Stretching

Two soldiers are in a foxhole on the front line.  The enemy throws a grenade into the foxhole and it lands at the feet of the two soldiers.  How much stretching do you think they will do before they make a decision to react?

Same concept needs to be applied to athletic stretching.  Too much time stretching can result in pulled muscles, fatigued players, and long-term recovery.  Teams will spend 45 minutes going thru stretching routines and then wonder why their teams cannot perform in the final periods of a contest.  Athletes have pulled muscle stretching while others have pulled muscle because they did not stretch enough.

The key to stretching is founding in the simple phrase: Warm-up.  Stimulate the body to wake up and prepare for the next wave of stimuli.  Wake up the body by jumping rope, light jogging, or doing 35-50 slow jumping jacks. Throw in two or three dynamic stretches and the body will be ready to workout.

Total body awakening is productive, effective, and smart.  The body that is awake can react to the grenades of life that are thrown in their foxholes.