Tight is Good!
You know I love making analogies when it comes to training – especially automotive analogies, comparing a car to the human body. Oddly enough, I know NOTHING about cars yet I find many of its workings to be analogous to human movement…I digress…
Imagine this: You take your car in for an oil change, and upon picking it up, the mechanic says to you:
“I didn’t put the oil filter on completely - actually it’s half hanging off. I also took the liberty of loosening some screws on the hood of your car and on your rear bumper. Thanks for coming, off you go!”
You may not be a mechanic, but you know if your oil filter, hood of the car and bumper are all hanging loosely, that’s a bad thing. Actually, it’s a potential disaster waiting to happen.
There are things on your car that are supposed to move freely – your wheels, steering wheel, cylinders for example, are all supposed to move in different directions quickly.
Conversely, the hood of your car needs to stay put when driving. Your bumper? Yeah, you’re going to need that actually ON the car snugly, not flapping around.
Duh, right? Who doesn’t know that?
This is what I think when I see many people stretch. There are joints on your body that are supposed to move freely and others that should barely move ever. Yet people erroneously assume making them loose is a good thing.
I’m here to tell you my friends that joints that are too loose are joints that don’t stay in place. Joints that don’t stay in place obviously, are BIG problems (like the hood of your car not staying in place). This causes TONS of pain and eventually keeps orthopedists in business. Yet every day I watch people contort themselves and pull the almighty hell out of joints in an effort to make them more flexible and loose. This is one of many reasons 80% of gym members experience some sort of joint pain during their time at the gym.
Take the lumbar spine for example: It has approximately between 10-15 degrees of allowable movement, which is next to NO movement. Yet as sure as you’re reading this article there is someone somewhere stretching and “loosening up” their lower back.
Do you know what a loose lower back is? It’s a recipe for a slipped lumbar disc.
As another example, the knee has very limited movement capabilities laterally or rotationally. Yet how many times do you see people grabbing their foot and yanking on it like they’re making their leg into pretzel? Loosening the knee in this manner only increases the likelihood of knee hyperextension and/or an ACL tear.
As I’ve said numerous times, functional flexibility is a far more complicated process than most people realize – far too expansive to get into here. However, if there is a take home message, it’s that we must rid ourselves of the notion that all stretching and “loose muscles” are good. Sometimes they are – but not always. Especially when we are dealing with injury prone areas like the lower back and knee, we must be very cognizant of movements that may be doing more harm than good.
*As usual, this article is for informational purposes only. Reader assumes all risks in application of aforementioned material.**This material is the property of The Training Rim, LLC. Reproduction and/or dissemination without permission is prohibited.
