CENTRAL TEXAS RUNNING: BROM HOBAN

Stretching the truth: What a new study says about warming up

By Brom Hoban
AMERICAN-STATESMAN CORRESPONDENT
Tuesday, November 11, 2008

From the day they first start running, most people are taught to stretch before heading out onto the road.

They're told that being more flexible will lessen the likelihood of a muscle pull or strain, and that seems to make sense. But like the old warning not to swim after eating or you'll fall victim to a "stomach cramp," there's not a lot of truth there.

To this day, I've never heard of anyone getting a stomach cramp while swimming. And likewise, I see people pull and strain muscles no matter how much they stretch. So it would seem that stretching has little effect on running.

A new study, conducted by researchers at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas kinesiology department, finds that stretching may actually hinder athletic performance. The study, which appears in the September issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, looked at how two stretching techniques for the hamstrings and quadriceps muscles in the legs affected measures of strength and power in both male and female athletes.

The participants performed a vertical jump and seated knee flex on three occasions after normal stretches — the kind you see runners doing at Lady Bird Lake every day — and after no stretching at all. While little or no difference was found in vertical jump and leg torque, power measures for those who stretched were significantly reduced.

"Athletes typically include static stretching as a part of the warm-up, but the evidence is clear that this practice will decrease performance in sports that require explosive movements," said UNLV kinesiology professor and study co-author Bill Holcomb, who directs the university's Sports Injury Research Center.

Distance running is not considered explosive, but sprinting is. And pre-race stretching may compromise even the slower gait of a distance runner.

Citing earlier studies, Stacy Ingraham, an exercise physiologist at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, says that, "When you stretch, you lengthen muscle fibers. It then takes longer for messages from the brain to travel through them. Stretched muscles also seem to be more sluggish than un-stretched ones. They don't spring back as readily. And every time you stretch, you may be tearing your muscle fibers a tiny bit."

Ingraham adds that "stretching before you exercise is particularly risky, because stretched muscles are less stable, making it harder for them to bounce back from the jarring impact of running, jumping or weaving around other players on a soccer field."

In a 2004 article in "Running and FitNews," Stephen Perle, an associate professor of clinical sciences at the University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic, wrote, "One study even found that distance runners with tighter hamstrings and calves are more efficient runners. During certain parts of the running stride, these muscles will absorb some of the energy of the body's movement, like a rubber band stretching. Then, some of this absorbed energy can be given back (as a rubber band snapping back) during another part of the stride. The more energy absorbed, the less wasted. Flexibility, then, may not translate to better running times."

Not every one agrees that stretching hinders performance. Stack Media (www.stack.com), a Web site specializing in sports performance, training and lifestyle content, responded to the Nevada study by saying that correctly done, stretching can help prepare athletes for competition. Stack recommended what it calls the "Split-Leg Torso Rotation Stretch," a type of modified lunge that increases lower body athleticism, stability, mobility and core rotation.

So what to do?

Instead of stretching before an activity, experts recommend warming up by jogging slowly or doing some warm-up drills to get blood and oxygen flowing to your muscles, which is a natural way of stretching your muscles just enough to prepare them for more intense activity.

One thing most experts (with the exception of Stack) now agree on: If you enjoy stretching to stay limber, stretch after running, not before.

Hodapp, Boreman win at Jameson 5K

At the Jameson 5K at Southwestern, Saturday, Dennis Hodapp topped the field at the 15:57, with Sean Welleck taking second in 16:32.

Among women, Madison Boreman beat Southwestern coach (and former Olympian) Francie Larrieu-Smith 19:39 to 19:51.