Stretching is a system of stretching muscles, ligaments and joints, which allows you to make your body more flexible and mobile, which, in turn, helps to avoid injuries and promotes muscle hypertrophy. Stretching can and should be done before, during and after training, but the goals and, as a result, the exercises will differ. In general, there are 4 types of stretching exercises: dynamic, ballistic, static and exercises with a partner. We will consider in more detail about who and when should apply these or those exercises for stretching, as well as what they are and how they differ, in the practical part. Now you should figure out who, when and for what should stretch?

Stretching will be useful to everyone, both adults and children, both girls and men can use it. Girls, first of all, stretch to improve the flexibility of the ligaments and joints, as a rule, in order to learn how to sit on the twine, but, in fact, the possibilities of stretching are much wider. Men, especially bodybuilders, use stretching mainly to improve blood circulation, which allows them to stretch the muscle fascia, achieve a pump and, as a result, recover faster. From the goals that stretching pursues, it is not difficult to conclude that using it before training allows you to prepare ligaments and joints for training, during training it stimulates the synthesis of contractile proteins, and stretching at the end and between workouts allows you to recover faster.

Types of stretching

Dynamic – this is a type of stretching when the athlete performs active exercises, such as swings. The key point of these exercises is gradualness, that is, the athlete should start the exercise at a slow pace and in a short amplitude, gradually increasing both the pace and the range of motion. As a rule, dynamic stretching is used at the beginning of a workout in order to warm up and stretch the ligaments and joints, that is, it can and should be included in the warm-up.

Ballistic – used before and after training, in fact, it is a springy exercise with an increase in amplitude. For example, an athlete sits on the floor, stretches his legs and tries to reach his toes with his hands, gradually increasing the range of motion. This type of stretching is considered dangerous, because it is often fans perform exercises through pain, appealing to Arnold’s expression: “No pain – no growth”, but you need to be able to distinguish between pleasant muscle pain and unpleasant mechanical pain.
Static – ideal for beginners, as the chance of injury while doing static exercises is almost zero. But static exercises are included not only in the stretching program for beginners, they are also used by advanced athletes, not only bodybuilders, but also powerlifters. These exercises can be done during and after your workout to stretch your muscle fascia, pumping, and relaxing your muscles.

Passive-dynamic – usually such exercises are performed with a partner, when the athlete independently reaches the maximum stretching of the muscles and joints, and the partner helps him go a little more beyond the limit. These exercises are best used by experienced athletes, or used with a trainer. In any case, such exercises can only be used at the end of a workout, because as a result of such exercises, the ligaments and muscles harden, which makes them easy to injure.

Important * before doing stretching exercises, you need to warm up well, all exercises should be progressive, that is, you need to start the exercises at a slow pace and short amplitude, gradually increasing both! You need to stretch the whole body, starting from the neck and ending with the ankle, regardless of which muscle group or part of the body is the target.

Stretching – exercises

Dynamic stretching exercises
Dynamic exercises for the neck must be performed slowly and under control, starting with gradual tilts of the neck back and forth and to the sides, gradually increasing the pace and amplitude. During the exercises for the neck, you need to be especially careful, because the cervical vertebrae are very fragile, so follow the instructions carefully.
The dynamic shoulder exercises should be done after the neck exercises, but even though you’ve already warmed up a bit, you should start with slow partial reps. Dynamic stretching exercises мышц и суставов отлично подходят для разминки в начале тренировки, поэтому, следуя инструкциям, Вы сможете качественно размяться
Dynamic exercises for the hands allow you to qualitatively stretch the elbow joints and wrists. Basically, these exercises consist of flexions and swings, at first stretching begins with bending at a slow pace, and then they move on to intense swings. Typically, such exercises are used before stretching, or strength training, to avoid injury.
Dynamic exercises for the lower back must be performed according to the same rules as the previous exercises, that is, start with slow and shallow slopes, ending with intense circular movements. The lower back must be kneaded before any workout, even if the back during the training is directly and not involved.
Leg exercises are especially important because they tend to take a large share of the load, both during stretching and during strength training. Again, the legs need to be stretched anyway, even if you only train the upper body, the legs need to be warmed up. You need to start the exercises with shallow and slow movements.
Dynamic exercises for the lower leg should be considered separately from exercises for the legs, since stretching is also carried out for the ankle separately. You need to start these exercises at a slow pace, despite the fact that the athlete is usually already warmed up by this time. Very often people injure the lower part of the legs precisely because they do not pay due attention to its warm-up.
Ballistic stretching exercises
allistic neck exercises are usually used either after dynamic exercises or during strength training for the neck. Actually, it is ballistic exercises that are stretching, which allows you to achieve muscle elasticity and joint flexibility. With the neck, as you already know, you need to be especially careful, follow the instructions!
Ballistic exercises for the shoulders mainly consist of pulling movements that allow you to stretch the muscles and joints of the shoulder girdle. Relative to other ballistic exercises, shoulder exercises are quite safe, but you should still not do anything through pain, always stretch as much as possible, but without fanaticism. Be attentive and careful!
Ballistic arm exercises are the most commonly used stretching exercises, as they are very convenient to include in arm training between sets. In general, these exercises are it makes sense to use it either during strength training, or during a complex stretching workout, after warming up with dynamic exercises.
Ballistic exercises for the lower back are very often used not only as stretching exercises, but also during a warm-up, therefore, if you do them not after, but instead of dynamic exercises, then you should start with a short amplitude, gradually increasing it. You should not rush with the lower back, because the larger the joint, the more courteous you need to be with it!
Ballistic leg exercises are very effective between heavy sets of barbell squats, but it’s important to just stretch the muscles a bit instead of doing full stretching. If you want to work on the elasticity of the ligaments and joints, the ability to sit on the twine, then this is best done at the end of the workout.
Ballistic exercises for the lower leg in bodybuilding are usually used in order to eliminate the “clogging” of the triceps muscle. If the triceps is lagging behind, or stretching is a goal for you, and not just a way to increase the effectiveness of the training, then, of course, you should pay due attention to the lower leg, otherwise stretching the lower leg is optional.
Static stretching exercises
Static exercises on the shoulders allow you to complete the training with relaxed deltas, which makes it possible to partially level out catabolic processes. Just as dynamic exercises are suitable for a warm-up, so are static exercises for a cool-down. Doing too many static exercises is useless, choose 1-2 and apply them after ballistic exercises at the end of the training.
Static arm exercises are very convenient to perform, moreover, they allow you to stretch the pectoral muscles just as well, so they can be used both during arm training and chest training. Be sure to finish the stretching workout with static exercises, which will fix the result of the stretch and relax the muscles at the end of the workout.
Static exercises for the lower back are especially effective after a heavy back extensor workout or after a leg workout, since both of these workouts compress the spine. It goes without saying that not a single set of exercises for stretching is complete without exercises for the lower back, they are a must. include stretching in your workout!
Static leg exercises are divided into exercises for the biceps femoris and quadriceps, the former, as a rule, are performed with a bent knee, the latter on straight legs. The legs are the most important muscle group and, in general, part of the body in any sport, therefore, these exercises must be included in the set of stretching exercises without exception!
Static calf exercises complement general leg exercises and help avoid many injuries. The set of exercises for the lower legs itself is divided into exercises for the ankle and for the toes. We recommend that you use both exercises, especially for athletes who are fond of martial arts.