Stretching for Sports
Stretching is the most important aspect of fitness training for a sports person. Flexibility of your muscles and joints plays a very important role in sports success. So, make stretching a part of your exercise program and get benefited from it.
Benefits of Stretching for Sports
Stretching increases the joint range of motion and helps improve sports performance and reduce injury risk. For example, through stretching you can make your limb muscles flexible so the limb can move further avoiding the occurrence of any injury during sports. Another example - if your neck muscles are tight it’s difficult or you turn your head. So, in any sporting activity, if your head is forced beyond the ‘limits’ of your neck, it places strain on your neck muscles and tendons. Neck stretching helps prevent this problem.
Static stretching before a sport event can be detrimental to sports performance and can no way protect you from sports injuries. That’s the reason fitness experts now a days suggest dynamic stretching before a sports event. Also, dynamic stretching helps reduce muscle tightness, which increases the risk of muscle tears.
The present day competitive sport has an unbalancing effect on your body. Take for example - in racket sports one uses the same hand to hit the racket again and again. This puts a lot of stress on just one part of the body. Also, in sports like soccer you use only one foot predominantly throughout the sport. In almost all sports, it is the same, and different parts of your body are at different levels of stress. This increases the risk of chronic over-use injury. Regular stretching workout can help correct these imbalances and prevent sports injuries.
Flexibility training makes you more active and mobile. It helps you move easily in the sports court or field. It also gives you body awareness and promotes relaxation, thus improving the scope for skills acquisition and performance improvement.
Types of Stretching
Dynamic Stretching – Dynamic stretching is generally more specific to a sport that other forms of stretching. Common example of this type of stretching is - twisting from side to side.
Static Active Stretching – Example of this type of stretching is - holding one leg out in front as high as possible.
Static Passive flexibility - Example of this type of stretching is - holding your leg out in font and resting it on a chair.
In general a flexibility training program includes different types of stretching: Dynamic stretching, PNF stretching, Static Passive stretching, Static Active stretching, Ballistic stretching, and Isometric stretching.
What Type of Stretching Suits You?
The type of stretching that best suit you depends on the sport you participate in and the outcomes you expect from your stretching workout. Generally, dynamic stretching are used for warming up before a sport or exercise, and static stretches or PNF flexibility training to increase the range of motion during a sport activity.