Trained, taut lycra-clad female forms are not the sole reason to attend a kata-box class at my local health club once a week. But it certainly makes for a powerful incentive.
The leaders of the class are merciless – only aerobic tyrants, admittedly, but nonetheless merciless in their persecution of those sufficiently lacking in the old puff department to be unable to respond to their insistent demands for vocal responses to their torture.
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As they assail you with music from hell, stretching out the hamstrings and quadriceps which have taken a fearful shortening over years of running can be hell.
But the stretch tyrants are not unique in their victimisation of inflexibility wherever they can find it. Instructors of aerobics classes the world over seem to miss the point of stretching: It should actually make you more flexible, rather than paralyse you.
For many of us, stretching is like brushing our teeth. We know it's good for us and we do it regularly, but it's hard to get very excited about it. Most of the time, we just go through the motions. Which is a shame, because stretching – if we do it right – is not only good for us, it's enjoyable, too. That's right, enjoyable.
The question is, what does stretching do for us? It may enhance performance, though that's hard to prove. More importantly, stretching can decrease our injury risk. In a recent US study of 200 college athletes, risk of injury dropped as flexibility increased.
So, if the stretch tyrant-approach is not right, where the instructor ends up like a pretzel and suggests you could look the same if you didn’t eat pretzels – how to go about it efficiently?
"Good stretching is knowing your body," says stretching expert Robert Anderson. "It has nothing to do with how far you can move any particular part. When you perform a stretch, it shouldn't hurt. The worst thing is to make stretching hurt, to make it somehow competitive."
Sports medicine specialists at Penn State University provide the following stretching tips:
Stretch to the point of resistance, not of pain.
Hold stretches for around 30 seconds.
Stretching can increase flexibility; stretching can also help you maintain flexibility.
Inappropriate stretching can cause injuries.
Stretching should be done after a warmup.
Ballistic (bouncy) stretching is not recommended for most people; static stretching is safer.
Muscle groups should be alternated during a stretching routine.
There is no evidence that stretching prevents injuries.
Over the years, many stretching methods have fought for the title of "number one stretch". Researchers tested whether repeated stretching (also called active isolated stretching) or repeated stretching and contracting (also called proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation or PNF) worked better.
You can do either method at home by using a towel, rope or partner. For instance, to stretch your hamstrings, lie back down on the floor and raise one leg perpendicular to your body. Then, use a rope to pull your foot toward your face.
For active isolated stretching, you would hold for two seconds, lower your foot to the ground and then repeat the stretch eight times. For PNF, you resist against the rope for six seconds. Then relax your hamstrings as you pull your leg closer to your face. Repeat this stretching and resisting sequence about eight times.
Trained, taut lycra-clad female forms are not the sole reason to attend a kata-box class at my local health club once a week. But it certainly makes for a powerful incentive.
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