Essay On Dynamic Stretching

The Effect of Dynamic and Static Stretching on Muscles Performance

By Angela Saraos

Bio50A_4

Doctor Chang

Mount Saint Mary’s University

Los Angeles, California

3 November 2017

It is always told to us by coaches and teachers that we should always stretch before doing a strenuous activity as to not hurt ourselves, but why is that important? Most people make the assumption that by stretching, we are warming up our muscles to be used by loosening them up and keeping them flexible. Similarly, if we do not prepare our muscle for stretching and take part in an activity that contracts and stretches our muscles, we may injury ourselves and cause great pain. As a former Marathon runner, I believe that stretching is important for decreasing injury and helping train

I believe that the research regarding this topic will support the idea that stretching will increase muscular performance.

Dynamic and Static Stretching There are multiple ways to stretch your muscles, but I will focus on dynamic and static stretching. Dynamic stretching is when we use physical movement to initiate multiple joint movement that stimulate our muscles. An example of dynamic stretching could be lungs and leg kicks. Dynamic stretching is more specifically used to enhance postactivation potential, which is a theory stating that prior contractile history may positively influence subsequent muscle movement. Static stretching is when we stretch our muscles as far as they can go, without straining them, and holding that position for a short length of time, typically about 30 seconds and an example of static stretching is shoulder stretching. We initiate static stretching to relax and stretch our muscles.

Research Studies

Dynamic stretching is typically used as a warm up prior to the physical activity and static stretching is initiated prior to the activity as a cool down. We see these kinds of stretches very often, before and after athletic