These Advanced Stretching Techniques Can Really Make You More Flexible
If you’ve been following my stretching journey , this is the part where it starts to get interesting. After establishing the regimen, I began to think about whether I was stretching in the most effective way or not. I recently tried a few new techniques.
Along the way, I try to think of stretching in the same way I would think of strength training or any other aspect of fitness that I’m reasonably good at. If someone wants the most “optimal” strength training program, I would advise them to just relax for now, get into the habit, and just be consistent. Don’t get too caught up in one method or guru claiming to have all the answers; most likely it is not.
And there are many gurus in the world of stretching. Many of them will benefit from making flexibility sound difficult (because then you need their programs to guide you). This is not to say that their technique is bad or wrong, but when I see things like this in the world of strength or cardio training, I understand that the complexity is superficial. So, I read about the different types of flexibility and mobility training and tried to figure out what to listen to.
The difference between active, static and other types of stretching
You might think that there are only one or two ways to stretch. But in fact there are many of them, and the supporters of each will argue that their way is better. The definitions of each are not always consistent, leading to even more arguments. So, I will give you a summary of some of the most commonly used terms and what you need to know about them.
- A static stretch is when you hold the stretch for a while (say, 10 seconds or more).
- Dynamic stretching is when you go in and out of a stretch, or you can think of it as active movement within a range of motion. This is done as an active stretch; for example, kicking or lifting your leg while running.
- Passive stretching is when you place a body part in the position you want to stretch. You use props, gravity, stationary objects (like the floor) and/or a partner to get into position.
- Loaded stretching is when you use weight or force to further stretch (for example, hold a dumbbell while leaning forward as if touching your toes).
- Ballistic stretching is when you bounce into a stretch, temporarily forcing your body into a more stretched position than you could passively or actively achieve.
- Active stretching is when you use your own muscles to get into a stretching position. You are contracting the opposite muscles to the ones you are trying to stretch.
- Isometric stretching is when you tense the same muscles that you are trying to stretch.
If you try to figure out which type of stretch is the “best”, you will fall into a deep rabbit hole. I’ve spent the last few days on the acrobatic blogs and in the depths of Google Scholar, and I can’t promise that I’ve figured it all out. Each type of stretch (even ballistic) seems to have its own benefits, and most people who train for flexibility use more than one type.
How to stretch PNF or “PAILs and RAILs”
Again trying to stick to common sense instead of finding the most optimal, I cracked open the textbook I used while preparing for my personal teaching certification . This explains the “advanced” type of stretch called PNF for proprioceptive neuromuscular stimulation. This is one that I often read about but never saw in the wild.
The technique I have tried is considered the most effective, but it is also not suitable for beginners. (Let that stop me? No.) It’s called “hold-relax with agonistic contraction.” And damn it, it works. If you want to try this at home, I would suggest that you do some reading first and make sure that the stretches and contractions are gentle , no higher than 5 out of 10 intensity. They will still work this way and you will lessen the chance that the next day you’ll get sick, or worse, pull a muscle.
PNF stretching is usually described as something a coach does to an athlete; but I thought, why not use the same techniques on yourself? With the above warning in mind, here’s how I’ve adapted some of my usual stretches to take advantage of the PNF techniques:
- I passively held the stretch for about 10 seconds (i.e. regular stretch).
- Then I did an isometric contraction of the muscle I’m trying to stretch by pressing that leg (or whatever) against my arm or a stationary object like the floor. It’s also 10 seconds.
- I then used the opposite muscle to pull harder into the stretch and held for about 20 seconds.
For example, in the toe touch stretch: I reached for the floor, then grabbed my ankles and tensed my hamstrings as if I were trying to rip them out of my hands; then I reached down to the floor again and this time engaged my abs, quads, and hip flexors to pull myself deeper into the stretch. Hell, now I could touch the floor with my whole fingers instead of my fingertips. The results were very similar to the toe touch video we discussed in the previous post .
Then I did the same with the front split/kneel lunge. As you remember, I am not even close to being able to do the splits. So I stretched for 10 seconds, then for 10 seconds I pressed my front heel and back knee into the ground like I was trying to stand up. Then, as a final step, I used my leg muscles to stretch deeper. It was weird: my hip flexors relaxed as expected, but my hamstrings just hurt . They seemed to be saying, “We’ve already done enough! Take it easy with us!” So I took it easy.
Last: standing quad/hip flexor stretch. This is what you see when runners stand on one foot and keep the heel of the other near the buttocks. I stretched as usual for 10 seconds, then grabbed my ankle and tried to pull my foot and knee forward (by tensing my quads and hip flexors). I then flexed my glutes and hamstring to drive my heel further back, and yes, I was able to lightly touch my heel to my glutes, which I couldn’t do in the first stretch. I made a video of this which demonstrates the technique quite clearly (note that the video is at 4x speed):
It wasn’t until I had done that that my rabbit hole dives led me to what’s called PAIL and RAIL (meaning Progressive Angular Isometric Load and Regressive Angular Isometric Load). First you stretch passively, then you do a PAIL contraction, and then you do a RAIL contraction. This is usually the favorite method of the people I mentioned who seem to overcomplicate their explanations, and I have saved it to study later. But then I saw someone say that PAIL and RAIL are the same as PNF, and my God, they are right. Here is a five minute video showing exactly the same stretch technique as in my video above stretching the same muscle group except they hold the initial passive stretch for two minutes instead of 10 seconds and there is a lot of extra stuff about pads and a bench and a stick and you stretch all the sides of your body or something like that. Do these extra things help? May be. But the basic principles seem to be the same as in the standing stretch.
Why PNF Stretch Works
Stretching isn’t just about how far your muscles can stretch; it’s also about how far your nervous system will allow them to stretch. Stretching methods such as PNF act on the nervous system factor.
The first body system we are using here is called autogenic inhibition. Muscles work by pulling on bones, and the tissue that connects muscles to bones is called tendons. Inside this tendon are microscopic sensors called Golgi tendon organs. The traditional explanation is that when a muscle (say, one of the muscles that make up the quadriceps) pulls too hard on its tendon, the GTOs tell your nervous system to relax so you don’t pull the muscle off the bone.
The real story is probably a little different, as you can cause this phenomenon even with a slight stretch (remember, we only need a 5/10 stretch here). But that’s why PNF forces you to contract the muscles you’re about to stretch. This forces your body to relax that muscle. So you immediately go back to stretching, and boom, you can relax that muscle more.
The second stage uses a different mechanism called reciprocal inhibition. Here, the contraction of one muscle leads to the relaxation of the opposite muscle. For example, when you use your biceps to curl a dumbbell, your triceps should relax and lengthen. So in this type of PNF stretch, after you use autogenic inhibition to relax the quads a bit, you then contract the hamstrings to relax the quads even more.
There are studies showing that a PNF stretch program may be better for long-term flexibility than just static stretching. The significant increase in range of motion that you get from a PNF session only lasts for a few minutes, but if you keep doing it consistently over weeks and months you will be able to stretch more and more.
So now I have PNF stretches in my routine. I use them for one of the shoulder stretches, the hamstring stretch, the quadriceps stretch, and the adductor stretch. I do three rounds of PNF contractions for each stretch, and then I do the rest of the stretch in the normal passive way. I also only do PNF stretching every other day, max; if I want to stretch on “rest” days, I will only do exercises with passive stretching.