Stretching for endurance sports,triathlon and ironman..

3/11/2007

I am used to doing just static stretching(holding a stretch for 5-10sec's), about 10 minutes into every training run. However now I follow up the static stretches with some dynamic stretching. An example of dynamic stretches is using a swinging motion of legs and upper body.

Recent advice from coaches and scientific study suggests static stretching before events can actually slow the muscles contractions down a bit. In the hour or so before an event begins you are obviously going to benefit from a warm-up(especially olympic distance or less). In such cases I will now be doing predominantly dynamic stretches as part of this warm-up and only do 2-3 second static stretches.

Actually noticed some of the All Black players doing dynamic type stretching in match warm-ups several years ago( before being advised about it). Recall many years ago(even 20years ago), debating these different types of stretching at rugby practices.

Anyway dynamic stretches is enjoyable and less painful for me than static stretching.

Even read recently that some studies had shown stretching to be of no benefit ; exactly what context they were referring to I am not sure. To be honest scientific studies can get carried away with their own self promotion sometimes.

Whatever a scientific study might say, it is a certainty that flexibilty is required for many techniques required in sports(eg the shoulder movements in swimming). To increase/maintain ones flexibility will require some sort of stretching. Yoga definitely has the effect of increasing flexibility and yoga looks like it incorporates alot of stretching.

Also a muscle is made up of many fibres. Stretching the muscle fibres and the surrounding connective tissue allows the athlete to get an increased contraction and therefore enhanced performance. That is, the total length of a stretched muscle is a result of the number of fibers stretched - the more fibers stretched, the more length developed by the muscle for a given stretch. More muscle length available for muscle contraction equals more power.

Don't read on if you are not into technical detail. That said it is still written in a very simplistic/general way.

Firstly the words muscle cell and muscle fibre are used interchangeably in this discussion.

The force being transmitted by the muscle fibres is transmitted by the ensheathing connective tissue.

Keeping active in the form of exercise and stretching will help maintain the integrity of the connective tissue and thus allow the athlete to generate more power.

As you get older the connective tissue is likely to weaken unless you keep up regular exercise/stretching.

Over time by training you are strengthening all your tendons and ligaments to a degree and changes are occuriing in the rest of the muscle also.

Often you are 'damaging the above structures' in a minor way with the type of training required to make a difference.

I like to incorporate some very easy stretching into my routines, and part of my reasoning is to counteract the 'muscles structural damage', as mentioned above.

Just exactly how and when to stretch is a whole new topic. Find what works for yourself. I like to incorporate some dynamic stretching into my swimming drills for example. And I also like to stretch my hamstrings occasionally after they are warmed up.

Note; most of the research I have seen and what is written above is based on stretching for injury recovery. It is also based on my own experiences.

For triathletes it is is more important to have smaller muscle fibres so lifting heavy weights will be detrimental(bulky muscles may help cycling but will slow you down in the run). With more time to spare I would use weight training to keep the muscles in balance. Since I am not a big fan of swimming pools I try and simulate the swimming motion with weights when at a gym. One of the muscle groups I like to work on is the abdominal muscles, and it is well known that a strong core is essential to be good in the tough sport of triathlon.

There has always been alot of talk about red(type 2)and white(type 1) muscle fibres. Human muscles are also comprised of intermediate fibres as well. Sprinters have a higher proportion of white muscle fibres. With training I understand the proportion of the muscle fibres can be changed. The nerves entering a muscle fibre has been shown to determine the muscle fibres type, which helps explain how the change occurs. Also the nerve endings are called propioceptors and these along with other structures like the golgi tendon organ are involved in the stretch reflex/body balance in space.

Good body conformation is just as important(if not more) than the type of muscle fibres and is a requirement when you are pounding it out over long distances. Surgeons are making alot of money doing operations to correct these defects. They are not even really defects, but rather a body conformation not suited for the specific discipline, eg running(maybe this same person could be great at swimming). I use running as the example because it is the hardest on the body of the three triathlon disciplines.

Even more technical is talk on stretching requires mentioning the 'proprioreceptors'. It is the proprioreceptors which help send signals from the muscles and joints. The golgi tendon organelles are the proprireceptors of the tendons. It is the proprioreceptors which are helping respond to forces on the muscles and there support structure and stretching 'retrains' these to keep 'order' for healthy athletic progression.

Concentrating on good technique reduces the onset of injuries also.

How fit you get(anaerobic capacity)and how efficient you can get your body, is mostly determined at the cellular level( the right body mass index helps also). That is because the oxygen, glycogen(carbohydrates) and fatty acids are coverted to ATP and energy in the cells mitochondria. These mitochondria only have DNA from the mothers side of the family(very rarely some mitochondria can come from the fathers family). How efficient these mitochondria are will be a determinant of your metabolism. The athlete can increase the size and number of mitochondria in their muscle cells by training. Not all mitichondria are equal in all people(genetic differences will come into play also).

Related to the above is that there are alot of good athletes on my mothers side of the family and I also find all sports involving endurance easy.

Most of the above is just common sense information, from my background study. Did search the internet to see if anything had changed from the way I learnt it previously, and modified it where necessary.

Stretching and its beneficial effects.