for explosive power don't stretch first

I had a few posts a while back which explained that stretching was good for tight muscles but that done before exercise it could inhibit performance. The posts about explosive moves and vertical jumps made me recall this older study.

The lesson is fairly clear from this: if you want to be explosive - e.g. in a sport or a fight, warm up by all means - jog, do easy jumps....but do not do static stretches!

For a real big jump.....got to the bottom of this post



Effects of running, static stretching and practice jumps on explosive force production and jumping performance.

AIM: The interaction between running, stretching and practice jumps during warm-up for jumping tests has not been investigated. The purpose of the present study was to compare the effects of running, static stretching of the leg extensors and practice jumps on explosive force production and jumping performance.
METHODS: Sixteen volunteers (13 male and 3 female) participated in five different warm-ups in a randomised order prior to the performance of two jumping tests. The warm-ups were control, 4 min run, static stretch, run + stretch, and run + stretch + practice jumps. After a 2 min rest, a concentric jump and a drop jump were performed, which yielded 6 variables expressing fast force production and jumping performance of the leg extensor muscles (concentric jump height, peak force, rate of force developed, drop jump height, contact time and height/time).
RESULTS: Generally the stretching warm-up produced the lowest values and the run or run + stretch + jumps warm-ups produced the highest values of explosive force production. There were no significant differences (p<0.05) between the control and run + stretch warm-ups, whereas the run yielded significantly better scores than the run + stretch warm-up for drop jump height (3.2%), concentric jump height (3.4%) and peak concentric force (2.7%) and rate of force developed (15.4%).
CONCLUSION: The results indicated that submaximum running and practice jumps had a positive effect whereas static stretching had a negative influence on explosive force and jumping performance. It was suggested that an alternative for static stretching should be considered in warm-ups prior to power activities.




I bet he didn't stretch first!