Static vs Dynamic Flexibility

Taylor Tollison explains the benefits of static and dynamic stretching and should be used in your training programme.

The two primary goals of a sports performance program are to prevent injury and increase performance. As athletes, we will perform anything from plyometrics to sprinting to improve our performance. One question that has been debated for some time is whether the stretching we chose to perform at the start of our training session will affect our performance and injury levels.

Static stretching

Many trainers advocate the use of static stretching before exercise. Static stretching has been used throughout the years for two main reasons: injury prevention and performance enhancement^[1]. Static stretching involves gradually easing into the stretch position and holding the position. The amount of time a static stretch is held may be anything from 6 seconds to 2 minutes. Often in static stretching, you are advised to move further into the stretch position as the stretch sensation subsides.

Does static stretching before activity achieve the goals of injury prevention and performance enhancement?

Research has shown that static stretching can be detrimental to performance and does not necessarily lead to decreases in injury. The following are a few studies conducted on the topic of static stretching.

Rod Pope, an army physiotherapist in Australia, carried out a study to assess the relationship between static stretching and injury prevention. Pope monitored over 1600 recruits over a year in randomized controlled trials.
He found no differences in the occurrence of injury between those recruits who statically stretched and those who did not.^[2]
Gleim & McHugh (1997) would also challenge the premise that stretching, or indeed increased flexibility, reduces the risk of injury.^[3]
New research has shown that static stretching decreases eccentric strength for up to an hour after the stretch. Static stretching has been shown to decrease muscle stretch by up to 9% for 60 minutes following the stretch and decrease eccentric strength by 7% followed by a specific hamstring stretch.^[4]
Rosenbaum and Hennig showed that static stretching reduced peak force by 5% and the rate of force production by 8%. This study was about Achilles tendon reflex activity.^[5]
Gerard van der Poel stated that static stretching caused a specific decrease in the specific coordination of explosive movements.^[4]
Three 15-second stretches of the hamstrings, quadriceps, and calf muscles reduced the peak vertical velocity of a vertical jump in the majority of subjects (Knudson et al. 2000).^[6,7]
Moscov (1993) found that there is no relationship between static flexibility and dynamic flexibility. This suggests that an increased static range of motion may not be translated into functional, sport-specific flexibility, which is largely dynamic in most sporting situations^[1]
Static-based stretching programs seem best suited following an activity.^[8]

Which approach makes sense?

In soccer, it is vitally important to have explosive muscles that allow a player to jump higher for the winning header or explode past an opponent to get to the ball quicker. An eccentric movement precedes every movement in soccer. For example, when you run you bend your legs first and then explode forward, jumping must bend your legs, and cutting in soccer requires a lot of eccentric power. Would it not make sense to have the optimal ability, coordination, and eccentric strength to succeed in soccer? If we should not take a static stretch, how can we stretch to optimize performance? The answer is dynamic stretching.

Dynamic stretching

Many of the best strength coaches support the use of dynamic stretching. Dynamic stretching consists of functionally based exercises that use sport-specific movements to prepare the body for movement.^[8] "Dynamic stretching, according to Kurz, "involves moving parts of your body and gradually increasing reach, the speed of movement, or both."

Do not confuse dynamic stretching with ballistic stretching

Dynamic stretching consists of controlled leg and arm swings that take you (gently!) to the limits of your range of motion. Ballistic stretches involve trying to force a part of the body beyond its range of motion. In dynamic stretches, there are no bounces or "jerky" movements.^[9] Several professional coaches, authors, and studies have supported or shown the effectiveness of dynamic stretching. Below are a few examples of support for dynamic stretching:

Mike Boyle uses a dynamic warm-up with his athletes. He goes through about 26000 workouts throughout the summer. In 2002 he did not have one major muscle pull that required medical attention.^[10]
Flexibility is speed-specific. There are two kinds of stretch receptors, one measures magnitude and speed, and the other measures magnitude only. Static flexibility improves static flexibility and dynamic flexibility improves dynamic flexibility, so it does not make sense to static stretch before a dynamic activity. There is a considerable but not complete transfer of static stretching to dynamic stretching^[11]
One author compared a team that dynamically stretched to a team that static stretched. The team that dynamically stretched had fewer injuries.^[8]
There are few sports where achieving static flexibility is advantageous to success in sport. Therefore, according to the specificity principle, it would seem to be more beneficial to perform a dynamic warm-up that resembles the sport's activity.^[12]
Dynamic Flexibility increases core temperature, and muscle temperature elongates the muscles, stimulates the nervous system, and helps decrease the chance of injury.^[13]
Another author showed that dynamic stretching does increase flexibility.^[11]

As coaches, trainers, and parents, we all want our athletes to lower their injury incidence and increase our performance. Dynamic flexibility has been used successfully by trainers and coaches to increase flexibility and lower injury incidence. It is the coach or trainer's job to pick the method they feel is best suited for the sport and athletes. The above evidence supports the fact that static stretching before an activity is not the best solution.

Static stretching does not necessarily lead to a decrease in injury and may decrease performance. If one purpose of the warm-up is to warm up the body, would static stretching cool the body down? If static stretching is not the solution to a pre-game warm-up what is?

Summary

Current research work detailed in Medicine & Science in Sport and Exercise 33(3), pp354-358 and Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, vol 15 (1): 98-101 suggests that the use of dynamic stretches - slow controlled movements through the full range of motion - are the most appropriate exercises for warming up. By contrast, static stretches are more suitable for the cool-down at the end of the session.

Article Reference

This article first appeared in:

TOLLISON, T. (2007) Static vs. Dynamic Flexibility. Brian Mackenzie's Successful Coaching, (ISSN 1745-7513/ 43/ June), p. 8-9

References

BRANDON, R. (2001) Dynamic versus passive stretches”, Peak Performance, 150, p. 10
POPE, R. (1960) 'Skip the warm-up, New Scientist, 164 (2214), p. 23
GLEIM & McHugh (1997) Flexibility and its effects on sports injury and performance, Sports Medicine, 24 (5), p. 289-299.
CRITCHELL, M. (2002) Warm ups for soccer a Dynamic approach, Spring City, PA: Reedswain, p. 5.
ROSENBAUM, D. and HENNING, E.M. (1995) The influence of stretching and warm-up exercises on Achilles tendon reflex activity. Journal of Sport Sciences, 13 (6), p. 481-490
KNUDSON, D. et al. (2000) Acute Effects of Stretching Are Not Evident in the Kinematics of the Vertical Jump. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 71 (1), p. 30.
KURZ, T. (2003) A Guide To Flexibility Training, 4th Edition,
MANN, D. and JONES. M. (1999) Guidelines to the implementation of a dynamic stretching routine, Strength and Conditioning Journal, 21 (6), p. 53-55
www.cmcrossroads.com
BOYLE, M. (1959) Functional Training for Sports, Human Kinetics, p. 29
KURZ, T. (1991) Science of Sports Training, Island Pond, VT: Stadion Publishing Company, p. 236
HENDRICK, A. (2000) Dynamic Flexibility training, Strength and conditioning Journal, 22 (5), p. 33-38.
FREDERICK, G. (2001) Baseball Part 1 Dynamic Flexibility, Strength and conditioning Journal, 23 (1), p. 21-30.

Page Reference

If you quote information from this page in your work, then the reference for this page is:

TOLLISON, T. (2007) Static vs. Dynamic Flexibility [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/scni43a4.htm [Accessed

About the Author

Taylor Tollison has a degree in exercise and sports science and is a soccer coach and coaches youth teams in Utah, USA.


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The two primary goals of a sports performance program are to prevent injury and increase performance. As athletes, we will perform anything from plyometrics to sprinting to improve our performance. One question that has been debated for some time is whether the stretching we chose to perform at the start of our training session will affect our performance and injury levels. Static stretching Many trainers advocate the use of static stretching before exercise. Static stretching has been used throughout the years for two main reasons: injury prevention and performance enhancement^[1]. Static stretching involves gradually easing into the stretch position and holding the position. The amount of time a static stretch is held may be anything from 6 seconds to 2 minutes. Often in static stretching, you are advised to move further into the stretch position as the stretch sensation subsides. Does static stretching before activity achieve the goals of injury prevention and performance enhancement? Research has shown that static stretching can be detrimental to performance and does not necessarily lead to decreases in injury. The following are a few studies conducted on the topic of static stretching. Rod Pope, an army physiotherapist in Australia, carried out a study to assess the relationship between static stretching and injury prevention. Pope monitored over 1600 recruits over a year in randomized controlled trials. He found no differences in the occurrence of injury between those recruits who statically stretched and those who did not.^[2] Gleim & McHugh (1997) would also challenge the premise that stretching, or indeed increased flexibility, reduces the risk of injury.^[3] New research has shown that static stretching decreases eccentric strength for up to an hour after the stretch. Static stretching has been shown to decrease muscle stretch by up to 9% for 60 minutes following the stretch and decrease eccentric strength by 7% followed by a specific hamstring stretch.^[4] Rosenbaum and Hennig showed that static stretching reduced peak force by 5% and the rate of force production by 8%. This study was about Achilles tendon reflex activity.^[5] Gerard van der Poel stated that static stretching caused a specific decrease in the specific coordination of explosive movements.^[4] Three 15-second stretches of the hamstrings, quadriceps, and calf muscles reduced the peak vertical velocity of a vertical jump in the majority of subjects (Knudson et al. 2000).^[6,7] Moscov (1993) found that there is no relationship between static flexibility and dynamic flexibility. This suggests that an increased static range of motion may not be translated into functional, sport-specific flexibility, which is largely dynamic in most sporting situations^[1] Static-based stretching programs seem best suited following an activity.^[8] Which approach makes sense? In soccer, it is vitally important to have explosive muscles that allow a player to jump higher for the winning header or explode past an opponent to get to the ball quicker. An eccentric movement precedes every movement in soccer. For example, when you run you bend your legs first and then explode forward, jumping must bend your legs, and cutting in soccer requires a lot of eccentric power. Would it not make sense to have the optimal ability, coordination, and eccentric strength to succeed in soccer? If we should not take a static stretch, how can we stretch to optimize performance? The answer is dynamic stretching. Dynamic stretching Many of the best strength coaches support the use of dynamic stretching. Dynamic stretching consists of functionally based exercises that use sport-specific movements to prepare the body for movement.^[8] "Dynamic stretching, according to Kurz, "involves moving parts of your body and gradually increasing reach, the speed of movement, or both." Do not confuse dynamic stretching with ballistic stretching Dynamic stretching consists of controlled leg and arm swings that take you (gently!) to the limits of your range of motion. Ballistic stretches involve trying to force a part of the body beyond its range of motion. In dynamic stretches, there are no bounces or "jerky" movements.^[9] Several professional coaches, authors, and studies have supported or shown the effectiveness of dynamic stretching. Below are a few examples of support for dynamic stretching: Mike Boyle uses a dynamic warm-up with his athletes. He goes through about 26000 workouts throughout the summer. In 2002 he did not have one major muscle pull that required medical attention.^[10] Flexibility is speed-specific. There are two kinds of stretch receptors, one measures magnitude and speed, and the other measures magnitude only. Static flexibility improves static flexibility and dynamic flexibility improves dynamic flexibility, so it does not make sense to static stretch before a dynamic activity. There is a considerable but not complete transfer of static stretching to dynamic stretching^[11] One author compared a team that dynamically stretched to a team that static stretched. The team that dynamically stretched had fewer injuries.^[8] There are few sports where achieving static flexibility is advantageous to success in sport. Therefore, according to the specificity principle, it would seem to be more beneficial to perform a dynamic warm-up that resembles the sport's activity.^[12] Dynamic Flexibility increases core temperature, and muscle temperature elongates the muscles, stimulates the nervous system, and helps decrease the chance of injury.^[13] Another author showed that dynamic stretching does increase flexibility.^[11] As coaches, trainers, and parents, we all want our athletes to lower their injury incidence and increase our performance. Dynamic flexibility has been used successfully by trainers and coaches to increase flexibility and lower injury incidence. It is the coach or trainer's job to pick the method they feel is best suited for the sport and athletes. The above evidence supports the fact that static stretching before an activity is not the best solution. Static stretching does not necessarily lead to a decrease in injury and may decrease performance. If one purpose of the warm-up is to warm up the body, would static stretching cool the body down? If static stretching is not the solution to a pre-game warm-up what is? Summary Current research work detailed in Medicine & Science in Sport and Exercise 33(3), pp354-358 and Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, vol 15 (1): 98-101 suggests that the use of dynamic stretches - slow controlled movements through the full range of motion - are the most appropriate exercises for warming up. By contrast, static stretches are more suitable for the cool-down at the end of the session. Article Reference This article first appeared in: TOLLISON, T. (2007) Static vs. Dynamic Flexibility. Brian Mackenzie's Successful Coaching, (ISSN 1745-7513/ 43/ June), p. 8-9 References BRANDON, R. (2001) Dynamic versus passive stretches”, Peak Performance, 150, p. 10 POPE, R. (1960) 'Skip the warm-up, New Scientist, 164 (2214), p. 23 GLEIM & McHugh (1997) Flexibility and its effects on sports injury and performance, Sports Medicine, 24 (5), p. 289-299. CRITCHELL, M. (2002) Warm ups for soccer a Dynamic approach, Spring City, PA: Reedswain, p. 5. ROSENBAUM, D. and HENNING, E.M. (1995) The influence of stretching and warm-up exercises on Achilles tendon reflex activity. Journal of Sport Sciences, 13 (6), p. 481-490 KNUDSON, D. et al. (2000) Acute Effects of Stretching Are Not Evident in the Kinematics of the Vertical Jump. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 71 (1), p. 30. KURZ, T. (2003) A Guide To Flexibility Training, 4th Edition, MANN, D. and JONES. M. (1999) Guidelines to the implementation of a dynamic stretching routine, Strength and Conditioning Journal, 21 (6), p. 53-55 www.cmcrossroads.com BOYLE, M. (1959) Functional Training for Sports, Human Kinetics, p. 29 KURZ, T. (1991) Science of Sports Training, Island Pond, VT: Stadion Publishing Company, p. 236 HENDRICK, A. (2000) Dynamic Flexibility training, Strength and conditioning Journal, 22 (5), p. 33-38. FREDERICK, G. (2001) Baseball Part 1 Dynamic Flexibility, Strength and conditioning Journal, 23 (1), p. 21-30. Page Reference If you quote information from this page in your work, then the reference for this page is: TOLLISON, T. (2007) Static vs. Dynamic Flexibility [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/scni43a4.htm [Accessed About the Author Taylor Tollison has a degree in exercise and sports science and is a soccer coach and coaches youth teams in Utah, USA.