Just a tip I wanted to pass on to all you men over 30. And no, I'm not being sexist - women are naturally more supple than men as they have a genetic advantage, and men tend to deteriorate physically after they hit 30. You need to look at stretching, and especially stretching your Hamstrings. Stretching is one of the three tenets of fitness and is just as important as the other two (Strength and Stamina). Badminton players need to especially focus on their Hamstrings as we spend so much time in the crouched position, and this naturally shortens the Hams. If you can't comfortably touch your toes (without bouncing) in the standing position, then your Hams have shortened and tightened. It's not exactly life-threatening, but it will impact on your game, especially as you get older. And don't worry about looking silly because nobody else stretches at your club, it's your body and your health that's important. Best Wishes Derek.
Yes, stretching is very important. Especially after the badminton session. Warming up before playing helps to minimise injuries......
Even after only a week of doing the strecthes in Downy's book, I was more flexible, and was just a few inches from doing the splits! It helped my game, because I could reach farther in touch situations. Unfortunately, the next week at my first school tournament, the floor was slippery and my front foot slipped forward into the split position and I injured my hamstring. (they refused to sweep it, stating that it had been cleaned the previous night, even though there were dust bunnies on the side of the court!) It's now just about healed, but I'm probably set back a month at least in gaining flexibilty. Phil
I'm assuming the first round of qualifications of OFSAA in his league. Actually Phil is at OFSAA now Wonder how he's doing. The play starts tomorrow w00r w00r. Woops, forgot my reply about stretching. Anyways, I think it is necessary to stretch before, in between games and after. I try to do it before bed but I get pretty lazy. I can't seem to touch my toes! Dang
Oh! Sue their bums off! Neglegence(sp?) on their part. Oh cool! Some of my friends wanted to go to OFSAA but they didn't make it. Yeah I totally agree. Stretching before and after games really helps. Yesterday I played till 11PM and my whole body was aching. My friend saw me stretching and he was like what are you doing? I was like stretching and he ask me why. I said you'll find out why when you wake up tomorrow. I felt almost nothing when I woke up today. So happy! Tare Panda
Yeh, stretching at night really does help. I found this quite useful for the day before tournaments. I don't feel like dead in the morning. I'm sure you've all got that feeling. Monday morning, you're sitting at work or class and all you can do is yawn and think when is the day going to be over Coffee gets me pumped too regardless of it dyhydrating you But I -always- stretch before a tourny day. I'll stretch at night if I play alot (6+ hours) but like I said, sometimes I get lazy.
One of the most basic leg stretching exercises is to stand at least 24 inches from a wall, face the wall, step forward with one foot while keeping the other entirely in contact with the floor, then lean the upper body into the wall using both hands for support against the wall. Gradually move the back foot further out from the wall. Then switch to stretch the other leg. It will look like you are trying to push the wall over, but you stretch the leg by keeping your heel on the floor. It's good because you don't have to sit or lay on the floor and get dirty.
Speaking of age and stretching, I find that, as I get older, it is more important now to keep loose during those waits for a court between matches. Even so, those first few hits & lunges during warm-ups after waiting can be tough, and it gets worse as the night goes on. Interesting article in our newspaper today. A doctor stated that studies have shown that stretching alone does not prevent injuries.
My variation on that stretching is keeping the feet slightly apart, standing a couple feet from the cop car, with my outstretched hands resting on the top of the car hood. This is after a hard night of playing followed by a hard night of brewski. A serious note about stretching though: yes as age starts to hit us, its not so much that we have to stretch our muscles, but more the interconnections such as tendons. In the past year I have had a few friends of similar age who have snapped their achilles. The interesting thing is that each player have been quite active and are very physically fit. But noticed that during their warm-up rarely see them stretching as Californian described. I also feel that with age, it is extremely important to stretch daily - even if we are not playing that day. this reduces the shock to our body when we do play.
Um, it was at Bay of Quinte, which is qualifier for COSSA, which is qualifier for OFSAA. It was at a school that had a good wall and ceiling and lighting, but the floor was fairly slippery, and had to wipe shoes on towel every 5 or so rallies. Phil
Haha... I thought it was a school near me. Then I would of complained about the floors being too slippery. If I were you I would do that. Tare Panda
Thanks! Yep, just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their positive feedback on this topic. Like most people, I just never bothered to stretch as part of my fitness regime, I was always far more concerned about my strength and stamina. Of course, it took an injury (torn muscle in knee) and some major time away from an activity I love for the penny to drop with a huge CLANG! Don't wait for something to happen and then act! Be proactive! Oh, and I didn't use any artificial pain relievers as part of my rehabilitation like synthesized chemicals, just natural remedies like Homeopathy and Massage. Well, it worked for me (actually, this could be a topic on its own....). Best Wishes Derek.
Is stretching of benefit in exercise? Rob D Herbert and Michael Gabriel Effects of stretching before and after exercising on muscle soreness and risk of injury: systematic review BMJ, Aug 2002; 325: 468. This is about the best evidence we have so far. Here is the conclusions by the authors. For those who are interested, the article can be searched for on bmj.com click on the search function and then enter the authors' names to get to the link for this article.
since I'm pretty tall, I stretch a lot just to make myself more flexible and agile, otherwise id be pretty stiff
but they also say Although these data imply that the muscle stretching protocol used in these studies does not appreciably reduce risk of injury in army recruits undergoing military training, it is not possible to rule out with certainty a clinically worthwhile effect of other stretch protocols on risk of injury in other populations I would also say that 12 weeks is not long enough for the study. I would expect army recruits to be generally young and reasonably flexible to begin with. The longer you exercise without stretching, the more flexibility you lose, and the risk of injury increases. that's the problem with statistics and averages. Is it valid to extrapolate the finding s from 12 weeks into "the average subject would need to stretch for 23 years to prevent one injury" most of the injuries they are looking at would appear to come from running with a heavy pack. Other sports offer different risks of injury, and as they say, other populations may find more benefit from stretching. I have little problem with their muscle soreness result, after seeing other research on DOMS.
Funny that this topic came out; I was just talking to my colleague about this yesterday at the water cooler... To be honest, my opinion on that report would be quite balanced based on experience. Cons: Stretching helps to prepare the muscles for movements that need it to be stretched. To start playing badminton immediately with all the glories of smashing and stretching to take that net shot (in vain) would more often than not cause some injury. Pro: There had been time when I had joined a badminton game (in full office gear) without warm up and I ended up fine at the end, no injuries whatsoever. Same applied when I shot some hoops at the basketball court just to kill time. Conclusion: I believe this is more of a fitness matter, rather than the existance of a pre-game stretch. A person with good fitness would often be more capable of producing the goods immediately or quicker than one of less physical condition.
the stretching debate has gone for a long time and there's no clear advantage on either side: 1. there's generally a lower risk of injury if stretching EITHER before OR after physical exertion. 2. there's genreally no change (or slightly higher) risk of injury if stretching both before and after stretching 3. stretching loosens the main muscles as well as the stabalizer muscles. This has opposite effects on body support. (Not stretching the stabalizer muscles provide more support so less injury, but not stretching the main muscles stresses the stablizer muscles more than otherwise and hence more injury.) Personally, i think the best balance is a very light stretch before exercise and a proper warm up.
Current thinking in "sports science" suggests that slow, static stretches are of little value in preparing the body for fast, dynamic muscle movements like those of badminton. What *is* beneficial is a general aerobic warm-up - ideally a 10 minute light jog (or equivalent) before every session. Similarly some relatively gentle aerobic activity afterwards is recommended. If you live near enough, cycle or jog to and from badminton for your warm-up and cool-down. Otherwise you should introduce some kind of "artificial" warm-up to substitute.