If you’ve been following my stretching journey, this is the part where it starts to get interesting. After building a routine, I started thinking about whether I was stretching in the most effective way. Recently, I’ve tried some new techniques.
As I went along, I tried to think about stretching in the same way as strength training or any other aspect of fitness that I know a lot about. If someone wants the most “optimal” strength training routine, I tell them to calm down for a while, get in the habit, and be consistent. It’s not a good idea to get too excited about any one method or guru that claims to have all the answers; they probably don’t.
There are many gurus in the stretching world. Many of them benefit from making flexibility sound complicated (because then you need their program to guide you). That doesn’t mean their technique is bad or wrong, but when I see this type of thing in the strength or cardio world, I know that complexity is superficial. So I’ve been reading up on different types of flexibility and mobility training and trying to figure out what’s worth listening to.
The difference between active, static and other types of stretching
You’d think there are only one or two types of stretching. But the truth is, there are many – and proponents of each will argue that their way is the best. Everyone’s definitions don’t always agree, which leads to more arguments. So I’ll give you a brief overview of some of the most commonly used terms, and what you need to know about them.
Static stretching is when you hold a stretch for a period of time (say 10 seconds or more).
A dynamic stretch is when you enter and exit a stretch, or you can think of it as moving actively through a series of movements. This is done as an active stretch; for example, kicking or lifting your legs while running.
Passive stretching is when you place a body part in the position you want to stretch. You are using props, gravity, immovable objects (such as the floor), and/or a partner to get into that position.
A loaded stretch is when you use weights or force to pull yourself farther (e.g., holding a dumbbell and bending forward as if to touch your toes)
Ballistic stretching is when you spring back to stretch, temporarily forcing your body into a more extended position than you could passively or actively achieve.
Active stretching is when you use your own muscles to get into a stretched position. You contract the muscles opposite of the muscles you are trying to stretch.
Isometric contraction is when you contract the same muscle that you are trying to stretch.
If you’re trying to figure out which type of stretch is “best,” you’re going down a deep, deep rabbit hole. I’ve been researching jiu-jitsu performers’ blogs and Google Scholar searches for the past few days, but I can’t guarantee I’ve figured it out. Each type of stretch (even ballistic stretching) seems to have advantages, and most people who perform flexibility training use more than one type.
How to perform PNF or “PAILs and RAILs” stretches
Again trying to stick to common sense rather than finding the best method, I opened the textbook I used when studying for my personal training certification. It explained an “advanced” stretch called PNF for proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation. It was something I had read about often, but had never seen in the field.
The technique I’ve tried is supposed to be the most effective, but also not for beginners. (Did I let it stop me? No.) It’s called “staying relaxed with agonist contractions”. Man, it fucking works. If you want to try this at home, I suggest you read up on it first and make sure the stretches and contractions are gentle, like no more than five tenths of an inch strong. They’ll still work that way and you’ll be less likely to have soreness or worse, muscle strain the next day.
PNF stretches are often described as something coaches do with athletes; but I figured, why not use the same technique on yourself? With the above caveat in mind, here’s how I adapted some common stretches to utilize the PNF technique:
I passively held the stretch for about 10 seconds (i.e., normal stretching).
Then I perform an isometric contraction on the muscle I want to stretch, pushing that leg (or anything else) against a non-movable object such as my hand or the floor. This is also for 10 seconds.
Then I use the opposite muscle to pull myself deeper and hold for about 20 seconds.
For example, in the toe contact stretch: I reach for the floor, then I grab the back of my ankles and contract my hamstrings as if I were trying to pull them away from my hands; then I reach for the floor again, this time using my abs, quads and hip flexors to pull myself deeper. whaddaya know that now I can touch the floor with my whole fingers instead of my fingertips. The results are very similar to the touching my toes video we discussed in the previous post.
Then I did the same thing with the fork/kneeling lunge stretch. As you may recall, I was nowhere near the splits. So I did a 10 second stretch and then spent the first 10 seconds pressing my front heel and back knee into the ground as if I were going to get back up. Then on the last step, I used my leg muscles to pull myself deeper. This time it was weird: my hip flexors relaxed as expected, but my hamstrings hurt. It was like they were saying “We’ve done enough! Let us go!” So I breathed a sigh of relief.
Last one: standing quad/hip flexor extension. This is what you see runners do when they stand on one leg with the heel of the other near the hip. I did the stretch for 10 seconds as usual, then grabbed my ankle and tried to pull my foot and knee forward (contracting my quads and hip flexors). Then I contracted my glutes and hamstrings to get my heel further back – yes – and I was able to easily bring my heel into contact with my glutes, which I couldn’t do in the first phase. I took a video which demonstrates the technique very clearly (please note the video is at 4x speed)
PNF quad/hip flexor stretch
It wasn’t until after I did this that my rabbit hole dive took me to something called PAILs and RAILs (which stands for Progressive Angle Isometric Loading and Regressive Angle Isometric Loading). First you passively stretch, then you do a PAIL contraction, then you do a RAIL contraction. This tends to be a favorite technique of those I mentioned who seem to overcomplicate their explanations, and I’ve been saving it for later use. But then I saw someone say that PAIL and RAIL are the same thing as PNF, and by golly, they’re right. It’s a five minute video that contains the exact same stretching technique as my video above, stretching the same muscle groups, except they hold it for two minutes instead of 10 seconds during the initial passive stretch, and there’s a lot of extra stuff like a mat, a bench, and a stick that you can stretch the entire side of your core with, or whatever. Do those extras work? Maybe. But the basic principle seems to be the same as if I were stretching standing up.
Why PNF Stretching Works
Stretching isn’t just about how far your muscles can stretch; it’s also about how far your nervous system allows them to stretch. stretching techniques like PNF address the nervous system factor.
The first body system we utilize here is called autogenic inhibition. Muscles work by pulling on bones, and the tissue that connects muscles to bones is called a tendon. Within this tendon are microscopic sensors called Golgi tendon organs. The traditional explanation is that when a muscle (for example, one that makes up the quadriceps) pulls too tightly on its tendon, the GTO tells your nervous system to relax so that you don’t pull the muscle away from the bone.
The reality may be a little different, as even a gentle stretch can trigger this phenomenon (remember, we only need a 5/10 stretch here). But that’s why PNF makes you contract the muscles you’re going to stretch. This makes your body want to relax that muscle. So you immediately go back into extension and then bang, you can relax that muscle even more.
The second step utilizes a different mechanism called reciprocal inhibition. Here, contracting one muscle tends to relax another muscle. For example, when you bend a dumbbell with your biceps, your triceps must relax and extend. So in this type of PNF stretch, after you use autogenic inhibition to relax your quads a bit, you then contract your hamstrings to relax your quads even more.
Some studies have shown that PNF stretching routines improve long-term flexibility more than static stretching alone. The significant increase in range of motion you get from a PNF session will only last a few minutes, but if you do it consistently, then after weeks and months you should be able to stretch deeper and deeper.
So I now have PNF stretches in my routine. I use them for shoulder stretches, hamstring stretches, quadriceps stretches, and adductor stretches. I do three rounds of PNF contractions for each stretch, and then I do the rest of the stretches in a regular passive manner. I also only do PNF stretches every other day, and most importantly; if I want to stretch on my “off” days, I only do passive stretches.
