~ as article appears in CNC Publications ~
For years athletes from a variety of sports have suffered strenuous muscle cramps, debilitating injuries and annoying inflexibility. It’s never a matter of “IF” you’ll suffer from the above mentioned in your athletic career but the reality of “WHEN” it’ll happen. No mater how amazing your current warm-ups are at some point you’ll either over-train, under-train or just not be hydrated enough to sustain the amount of demand required for complete mobility and flexibility for a given movement or exercise.
The human body is amazing in that it tries to constantly prevent injury. It will only allow a muscle group to develop so long as it doesn’t place the opposing muscles in the length-tension relationship in harms way. Sure it’s not a perfect system, and we do still incur injury, but for the most part we’re fortunate in that we are instilled with this internal protective mechanism.
So how can you help your body in the fight against tight and bounded muscles? Easy, begin a stretching program focused around your personal goals as a youth athlete. Author’s note: you don’t have to be a youth athlete to benefit from this information. Whether you’re an adult, fitness or non-fitness enthusiast or alive and breathing this information will greatly enhance your life!
People tend to forget that even if they’re not currently including fitness in their lifestyle they still benefit tremendously from stretching. The body still gets tight, still suffers injury and still needs to be adequately hydrated whether or not participating in sport and recreation. And unless you’re competing in regular sport, sport beverages really aren’t necessary; water is perfect.
Now the following stretches are something we in the “industry” refer to as ‘dynamic’ stretching. It yields all the amazing benefits of traditional ‘static’ stretching only it better prepares you for sport and training ahead! I’m going to walk you through a quick dynamic stretching sequence for your ankles and hamstrings. Next installment we’ll focus on the calves, quads and hips.
Beginning with the ankles, we’re going to open up the ankle complex with this exercise. With your feet two-to-three inches apart, toes pointed forward, knees slightly bent, hands placed just above knees, perform a circular motion with the path of your knees while leaving both feet firmly in contact with the floor. Do not let your heels or toes come off the ground. Perform seven circles to the left then seven circles to the right.
The next exercise will help loosing up those hamstrings. Standing upright, lift your right leg about an inch or so off the ground by balancing onto your left leg. Begin, swinging your right leg from front to back in a straight path while making sure your toes constantly point in a forward movement. Try not to reach too far back but really accentuate the swing upward. Do not let the knees bend of either leg. You should feel a really good stretch from the back of your thigh to the lower portion of your glute and outside of your hip. Repeat with the left leg.
Right now you have two new exercises to learn and add to your current routine. If you have any questions about either exercise or would like pictures that illustrate these movements feel free to send me an email. Happy training!
