I am trying to develop a regular progressive program of off-ice stretches and holds which I can do on a daily or weekly basis, to help turnout, spirals, general skating, flexibility etc.

Are there any quite experienced skaters/gymnasts/coaches who can recommend a few stretches and explain how long to hold them, how often to do them, how long before you get results, etc.? How safe is static stretching and how long should you do it for?

Thanks!

AFAIK, static stretching is safe (not to the point of pain, though), and you ought to hold a stretch for at least 20-30 seconds to get any lasting benefit from it. At least, that's what I was instructed to do for my hamstring injury two years ago....lean into the stretch, hold, relax into it, and keep holding for a minimum of 20 seconds each time. Anything less will just spring back to where it began and have no lasting effect.


If I need to be contradicted, please, go ahead!

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[quote:749468cfd7="flippet"]AFAIK, static stretching is safe (not to the point of pain, though), and you ought to hold a stretch for at least 20-30 seconds to get any lasting benefit from it. At least, that's what I was instructed to do for my hamstring injury two years ago....lean into the stretch, hold, relax into it, and keep holding for a minimum of 20 seconds each time. Anything less will just spring back to where it began and have no lasting effect.


If I need to be contradicted, please, go ahead! [/quote:749468cfd7]

and don't, whatever you do be tempted to 'bounce' the stretch - it doesn't help at all, in fact you can get the opposite effect (you'll see lots of people 'bouncing' stretches at the gym). Think of it like an elastic band - if you pull an elastic band out and hold it for a long time it won't fully 'recover' it's original shape (ie it will stretch), if you 'twang' it you don't get the same effect (ie a lot of effort for no stretch).

I've got some great ballet books specifically on stretching, when I've got some time I'll upload some of the stretches to Yahoo! I'll let you know when I've done it. In the meantime "Dancing Longer, Dancing Stronger" is a fantastic book, it goes through all of the body explaining stretching and strengthening exercises. The pictures are a bit out of date but the actual exercises are still very relevant.

I'll dig it out and post some of the explanations up here later

L x

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This may sound really dumb but what is static stretching?

Anyways.....I suggest warming up before you stretch because too much stretching while your muscles are "cold" [b:63ca115da7]can[/b:63ca115da7] result in injury.

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Stretching and Flexibility - Everything you never wanted to know - awesome, awesome stretching link. It contains info on the types of stretching, different stretches, etc. I've printed it off (it's huge, over 40 pages printed), and it's a wonderful resource.

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Isabelle: Static is the opposite of dynamic. In other words, in our context, it essentially means "still." Just like the others were saying in their posts, it is a stretch without bouncing the muscle. You are simply trying to lengthen the muscle without moving it around.

Let me put it in another context. When I do a renal (kidney) scan, I get both static (pictures on the film) and dynamic (looking at the urine actually moving through the kidney on the computer screen) images. See the difference? Essentially, one has gross movement, one doesn't.

Hope I didn't lose you here!!

Beth

[quote:621be0d1ae="Yazmeen"]Let me put it in another context. When I do a renal (kidney) scan, I get both static (pictures on the film) and dynamic (looking at the urine actually moving through the kidney on the computer screen) images. See the difference? Essentially, one has gross movement, one doesn't.

Hope I didn't lose you here!!

Beth[/quote:621be0d1ae]

Yeah, I would say watching urine move through the kidney is GROSS movement!

Sorry, nothing else to add here. I did gymnastics when I was little, so I'm still pretty flexible from that. My suggestion would be to stretch while watching tv - hold each position for one commercial. Also, I found actually holding a spiral position for 10-15 seconds a few times a day helped more than stretching for improving my spiral.

If you like to work with a video, I find the New York City Ballet Workout is excellent for stretching. It starts with three warm-up routines and then stretches that hit every part of your body.

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Yazmeen: Thanks! I get it now. I was always told not to bounce while stretching though.

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What stretches should I do before trying the bielman position? I usually stretch my arms and try to stretch my back to the back and the front... But I still feel uncomfortable especially coming down from the position... can anyone help?

I usually stretch working from top down and hold for 10 counts before I skate. After I skate I hold for 20...

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