Untitled

atmosphear added an entry about stretch every day:

I had a row of three months of everyday stretching many years ago and it definetly made me more flexible back then.

Now, what do I count as stretching? Since stretching for less than 30 seconds will not lengthen(* the muscle I think I should be ambitious and not to count the typical karate classes to include stretching and I should just count the long stretches made at home.

I think that it would be sufficient to stretch twice a week, since putting 30 minutes (worth of 15 stretches on both sides) every day sounds a bit too much.

Regardless of the original title I’ll try and commit myself to stretch twice a week.

*) For lengthening the muscles and thus actually gaining the flexibility for the muscle one single stretch should be lasting approximately for a minute. For the first 30 seconds muscles react to stretching with a counter force and after those initial 30 secs the reflex will fade and muscle tension decrease.

Stretching less than 30 seconds is important before excercising to wake up the nerves to react quickly to prevent straining (or cramping), but they aren’t really improving any elasticity.