Forget what you learned in high school, if you want to warm up and perform well, ballistic stretching is the way to go.I got the term from an exercise video... The article refers to the good kind of stretching as dynamic stretching. Apparently, dynamic stretching should not be confused with ballistic stretching!
Ballistic stretching uses the momentum of a moving body or a limb in an attempt to force it beyond its normal range of motion. This is stretching, or "warming up", by bouncing into (or out of) a stretched position, using the stretched muscles as a spring which pulls you out of the stretched position. (e.g. bouncing down repeatedly to touch your toes.)
Dynamic stretching, according to Kurz, "involves moving parts of your body and gradually increasing reach, speed of movement, or both." Do not confuse dynamic stretching with ballistic stretching! Dynamic stretching consists of controlled leg and arm swings that take you (gently!) to the limits of your range of motion. Ballistic stretches involve trying to force a part of the body beyond its range of motion.I never tried to go beyond my normal range of motion with "ballistic stretching", so perhaps I was doing dynamic stretching afterall.
4 comments:
I get a dead link, but I would really like to know what in the hell ballistic stretching is.
Thanks for the extra info. I used to be almost completely static, just slowly increasing pressure while I stretched. Then about 2 years ago I began to bounce a little. I've noticed that I have better results, but I'm not sure if that is "dynamic" or "ballistic".
I think that is Ballistic - and they say that that is bad for you. I'm still not sure, however.
Well, shit.
Now I don't know what to do.
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