What We Often Overlook About Strength & Flexibility
They overlap with the reason being that they comprise our mobility. Strength and Flexibility are often treated separately when you consider the common misconception that weightlifting makes you less flexible. It’s easier to see why people think of yoga when it comes to increasing flexibility. Holding a stretch alone is not going to take you all the way.
When I mention overlap, imagine holding a stretch for a period of time (15–60 seconds) but this time you are incorporating resistance (weight) to it. That’s Loaded Stretching and the concept involves taking advantage of the body’s ability to adapt to both stretching and resistance training by combining stretching with resistance. You are enhancing 2 birds (Flexibility & Strength) with 1 stone (Loaded Stretching).
On top of overlapping, loaded stretching has helped reaching hypertrophy much faster. A study that was published in the National Library of Medicine reported on this concept. The participants comprised 25 healthy, untrained but recreationally active males (18–25) from a University population. Each participant would train their plantar flexor muscles (calf muscles responsible for plantar flexion) where one limb would train with passive rest between sets while the other limb would incorporate loaded stretching. The size of the muscles would be measured by Ultra Sound Imaging and Anthropometry. The duration was 6-weeks.
The results found that the loaded inter-set stretch appeared to modestly enhance strength gains in the plantar flexors. Some of the other muscles such as the Soleus were not as responsive only because it is generally less considered less responsive to anabolism compared to other skeletal muscles.
As they noted discomfort was greater in loaded stretching, they did note that long-term adherence to the inclusion of loaded stretching in Resistance Training programs may be dependent on an individual’s ability to tolerate the discomfort.
It goes back to the concept of the body’s ability to adapt both stretching and resistance training. The discomfort can attributed to developing strength in an extended range of motion. It’s practically no different than building muscle where you are placing stress on the body exercising it. A little stress is needed to drive adaptation. It’s that same adaptation that will pay dividends as you get older.
I talk more about it in my IG page if you would like to learn more.
https://www.instagram.com/negassifit/
Reference
