What are more methods of flexibility training exercises

In addition to the static holding and dynamic swing stretching movements that everyone is most exposed to daily, more and more advanced flexibility training methods are currently used in the fields of fitness and professional sports, mainly PNF proprioceptive neuromuscular stimulation stretching, vibration-assisted stretching, active stretching combined with myofascial release, and functional flexibility training adapted to different sports scenarios.

When I helped the school team's hurdler adjust the flexibility of his hip flexors, he had been pressing his legs for two months, and he still hit the front of his calf every time he crossed the hurdles. Later, I changed him to the contraction-relaxation mode of PNF. Every time he stretched, he first exerted force against the resistance I gave him, and held it for 10 seconds. After relaxing, he then passively pushed to the maximum stretching angle he could bear and held it for 30 seconds. After practicing like this for three weeks, his hip opening was enough when crossing the hurdles. The improvement efficiency was twice as fast as that of simple static stretching. Now many rehabilitation therapists in professional teams love to use this method to help athletes quickly break through flexibility bottlenecks.

In the past two years, vibration-assisted stretching has also become very popular among ordinary fitness enthusiasts. Either you stand on a rhythm machine to stretch, or you use a fascia gun to hit the target muscles for 30 seconds before stretching. I tried it when my shoulder area was tight. I first used a fascia gun to hit the supraspinatus and upper trapezius muscles for a while, and then stretched the pectoralis major. I could clearly feel that the stiffness before was loosened faster, but the effect of this method is actually The academic community has not yet fully reached a consensus. One group believes that vibration can reduce the sensitivity of muscle tension receptors and can indeed improve joint mobility in the short term. The other group believes that this improvement is only temporary, and the long-term effect of improving flexibility is no different from ordinary stretching. If you only want to open your shoulders and hips for a temporary yoga class, it is no problem. If you are aiming for long-term improvement of flexibility, there is no need to spend a lot of money on professional equipment.

What many people tend to overlook is the method of combining myofascial release and active stretching. Previously, I met a girl who worked on UI design. She had to sit for 12 hours a day to revise drafts, and her waist hurt. She followed the video and did cat-cow stretching and downward dog pose for half a month, but it was of no use at all. Later, I asked her to roll a peanut ball on her thoracic spine for 5 minutes before each stretch, and roll her iliopsoas for 3 minutes on a foam roller, and then do active hip flexor stretching in a semi-kneeling position. ——No one needs to press, stabilize your core and slowly push your hips forward. Stop when you feel a pulling sensation in your thighs. While holding, you can shake your hips slightly to find the tightest force point. After adjusting in this way for less than two weeks, most of her back pain after sitting for a long time has disappeared. The essence of this method is to first loosen the tense fascial chains, and then actively control the muscle stretch. It is more comfortable than deadlifts and is less likely to be injured.

By the way, the topic that everyone is arguing about the most now is "can you do static stretching before a game?" In fact, in the context of flexibility training, it is also a matter of different methods adapting to different scenarios. Among the coaches I have contacted, most of the coaches who lead powerlifting and sprinting are firmly opposed to static stretching before the game, saying that it will reduce muscle explosiveness. For dynamic stretching activation such as dynamic opening and closing and high leg raising, coaches who can lead gymnastics and figure skating will ask players to do low-intensity static stretching within 10 minutes before the game to maintain the mobility of the joints and avoid getting stuck in angles when doing difficult movements. To put it bluntly, there is no absolute right or wrong. It all depends on your current sports needs.

To be honest, many people are greedy for too much when practicing flexibility. Today they search for a bunch of leg pulls and find a bunch of shoulder opening tutorials tomorrow, but they fail to find the position where they are really restricted. It is better to do a few basic movements in front of the mirror, raise your arms to see if they can touch your ears, do a full squat to see if your heels can be lifted without tiptoeing, and find the stuck place and then choose the corresponding method. It is much more useful than practicing blindly.