{"id":283943,"date":"2025-11-10T21:02:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T21:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/283943\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T21:02:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T21:02:07","slug":"stretching-isnt-the-only-way-to-increase-range-of-motion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/283943\/","title":{"rendered":"Stretching isn\u2019t the only way to increase range of motion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Research has shown that resistance training can provide benefits equivalent to stretching.Alexandr Dubynin\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Stretching is a polarizing topic in fitness, like seed-oil consumption or how seriously to take pickleball. Some exercisers stretch several times a week, others don\u2019t stretch at all \u2013 without apparent issue. <\/p>\n

This reveals a level of fuzziness around the practice: We have clear expectations for strength and aerobic training \u2013 through sets, reps and pace \u2013 but less clarity about stretching for general health.<\/p>\n

When I ask David Behm, a professor at Memorial University\u2019s School of Human Kinetics and Recreation for some clarity, the first thing he does is set me straight on vocabulary. He prefers the term \u201crange of motion\u201d over \u201cflexibility.\u201d The former can be measured \u2013 and accounts for the structural limits of our joints. The ball-and-socket joint of the hip, for example, can only be moved so far before you\u2019re bone on bone. No amount of stretching will change that \u2013 only a total hip replacement<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cStretching is what you do,\u201d he says. It\u2019s not an outcome, it\u2019s a method \u2013 but not the only one. <\/p>\n

His team\u2019s research has shown<\/a> that resistance training can provide benefits equivalent to stretching. The same goes for Pilates and other methods that load tissues through a full range of motion.<\/p>\n

Do you need to foam roll for the health of your fascia?<\/a><\/p>\n

Whatever your method, Behm emphasizes that it\u2019s important to warm up beforehand. This can be as simple as performing the same movement with lighter weight; the goal is to increase the temperature of the tissues being worked. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this fancy word called \u2018thixotropic\u2019 effects,\u201d Behm says. \u201cAnd what thixotropic means is that you decrease the viscosity of the muscle. So, if you have a ketchup bottle and you open it up and you put it upside down, the ketchup doesn\u2019t come out. But then if you shake it up \u2026 you decrease the viscosity of the ketchup.\u201d <\/p>\n

The warmth in warm-ups is what makes the difference for your tissues. Sixty per cent of the energy in a muscle contraction is lost to heat, and it\u2019s that heat that makes stretching more effective, Behm says.<\/p>\n

What is enough range of motion?<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t need to do the splits or sit cross-legged on a stack of pots<\/a>. Behm says that two to three sets of 20 to 30 seconds in a warm-up or two to four minutes of stretching in a separate workout are enough to provide meaningful benefits. <\/p>\n

Many people are restricted in their range of motion, often because of injuries or genetics. Or aging itself, since we retain the strong collagen in our tissues but elastin \u2013 a beautifully self-explanatory term \u2013 dissipates over the years, Behm says.<\/p>\n

Strength and endurance may not be enemies after all<\/a><\/p>\n

When it comes to how much is enough, many people overlook simple abilities, such as touching their toes whenever they want, says Lucas Hardie, a Halifax-based personal trainer who applies resistance-training methods to improving ranges of motion (and vice-versa). He looks for obvious deficits in his clients or whether someone is avoiding a range of motion.<\/p>\n

For maintaining general health, he suggests a couple of seemingly simple movements. The first is hanging from a bar \u2013 a stretch loaded by your body weight. The second is a forward fold, where you begin in a standing position and finish by staring at your kneecaps. To progress these challenges, add time and resistance \u2013 how long you\u2019re able to hold that position and under what additional loads.<\/p>\n

Hardie, a former powerlifter, shifted his fitness approach away from more numbers-driven strength performance for functional reasons. \u201cThe real thing that pushed me into this was when we had kids. I realized I was going to be on the floor with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about dynamic versus static stretching?<\/p>\n

There is a common apprehension around static stretching \u2013 where you hold a position for more than 60 seconds as part of a warm-up \u2013 because it\u2019s associated with a lowered ability to produce strength or power.<\/p>\n

This is all but dogma among athletes, but Behm offers an important caveat: Your range of motion may be a higher priority than your absolute output. He points to the longer (often three to 10-minute) stretches held by gymnasts and figure skaters.<\/p>\n

Why you probably don\u2019t need to buy a weighted vest<\/a><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re really concerned about how hard you\u2019re hitting your tennis serve or how far you\u2019re hitting your golf ball, break workouts up between your primary sport and supplementary stretching sessions, Behm says. However, the decrement in performance may only be about 5 per cent, so if time or energy are limiting factors for exercise, the trade-off may be worth it.<\/p>\n

Hana Lukac, the founder of Mula Yoga in Toronto, makes a different case for taking things slow. Mindfulness can play a role in fine-tuning your range of motion, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen there\u2019s just so much noise, it\u2019s incredibly hard to even hear your own breath, let alone become aware of that tiny little muscle in your right hip that externally rotates. We need some quiet to really tune in and feel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Research has shown that resistance training can provide benefits equivalent to stretching.Alexandr Dubynin\/Getty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[337,97,24296],"class_list":{"0":"post-283943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-noastack"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}