Static Stretching

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

You guys are pretty clear on the uselessness of static stretching, especially its carry over to barbell movements (none)

but a few questions…

  1. I spend a great deal of the day playing with my 2 year old daughter on the floor and it would be nice to be able to comfortably sit cross legged without my hips exploding. You say static stretching, like strength, is very specific but in this case that’s exactly what I’m looking for. Would it be beneficial to scale the “cross legged” stretch and begin working on increasing flexibility?

  2. A few years back I took the Power Athlete Methodology course and they said that 10 minutes of static stretching post workout could signal the body to begin recovery up to 2 hours sooner than without the “cooldown”. They had a source listed but sadly I can’t find it anymore. Is this total bullshit? Or perhaps it’s one of those things where if you zoom out 12, 24, or 48 hours it all evens out anyway and thus is a waste of 10 minutes?

Thanks

2

Kyle,

  1. If you want to get better at sitting cross-legged, you’re going to have to expose yourself to this position.

  2. It’s BS.

-Jordan

3
  1. I spend a great deal of the day playing with my 2 year old daughter on the floor and it would be nice to be able to comfortably sit cross legged without my hips exploding. You say static stretching, like strength, is very specific but in this case that’s exactly what I’m looking for. Would it be beneficial to scale the “cross legged” stretch and begin working on increasing flexibility?

It sounds like your goal is to achieve/tolerace a specific position. In this case, it makes sense to practice achieving that position.

  1. A few years back I took the Power Athlete Methodology course and they said that 10 minutes of static stretching post workout could signal the body to begin recovery up to 2 hours sooner than without the “cooldown”. They had a source listed but sadly I can’t find it anymore. Is this total bullshit? Or perhaps it’s one of those things where if you zoom out 12, 24, or 48 hours it all evens out anyway and thus is a waste of 10 minutes?

We are happy to evaluate any evidence provided to support this, but it does not sound plausible. These are not “on/off” processes; “recovery” is always happening to some extent.