Runners Running: Have a Good Warmup: Part 3

Welcome to part 3 of 4 of mini blogging series on how to have a good warm up routine. Here are links to the last 2 posts:

This post in particular will focus on the pros and cons of static stretching. To start off static stretching is defined as a technique used to stretch the muscles of a body that are at rest. It is the form of stretching that your gym teacher instructed you do during middle or high school. Their is much debate in the medical community as to whether or not static stretching is beneficial to runners. This is the primary reason for this post.

The primary benefits of static stretching are as follows:

it is really easy to do
easy to administrate
Wide variety of different stretches that can be done in varying intensities
Compensated Respiratory System
Activated Muscle Spindles

The downside to static stretching:

Decreased motor power
Micro tears to muscle tissues
You can only stretch a muscle with the bodies natural range of motion
Limited in terms of the muscle groups that can be impacted
Rate at which the body cools down is slower making it counterproductive for a active warm up routine

Here is pretty good source on how to do static stretching the right way http://www.brianmac.co.uk/stretch.htm

Stay Tuned for the Final Post of the Mini Series on Dynamic and Stretching!

Thanks For Reading!

Keep Running!