Regarding Hurdlers Stretches from TKRIblog

Image via Wikipedia

Robert Miller from TKRIblog put together a great piece on the hurdler stretch. This is a stretch I gave up long ago but when I was checking up on the blog I realized many people may still be doing this. Not just martial artists, which is Robert’s focus.

But back in my MA days…we did this religiously. So true. And yes, as Robert discusses, we were taught that you couldn’t do a proper roundhouse without it.

This is the one where you sit on the ground with one leg bent BEHIND you and fully flexed. The other leg, straight out in front of you you bend over to stretch the hamstrings. We used to also lean over the bent knee for some reason…

If you are stubbornly clinging to this dinosaur of bad stretches then you must read Robert’s article: Regarding Hurdler’s Stretch and Kicking

He gives a good example of something that we need to do in our strength training and that we too often fail to do: A Cost Benefit Analysis:

Most of us have either trained with someone, or can imagine someone, who for no lack of effort, does not have the most impressive roundhouse kick in the world (due to flexibility issues), but who is still vigorously participating in karate Now imagine a different person who has painful, unstable knees, who because of his knees is unable to rapidly move laterally in kumite, is unable to kick at all without pain, is unable to dart in and out, unable to lift, throw or sweep.  Which person has the greater handicap? I know this is an extreme example ( I have trained with people in both categories), but I use it to illustrate the point that even if it were the case that in order to perform roundhouse kick well one needed to do hurdlers stretches, the potential cost to the rest of one’s karate may be too high. Hyper-focusing on one skill can cause one to lose sight “of the forest for the trees”.

I’d like to point out also, that the way most people go about stretching their hamstrings ends up transferring most of the stretch to the more extensible fibers of the lumbar. That is, they bend forward at the lower back instead of flexing the hips. In this scenario the lumbar tissues will simply stretch before the hamstring.

For this reason, the popular practice of placing a leg up on a bench in front of you and bending over it is actually a fairly poor hamstring stretch. A comparable lying version of that is to lie down you your back and use a towel or strap to pull the working leg up. This keeps the lower back straight and promotes a better stretch of the hamstring.

This all begs the question of whether “tight hammies” are really the problem they have been traditionally made out to be.

Some related information can be found in this GUS thread: When Stretching Isn’t the Answer

Fix Your Shoulders – Male Pattern Fitness

Fix Your Shoulders – Male Pattern Fitness.

For some reason the comments are always closed kinda quickly at this blog but I wanted to comment on it here.

I feel it may be a bit misleading.

Yes, I agree completely that most people train in a way that predisposes them to imbalances and injury. Such as the internal rotator dominance that was brought up in the post.

However, it is not likely that a study can prove what the study claims to prove. There are just WAY too many variables.

Here is the thing though and I want to make this very clear. Everybody has baggage. You can and likely do have imbalances no matter if you’ve ever hit the weights. Many occupations which require the constant repetition of certain movement patterns or the maintenance of certain positions cause huge postural distortions and do result in PAIN for many, many people who do NOT lift weights.

In fact, what you do 23 hours a day probably has a much bigger impact than what you do 1 to two hours a day three to four times a week. That is not to say that you cannot do some serious harm with faulty training practices.

But hell, sleeping habitually in a bad position can lead imbalances.

Ask a physcial therapist. Or ask a body work person who does deep tissue therapy of some kind. If you think the majority of their clients are athletes of some kind…think again.

That internal rotator problem..desk jockeys are prone to shortened pecs, pec minor, lats which dominate the scapular adductors leading to problems about the shoulder complex. Factory assembly workers…

Very often weight training is simply the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Going too heavy too fast and not paying attention to all the factors mentioned in the post is just a tipping point that turns deficiencies into “injuries”.

None of this is to suggest that the points brought up in the article are untrue…simply a bit unfair and not the whole picture.

One thing I wholeheartedly agree with though: Your training should make you BETTER. Not just stronger but better in every way. It just so happens that those two things can go hand in hand.

Down to Earth Strength Training

Welcome to the official blog of Ground Up Strength. Please visit our website at www.gustrength.com

Just some of the things you will find:

Flexibility for Young Athletes – Q & A with Bill Hartman by Brian Grasso

Bill Hartman is a Physical Therapist and Sports Performance Coach in Indianapolis, Indiana

What is the difference between Flexibility and Mobility?

Technically speaking based on textbook definitions there may be no difference, but I do tend to separate the two.

Your simple textbook definition of flexibility is movement about a joint. I would consider that a more isolative concept by looking at a specific joint’s ability to move without any particular context. For instance, if looking at an ankle, how much dorsiflexion, plantar flexion, inversion, and eversion is available.

Mobility requires context and considers motion relative to the rest of the kinetic chain typically in a dynamic situation. For instance, take the same ankle and now identify how much range of motion is available in the performance of a squat or a specific activity like during a change of direction at high speed. Because of the influence of parameters such as available strength, coordination, acceleration/deceleration, tissue stiffness, speed of movement, etc., the available range of motion may very well differ from that found during a direct open chain assessment of range of motion as done in a clinical setting.

You also have to consider how movement at one joint affects another. Fascial relationships tie joints together during movement such that ’slack’ can be taken up at one joint resulting in limited movement elsewhere. The overhead squat is an example. Read more

From Coach Hale’s Corner:The Fitness Skeptic
By Jamie Hale

Reprinted at Ground Up Strength with permission.
Visit Max Condition for more articles, books, and info from Coach Hale.

“Coach Hale why are you so skeptical?” “Why do you have such a negative view of the fitness industry?” “You are so cynical.” I hear these types of questions and statements on a weekly basis. The people that approach me with these statements are almost always supplement salesman, homeopathy practitioners, equipment salesman etc.. Generally, people that do not like to have their authority questioned.

Skeptic or Cynic

Some people believe that skepticism is the rejection of new ideas. Often people confuse “skeptic” with “cynic.” The Fitness Skeptic (Skeptic is derived from the Greek skeptikos, which means “inquiring” or “to look around) applies reason to any and all ideas promoted by the fitness industry or ideas promoted by anyone making fitness claims. The Fitness skeptic (the term Fitness skeptic applies to health, nutrition and supplement claims as well) requires evidence before claims are accepted as fact. Read more

Also, Romanian versus Stiff Legged Deadlifts
The Valsalva Maneuver
Injury First Aid
Ground Up Strength Forum

Stumble It!