Stretching after training

Discussion in 'Injuries' started by Vomit, Sep 24, 2012.

  1. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    Imo it all comes down to your age:
    if you're under 30, you don't need to do anything,
    if you're 30 and over, you can stretch if you want to,
    if you're 40 and over, like me, you'll need to if you don't want to be sore the next day. :p
     
  2. gundamzaku

    gundamzaku Regular Member

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    i was told stretching is not necessarily good for you when your body is cold, and that the best thing to do to warm up your body is what you'll be doing, so if you're warming up for badminton, just start hitting, but hit at 50% just to warm your body and then gradually bring up the power in your shot till you're completely warmed up. post game stretching is always good i was told :)
     
  3. Pakito

    Pakito Regular Member

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    The context I'm putting here is icy cold water, ice. Not cool water. Not children drinking cool water when they are in hot weather, but rather after a very hectic and strenuous sporting event. I'm talking about gulping down large quantities of icy cold water like a whole 1.5L, as this can shock your internal organs at which your body absorbs water at the optimum temperature. Water temperatures of 20 degrees celcius and below to me is considered 'potentially' harmful after these type of strenuous exercise. I'm not talking about your regular stroll in the park kind of exercise. Yes I'm a fan of LD. But I am also a fan of LCW. No need to call me a fanboy. Yes I know about the dubious 'cold water' excuse, I'm not green. Yes I admit using that example isn't not concrete enough. Yes I admit I don't have the statistics and pHD studies for you. But neither do you have a pHD study stating that you drank icy cold water after every strenuous sporting activities and being monitored with electrodes all over your body and is proven that there is not a single negative symptom happening to you.
     
    #23 Pakito, Feb 22, 2013
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2013
  4. j4ckie

    j4ckie Regular Member

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    Careful. Pre-exercise stretching should only be done AFTER a good warm-up of the relevant muscle groups, and only lightly. If you're warmed up thoroughly, dynamic stretching will help loosen the muscles without losing explosiveness, if you want to increase the range of motion of certain muscles, static stretching is better (for example stretching the thigh and glutes will enable you to lunge more easily).
    Keep in mind that lightly is the key word here.

    Post-exercise stretching is a great way to keep your mobility, as it keeps your muscles from shortening (which happens if you train them without stretching). In some cases, it can reduce soreness the next day, although that is mainly due to the prevention of muscle shortening (i.e. you have a greater range of motion where you won't notice the soreness, but actually stressing the muscle will hurt) and because it's a form of warm-down. Warm-down exercises have been proven to reduce soreness and recovery time by up to 33% if done correctly and sufficiently.

    My warm-down consists of:
    1. warm-down jog (~5minutes, very very light, mostly done without shoes)
    2. warm-down stretching (static, done cautiously to not over-stretch a muscle, include all muscle groups stressed during training, and do it symmetrically (i.e. don't stretch only your racket arm/leg)
    [ideally: 3. a short massage of particularly stressed muscle groups (mostly calves, thighs, glutes for badminton players)]

    Another great help in recovery is consuming a mix of carbohydrates and protein right after exercise, as the increased metabolism and blood flow to the muscles will sort of 'kick-start' the recovery by getting the needed nutrients to the damaged muscles quickly. If that is in form of a protein shake, make sure it's whey protein (which is absorbed quickly as opposed to other kinds, e.g. casein which is very slow-acting and thus taken just before going to sleep).


    Agree on the warning against drinking cold water. When I caught a bad virus last year, my doctor suggested not drinking anything below ~20-25°C (room temperature) during and 30-60min after exercising. Exercise stresses your body and thus makes it vulnerable, which also a reason why cold showers are not recommended. Ice baths help in muscle recovery but should also only be done if you're in excellent health.
     
    #24 j4ckie, Feb 22, 2013
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2013
  5. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    @j4ckie :Excellent explanation . Most important is to do it in moderation, avoid extremes.

    Wrt cold water, as with all things it depends. :)

    Depends on the individual's constitution and metabolism, some people are naturally "hot" or "cold" (according to traditional Chinese med). A cold person would feel sick after icy cold drink immediately.

    Depends on ambient temperature, if in mid winter Europe you won't want to drink ice cold water immediately. Just as in Malaysia, you won't want to drink lukewarm water after. Again moderation is key, this time in temperature.
     
    #25 visor, Feb 22, 2013
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2013
  6. j4ckie

    j4ckie Regular Member

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    Thanks :)

    I think the rule of thumb is that room-temperature water is the least taxing. If it's extremely hot, maybe a few degrees less just so it doesn't taste as weird (i.e. in ~40°C conditions you might want to drink water that's about 25-30°C, which is much more refreshing than 40° would be, but not so cold that it's stressing your throat and stomach).

    To clarify the doctor's comment I mentioned in the last post - in the beginning stages the virus caused a sore and swollen throat, which could also have been caused by drinking cold fluids during exercise as the mucosa are more vulnerable then.
     
    #26 j4ckie, Feb 22, 2013
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2013
  7. rogerv2

    rogerv2 Regular Member

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    After every game it is customary to down a can of 325ml 100 Plus. Me and almost everyone I know have been doing that for ages and not a single effect. I have also tried drinking room temperature water to test the theory but no difference. Well there was, the thirst quenching effect was a lot lower.

    As one of the posters commented, same people are just born sensitive to certain things. Reminds me of my friend who gets a cold after a very minor exposure to rain. I can play hours in rain and no effect. For the majority of people it has no effect.
     
  8. rogerv2

    rogerv2 Regular Member

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    I think I would personally say ..
    if you're under 20, you don't need to do anything,
    if you're 20 and over, you can stretch if you want to,
    if you're 30 and over like me, you'll need to if you don't want to be sore the next day.

    I think I read somewhere in this forum Sony seem to stretch for ages (~ 1 hour) after a match.
    Probably has to do with all the injuries he had in the past.
     
  9. Pakito

    Pakito Regular Member

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    The general misconception on 'stretching' is this: some athletes think you should stretch or go all the way down to the last minute 'muscle elasticity' that looks like Hulk doing a Susi Susanti leg split. No, you shouldn't do that. In fact my stretching is quite static, both before and after a game, cautiously avoiding a muscle tear. Just stretch your muscle slowly and keeping track of how you feel. It depends on individual's muscle elasticity. The muscle's elasticity is much better if you are gymnast than when you are a weight lifter, just to illustrate my point. It all boils down to knowing your own muscles. Don't stretch until you yell out with tears in your eyes. For those injury prone athletes, seriously you should stick to static stretching. Static stretching is just as good as non-static ones, in fact the quality is even better. It's just that static takes into effect faster than non-static, but the latter is much safer.

    As for whether you need or need not stretch with regards to age, it's age requirement is quite presumptuous as each person ages differently from another. You may be 30 but your biological body feels like 18. You may be in your early 20s, but your biological body feels like 40s due to smoking and drinking. So you see, it's has got a lot of factors tied to this. As for the habit of drinking icy cold water without any negative effects (not necessary serious ones), unless you are a polar bear or a penguin, I'd rather be on the safe side than risking injury of the internal organs.
     
  10. Pakito

    Pakito Regular Member

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    The general misconception on 'stretching' is this: some athletes think you should stretch or go all the way down to the last minute 'muscle elasticity' that looks like Hulk doing a Susi Susanti leg split. No, you shouldn't do that. In fact my stretching is quite static, both before and after a game, cautiously avoiding a muscle tear. Just stretch your muscle slowly and keeping track of how you feel. It depends on individual's muscle elasticity. The muscle's elasticity is much better if you are gymnast than when you are a weight lifter, just to illustrate my point. It all boils down to knowing your own muscles. Don't stretch until you yell out with tears in your eyes. For those injury prone athletes, seriously you should stick to static stretching. Static stretching is just as good as non-static ones, in fact the quality is even better. It's just that static takes into effect faster than non-static, but the former is much safer.

    As for whether you need or need not stretch with regards to age, it's age requirement is quite presumptuous as each person ages differently from another. You may be 30 but your biological body feels like 18. You may be in your early 20s, but your biological body feels like 40s due to smoking and drinking. So you see, it's has got a lot of factors tied to this. As for the habit of drinking icy cold water without any negative effects (not necessary serious ones), unless you are a polar bear or a penguin, I'd rather be on the safe side than risking injury of the internal organs.
     
  11. gunner93

    gunner93 Regular Member

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    I speak from what had happened to me...No stretching before game, my right shoulder sore after game. With stretching, less.No stretching before jogging, my leg muscles hardened up. With stretching, better.Drink cold 100plus - I feel lazy after game. Drink room temp water - feel normal.Just me.
     
  12. cobalt

    cobalt Moderator

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  13. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    And this is dynamic stretching warmup. Start halfway thru.

    [video=youtube;_vstxD7SA-E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vstxD7SA-E&feature=player_detailpage[/video]
     
  14. Pakito

    Pakito Regular Member

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  15. cobalt

    cobalt Moderator

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    Why?
    .............
     
  16. Pakito

    Pakito Regular Member

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    After a hectic bout of training or duel, these postures releases the latic acid trapped in the muscle during and after strenuous sports, which in turns helps reliefs muscles of tension, stress and pain. In fact, my uncle once saw the diminutive jumping jack of Indonesia, Hastomo Arbi who came to Penang to play friendly games. My uncle saw him doing the 'inverted pose' (see pic below) with his feet in the air. Curious to find out why he did that, he later told my uncle that he was jumping so much in the air, he needed to get the blood back to his upper body and that's why he performed that pose during the break for the decider match. images.jpg
     
  17. j4ckie

    j4ckie Regular Member

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    That's just....weird. There's no such thing as having too little blood in your upper body because you jumped around a bit....all that pose does is relax your upper body...
     
  18. rogerv2

    rogerv2 Regular Member

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    Agreed. Blood pressure has a pretty constant ratio cross the body because there is only 1 pump.
    The only reason I can think of to alter this balance slightly is after eating a lot of food where more blood flows into the digestive tracks.
     
  19. vajrasattva

    vajrasattva Regular Member

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    not necessarily! if its constant ratio there wouldnt be any problems of poor blood circulation existing..
    jump out of bad from a horizontal position into a vertical position immediately some people can black out from it!...
    signs of pins and needles in hands, legs, feet etc is also attributed to poor blood circulation..
     
  20. vajrasattva

    vajrasattva Regular Member

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    more than that!

    stretching helps muscle recovery from wear/tear damage. you can take a search for "stretching activates muscle satellite cells" which are muscle stem cells..
     

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