Everything I Knew About Stretching Was Wrong

I want to believe stuff like this, but the whole field is so mired in quackery and jingo it's hard to believe any of it. A PT with a radical personal theory, plus some youtubers and instagram influencers hardly inspires confidence. At least there are no doctors writing pop health books! But some studies in some scientific journal would be great.

That said, holding stretches longer and focusing on relaxing while stretching hardly seems risky, and could be worth a try.

The rather incomplete list of things I've worked out I was doing with improper form in my early 20s:

- Standing

- Sitting

- Sleeping

- Exercise

- Doing Nothing

- Diet

- Working Hard

- Compliments

It is a miracle that mankind gets anything complex done given how hard the basics are in practice. People who document their findings like this are a helpful resource.

There is a wealth of science on stretching.

https://www.bradapp.com/docs/rec/stretching/ is (I think) an evolution of the "old" rec.stretching FAQ which was pretty good way back.

https://www.amazon.ca/Stretching-Scientifically-Guide-Flexib...

These are relatively old resources but worth reading and then updating.

At the risk of being harsh to the author, everything he knew about stretching was wrong ;)

I'm an ultra runner and I haven't (personally) stretched in about ~5 seasons now.

I see a pilates/personal trainer once a week that basically does all of the items mentioned by the OP:

- hip alignment

- postural restoration

- stott pilates

- stretching

We target soas, hip flexors, glutes, hips, lower abs, etc.

Not a single injury since battling with piriformis syndromes and ITBS years ago. Life changing.

Note, when gaining strength and muscle, you're not growing muscle fibers, since you're born with like 99% of your fibers. They're multinucleated cells and don't undergo mitosis.

> Smash it, don’t rub it. Rubbing your muscles mainly just increases bloodflow, which is nice, but isn’t going to break up the years of fascia and adhesions or release chronically stiff muscles. You need to smash them instead.

This is true! Years ago, as a runner, I got hit with an IT band problem. It came on quite suddenly. Lots of pain on the right side of the knee. This just wouldn't go away and put a damper on the running. Half a lame mile and I wold be out.

This zero improvement situation went on for a month. I got fed up and so I went all kung-fu on that area. I massaged it very hard and tried to wrap my fingers around the fascia and yank it really hard this way and that.

Next day, I ran for a mile. No problem! Couldn't believe it. I cut it short at that to be safe. Day after that, two miles. Then 4, 8, ... and back in the game. I never "heard from" that body part ever again.

Last time I heard that we were all doing stretching wrong was that we were doing static stretching and not dynamic stretches. Now it turned out we weren’t doing static stretching _enough_

I can anecdotally say my body works the exact opposite: holding stretches is excruciatingly painful for me and I went from not being able to touch my knees to full downward dog in 12 months by doing very short (2-3s) but very strong stretches (like painful enough I would tear up).

So I think every body is different and there is unfortunately no magic trick.

But the author did one thing that applies to everyone: don’t give up; read up, keep trying new stuff.

I'm not an expert and there are different cases..

The method the author describes seems to help him with his limited mobility (relaxing is part of the job) - but AFAIK then he will find his muscles sluggish. For dynamic power like martial arts, running etc. (even cycling) he will need them springy and to use different methods. As well for joints collagen type 2, Neocell Move Matrix, Animal Flex..

> Persistent tightness is as much a strength issue as a flexibility one.

> Other muscles around it may be overdeveloped and are essentially pulling it out of balance all the time.

Important point.

Person stops doing thing for 2 years, when returning to thing again now finds it very difficult, a while after returning to thing (plus adding in a hobby of pulling on themselves as instructed by youtube) is ok again.

He mentions that 30-45min per day helped and then some resources. But does he outline a general routine?

> For the first time in my life I got really strong, bench pressing my bodyweight

I quit reading here. Absolute beginner starts exercising and immediately starts preaching as an expert.

A bodyweight bench press isn't "really strong", that's like a baseline for a healthy adult man. To not be able to do that is a sign of being overweight, frail, or both.

2 YT channels I like:

The stayflexy guy and Adam Frater. The former even cites scientific studies.