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harly
How long should a stretch be held?
It seems that most experts suggest that a stretch be held for between 10-20 seconds. Does this apply to masters athletes as well? It seems that a 20 year old's muscles will stretch out far quicker than a 60 year old's.
Asked by harly - 6 answers - 21 weeks 5 days ago
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scousemouse78
Hello there. There are many investigations by sports physioligists and people alike into stretching. I would personally say that when performing developmental stretches, you can feel the stretch in your muscles and can see pretty much how much range the joint is going through.
Basically, if you feel that your flexibility is improving then you are undoubtedly doing enough. If you are after a specific time, then the tutors who train PT's and fitness instructors would advise this length of time for safety reasons. Many athletes would stretch for much longer.
If you are 60 and have been training for many years then you are more likely to be better adapted to stretching that a 20 year old who will not have been exercising as long.
I dare say you hate the expression, but everyone IS different!
Submitted 21 weeks 5 days ago by scousemouse78cole pearce
A minimum of 30 seconds is needed to improve flexibility, the only limit as to how long you should stretch for is how long the muscle stays warmed enough to be stretched, as stretching a cold muscle will allmost alllways cause an injury and will not be effective
Submitted 21 weeks 21 hours ago by cole pearceelkynben
The time to remove lactic acid is more than 15-20 s for static stretch after a workout, of course this time is influenced by the range of motion, so you must feel and test yourself from a short to long approximation, in/after each workout, everyone is different.
Submitted 20 weeks 6 days ago by elkynbenscousemouse78
stretching does not remove lactic acid. It returns the muscle fibres to their normal state!
Lactic acid is removed through a catalytic process which sees the subject performing a low level aerobic activity e.g. walking, jogging which sees the oxygen break down the waste products.
rant over.
Submitted 20 weeks 5 days ago by scousemouse78Alex S
oh the stretching debate!
The whole question of what stretch, for how long etc depends on what you’re wanting to achieve.
Personally, I enjoy a bit of PNF…..
(to be continued)
Submitted 20 weeks 4 days ago by Alex STheGymPress
The answer is that.. it depends on
1- Your level/experience with stretching
2- Results you wants to accomplish
3- Age
4- Genetics (including morphological limitations)
Research has show that highly sedentary people with no previous flexibility training can get results after 4 week from as little as 3 sets of 6sec held stretches. This however will have no benefit an active adult.
Really your answer is dependent on your current status. However as a universal answer 30sec is the minimal you should hold a stretch. This is based on time to benefit ratio. One study (McNaier et al. 2001) showed that the greatest benefits from stretching recorded in recreational and competitive athletes was during the first 25sec. Following that benefits are marginal in comparison, even after 60sec. That being said hold a stretch for 60sec will yield better results than holding for 30sec. However for the time invested you are better of doing more sets than holding stretches from longer.
Volume and repetition of stretches i believe is more important than duration for general flexibility development. Flexibility training is still governed by the acute training variables (frequency, duration, intensity, mode)
There is plenty of research on the topic, but its not very comparable due to methodology of studies. However from anecdotal experience 30sec for 3-4 sets per stretch with 20sec minimum rest between stretches is very effective.
However where i think most people go wrong is that they hold a stretch where it is comfortable. Even though this is the standard textbook recommendation, it is also a hindrance because this will result is slow or no results. Flexibility is limited to a great degree by pain tolerance, and one way to increase your tolerance is to try and sustain a stretches a the point of your maximal tolerance.
For an in-depth look at flexibility training download
TheGymPress Vol2 Iss1 (March 2008 issue) from www.thegympress.net
Valentin Uzunov
Submitted 19 weeks 5 days ago by TheGymPressTheGymPress
www.thegympress.net