in clinical practice. Also, don't discount it until you try it. The medical explanation may or may not confuse you, but it makes sense to me (a physician who spent the majority of his career dealing with sports injuries), but you really should try it. I use the same techniques with my kids to prepare them for various sporting events such as soccer/football (not "American football") and martial arts. Disclaimer: I AM a physician, but I am not YOUR physician. Nothing in this post should be considered as medical or other professional advice. Please consult your physician or other appropriate health care provider before starting any new exercise regimen.
Does that really work though? i've been getting results by going deep into the stretch. It would make sense that if you've given yourself DOMS from it that you're going to benefit, so long as you give time for recovery. I am looking at this from a weightlifters point of view though, where you're taught to lift heavy, go all out basically, and rest properly rather than constantly low weight high rep stuff that doesn't really even make you any stronger.
Soreness after stretching is a sign you may be too weak to support yourself in the range of motion you're trying to stay in. Do you do regular strength training exercises such as squats and deadlifts?
PNF is the same as isometric stretching and should not be done with a training partner. A partner does not feel what you feel; he or she may push you beyond a safe point before you can tell them to stop. In isometric stretches, the joint angle and muscle length do not change during contraction; the easiest way to produce the strongest possible contractions is to push against an object you can't move. I can't think of a better example than the floor. Seeing as this thread is covering the subject of splits it follows then that doing isometric contractions in front and side split positions, against the floor, would be the best protocol for producing results. PNF/isometric stretching should also not be performed by kids or adolescents. They are still growing. These techniques can cause extensive permanent musculo-skeletal damage. So yeah, don't.
Try it for yourself and see. If you stay in a position long enough (read as: beyond 30-40 minutes) you can induce tissue creep, a phenomenon whereby permanent changes in connective tissue length occur. However there still needs to be a fair amount of research done on this to determine the long-term health benefits, the effects on athletic performance, the type of connective tissue affected and the best protocol for inducing quickest and safest gains. Until such research is completed and verified I would advise you to stick with building strength in extended positions: squats and deadlifts with heavy weights, and isometric stretches (and relaxed stretches if you want to do them).
I used to a lot, but i stopped almost 2 years ago when I severely over-trained myself from 2 years of full body workouts 3 times a week without so much as one day or week off.
I'll have to think about doing that soon then. I'm waiting at least another 3 weeks before I return to weightlifting again. I've been off it for a long while to recover from overtraining, I think i'm healthy again now, and my last blood test confirmed this, but i'll wait 3 more weeks for my next blood test just to be sure before I introduce lifting weights. Although, if i'm getting DOMS from deep stretching, surely this isn't a bad thing? Just having DOMS means i'm going to get a lot of physical development occur providing I get enough sleep, the right nutrition and enough calories. Which I do, I eat 6 meals a day at roughly 500 calories per meal. Edit - I know doms isn't directly linked to gain, but if stretching gave me doms then I can be sure that my body is making adaptions to such as increasing in strength so it can better handle the load next time I do it.
Shortly after making this post here I took 3 days off stretching to allow the soreness to fully go away. I did do a little light stretching on 2 of those days. I'm now finding that I don't get DOMS anymore, no soreness atall. As soon as i've finished my deep stretching I feel fine, and also even a day later there's still no soreness. Looks like the DOMs was just occuring as a result of my legs not being used to that level of deep stretching, I seem to have adapted quickly.
