Sports Conditioning: Flexibility

By Jim Bell, PhD, CEO IFPA

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"If you want to be respected by others, the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you."

- Fyodor Dostoevsky

In the IFPA Personal Fitness Trainer Certification Course you learned there are 10 components of fitness:

1. Strength

2. Speed

3. Power

4. Anaerobic Endurance

5. Aerobic Endurance

6. Agility

7. Balance

8. Coordination

9. Flexibility

10. Body Composition

Each forms an individual “Link” in the total “Fitness Chain”. This article will look at flexibility from the perspective of the competitive athlete, whose goal is to improve performance, program design, and exercise prescription specifically for sports conditioning.

Program Design

1. Frequency -- One to three times per day per muscle group per session

2. Intensity -- Below the pain threshold

3. Duration -- Hold each stretch 60 seconds

4. Type -- Static Stretching

Frequency

The most current research indicates that the length of time a muscle is stretched is the major factor increasing the ROM (range of motion) in the targeted muscle, up to approximately 60 seconds per stretch. Stretches should not be performed immediately prior to any athletic activity requiring speed, strength or power. They also should not be preformed up to 1 hour prior to these athletic activities. Muscles require a thorough warm-up before flexibility training. Warm muscles can stretch 20 – 30% more than cold muscles. Muscle groups should be stretched every day following a through warm-up.

Intensity

Muscles should be stretched below the pain threshold. Nikos Apostolopoulos is an outstanding sports conditioning specialist, and specialist in flexibility training. Nikos recommends an athlete stretch at low intensity of approximately 30% to 40% of perceived exertion. Nikos is a major contributor to the IFPA Sports Conditioning Certification Course. He has found that intensity level maximizes the pliancy of the connective and muscle tissues.

Duration

Each stretch should be held for 60 seconds. Controversy still surrounds the question of how long to hold a stretch position. The exercise prescription detailed here, has resulted in excellent flexibility performance gains. Shorter duration stretches do increase ROM in the muscle belly, but have been shown to shown to have minimal influence of ligaments, tendons and fascia.

Type

Though other flexibility methods have shown excellent results, the program design depicted here is more sensible using static stretching. PNF stretching is an excellent technique and has shown outstanding flexibility performance gains, but may not be feasible when the athlete is asked to perform 1- 3 sessions per day, 7 days per week. You may wish to incorporate PNF, when convenient, to replace a planned static flexibility session when practical. The PNF: CRAC technique (Contract-Relax-Antagonist-Contract) is arguably the most effective and highly safe of stretching techniques.

References:

• IFPA Sports Conditioning Specialist Certification Course.

For in depth study of PNF Exercise and training techniques, reference:

• IFPA Flexibility Coach Certification Course.

For in depth study of Flexibility Training for Special Populations (i.e.: Low Back Pain, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.), reference:

• IFPA Advanced Fitness Assessment Certification Course

• IFPA Advanced Exercise Prescription Certification Course

• IFPA Functional Trainee Certification Course

• IFPA Youth Fitness Instruction Certification Course

Best regards,

Jim Bell, PhD

CEO