Old Boy Stretching & Flexibility
As young men stretching and flexibility is something you do when told to by your coach, it has no rhyme nor reason and is essentially something you have to do to be part of the team.
As we get older and a little stiffer we start to see the benefits of stretching and with little knowledge of how your muscles respond to different methods of stretching, we often do more harm than good.
There are varying different types of stretching including Static, Isometric, and Dynamic but for Old Boys it revolves around the warm up and warm down. Both are as important as each other but are very different. How often I see people warming up by touching toes or holding a hurdle stretch….this is doing nothing for you. When you muscles are cold the nerve endings will not respond to static stretching with the desired effect and can lead to injury.
For Old Boys the two keys are Dynamic and Static Stretching.
Dynamic Stretching— the stretching of muscles through a range of movement, while keeping that movement under control. For example keeping the leg straight and toes pulled back, raise your leg up in front of your body and lower it back down again under control. Do not throw the leg up without control, this is called Ballistic stretching and is an easy way to pull a hamstring.
Static Stretching— the well-known touch the toes and hold type of stretch, however the key is to relax onto the stretch. For example breathe in and reach down as far as you can towards your toes, breath out and relax your muscles into the stretch. Breathe in again and as you breathe out relax a little further into the stretch. Repeat for 3 breathes.
The following is my daily stretching routine –
Warm up through light jogging, shadow boxing, stationary bike etc. You should have a light sweat built up
Dynamic Joint Stretching—This is very important the older we get. Start with rotating ankles joints, then knees, hips, lower back, shoulders, elbows, wrists and neck.
Dynamic Muscle Stretching—Front leg raises (as described above), side leg raises, rear leg raises, trunk twists, shoulder extensions.
Compete your core workout (Boxing, Running, aerobic, bike etc.)
Warm down with Static Stretching. Touch toes, calves, hip flexors, hamstrings, shoulders, lower back.
The older we get the more important it is to keep our joints and muscles flexible, in both Dynamic and Static situations.
