Like a lot of middle-aged men, I’ve got my fair share of aches and pains. So for my latest Podcast, I reached out to one of the best stretching coaches there is, Brad Walker from stretchcoach.com to get some insight into the world of stretching, flexibility and how best to relieve ourselves of all those annoying middle-age niggles.
If you haven’t heard of Brad Walker before, then it’s safe to say that he’s one of the world’s top experts when it comes to stretching.
He’s been in the stretching business for well over 30 years and is a best-selling author, a coach to elite athletes, a speaker, course creator and all-round guru for anyone who needs a good old stretch.
During the podcast, amongst other things, we covered:
- The main causes of pain and reduced flexibility in middle-aged men
- How stretching works
- The different type of stretches
- The mistakes people make when static stretching
- The best time of day to stretch for increased mobility
- The difference between a stretching workout and a flexibility session
- How long you should hold a stretch for
- The basics of PNF stretching
- The many causes of knee pain
Listen to the episode in full here:
Stretching 101 with Brad Walker
What are the main causes of reduced flexibility, mobility and pain as we age?
There’s no secret to it. It basically comes down to biology.
As we get older and our body begins to lose qualities like elastin that contribute to our suppleness and flexibility.
The other big contributing factor is lifestyle.
We spend much more time hunched over a computer, sitting for long periods and driving and so forth, and that reduced activity contributes massively to the body seizing up.
It’d be nice to say there’s a pill we can take that’s going to fix it all. But, in reality, it just comes down to those two things. Biology and lifestyle.
Related: Why I’m getting fit in my forties and why you should too
How does stretching work?
There are a couple of things that stretching does from a physiological point of view.
As our muscles tighten up and become shorter, that constriction and tightness pulls on our joints which leads to pain and discomfort.
Stretching really helps to reverse that.
It helps to lengthen the muscles out and creates a better range of motion around those joints.
When there’s more mobility, around the joints and in the muscles, that helps to relieve any tightness and takes a lot of pressure off those joints.
What are the different types of stretches?
There are lots of different types of stretching and different ways to stretch, but it’s not that one type of stretching is better than another.
They all have their advantages and disadvantages, but the key is knowing when to use the right type at the right time.
Broadly speaking, there are two groups of stretches: Static and dynamic stretches.
Static stretches
Static stretches are made without movement, so they’re your typical stretches that a lot of people are familiar with.
You get into the stretch position and then hold that stretch in a still stable position without moving,
Dynamic stretches
Dynamic stretches are made with movement. So things like dynamic stretching, ballistic stretching, active and isolated stretches.
For example, a leg swing, arm swing or any sort of gentle bouncing or swinging type motion that takes a body part to its end range of motion is considered a dynamic stretch.
The mistakes people make when static stretching
There are a few mistakes people make when they’re doing static stretching.
One of the big ones that I see often is stretching too hard. Trying to push the stretch too hard or too far which is counterproductive to what you’re trying to achieve.
You shouldn’t push to the point of pain, and you should only push to the point where you get good tension in the muscle.
So if you were to use a scale of 1 to 10, for example, where 1 is no tension at all and 10 is to the point where it’s actually painful. You want to focus around that sort of 6 or 7 out of 10 on the tension scale.
The other mistake I see a lot of people making is not holding the stretch long enough.
If you really want long-term, permanent gains, you really need to be holding a static stretch for at least 45 to 60 seconds at a time.
When is the best time of day to stretch for improved flexibility?
When you’re trying to improve your flexibility, there are two optimum times for doing this that are backed up by research.
The first is about two or three hours after your workout and the other is late at night just before you go to bed.
With the former, a few hours after a workout, your muscles are still fairly loose, pliable and warm from the exercise but they’ve had a chance to cool down and recover a little bit so they’re ready to be stretched.
Stretching late at night before you go to bed is really effective for improving your flexibility especially on a long-term, permanent basis.
This works on a couple of different levels.
Firstly it works on a neuromuscular level because the increased flexibility is the last thing your nervous system remembers before you go to sleep.
Secondly, it’s because a lot of the muscle repair work that goes on in your body happens while you’re asleep. So your muscles are actually repairing in that stretched or elongated state.
Related: How often should you workout?
What are the differences between a stretching workout and a flexibility session?
A stretching workout is when you set aside maybe half an hour or 45 minutes to work specifically on your flexibility.
During that session, maybe you could push your stretches a little bit further.
Alternatively, you could work with a partner and incorporate some more advanced stretching techniques like PNF stretching and so forth.
If you’re doing a dedicated stretching session like that, then it’s exactly the same as strength training. So yes, you can do too much stretching.
After a dedicated stretching session, you do need to give your muscles time to recover and adapt to that, to that workout.
Then there’s your general mobility workout where you might do some foam rolling, a little bit of self-massage, a little bit of easy stretching, and that’s something you can definitely do that every day. In fact, it’s actually beneficial to do that every day.
What are the basics of PNF stretching?
PNF stretching is really effective for improving range of motion.
It’s usually done with a partner and is a slightly more advanced form of stretching which uses both muscle contraction and the stretch to help stretch the target muscles.
It was developed as a form of therapy and rehabilitation for injured patients, and it incorporates a contraction of the stretched muscle immediately followed by a relaxation and further stretching.
The many causes of knee pain
In regards to knee injuries or knee pain there, are dozens of different things that can contribute to that.
From a flexibility point of view, there are definitely some things that, can contribute to knee pain.
Muscle tightness, either in the quadriceps, the groin or on the outside of the legs or if the abductors, tensor fasciae latae, or iliotibial band tighten up, then they can put a lot of strain on the knee.
That strain can pull the knees out of alignment, which can contribute to a lot of knee pain and discomfort and so forth.
So it is really important to concentrate on the flexibility of those muscle groups around the knee, the quadriceps and the hip flexes to start with.
But often, a lot of men have a lot of groin tightness.
Those adductor muscles can become quite tight and when they become tight, they can pull on the inside of the knee which can cause problems and pain.
So a lack of flexibility can contribute quite a lot to knee pain.
Related: 20 reasons why you should join a gym
Contact Brad Walker
If anyone would like to contact Brad to ask any questions about stretching and flexibility, then don’t hesitate to head on over to stretchcoach.com where you will find plenty of free content, and Brad will be more than happy to answer any questions sent to him via his contact page.