Good Friday

Scott Schwab

Greetings and Salutations. I wanted to touch on a couple of observations that I have been noticing lately and pass them on in hopes that they will help readers. I think all of us can remember a time when we were in athletics and stretching was just a part of the normal daily routine before the real fun started; the game or practice. For me personally, it was never ingrained in my head that it was that important. However, in recent years I have noticed that not only is it important, but it is essential. The great receiver Jerry Rice, spoke often that the reason that he was able to avoid injury and play to the level that he played, was he spent as much time stretching as he did with his workout. I currently am working out with a group of guys that bring a great accumulation of knowledge about sports and fitness. Yesterday we spent about 30min stretching all of our muscles. The obvious benefit to stretching is avoiding injury. The not so obvious benefits are increased muscle tone and joint and ligament strength. The core muscles to the body can be built by general to specific workouts. However, the muscles that really give the appearance of being cut and providing extra strength to the joints and connecting ligaments/muscles, are built through stretching and plyometrics. This is why in recent years there has been such a push to do workouts that involve the whole body and incorporate lifts that mirror manual labor. This is one reason that the 300 workout is so effective. It gets the whole body involved and builds those great connecting muscles and ligaments. One should definitely look for these types of workouts, but also include some serious stretching into a routine. I have noticed that I am able to work core muscles more effectively and the definition is better than doing normal core lifts alone. Also I have an old hamstring injury that will flare up every year, it seems. After our 30min stretch we did sprints and running exercises and I did not feel the hamstring once. I noticed that by taking the time to do an effective stretch, I felt no pain, but a good burn in my legs that I have not been able to have, based on not wanting to pull the muscle. In short take the time to do a stretch before the workout, but it is also just as important to do a light stretch after the workout. Also include one day in a week were you stretch for a long period of time and really work those connecting muscles, joints, and ligaments. We hope that everyone has a safe and enjoyable Easter weekend. Go and enjoy the beautiful outdoors that we are all lucky to have.