Every time I see an athlete in the gym who, after doing a heavy squat or bench press, simply packs his bag and leaves, my heart literally sank. In my 17 years of coaching at flexderek.com, I have heard hundreds of fears that Stretching after strength training allegedly destroys the accumulated blood and sweat muscle growth. “Thank you, if I stretch, I’ll lose my tone! The muscles will become flabby, the strength will go away!” - frightened boys and girls, squeezed into a muscular shell, tell me. Today I want to dispel these dense myths once and for all, explain simple physiology and tell how to train correctly, so as not to turn into a clumsy wooden robot, but to build a beautiful, strong and truly healthy body.
Busting Myths: Why Stretching After Strength Training Doesn't Burn Your Muscles
Let's look at the main fear of any gym regular: “Stretching destroys muscle fibers, which are already injured after using iron.” At first glance, the logic seems ironclad. Strength training is micro-tears of muscle filaments (myofibrils). The muscle becomes inflamed, swollen, filled with blood - this is what we call pumping. It seems that if we start to pull it, we will simply break it completely. But this is a deep misconception.
When you train with weights, your muscles are constantly contracting. After completing the workout, they remain in a state of residual tension - hypertonicity. The muscle shortens, spasms and pinches the blood vessels. If you just go home, the spasmed muscle freezes in this position. The body begins to repair microdamages in a shortened state. Over time, this causes your range of motion to decrease, your posture to deteriorate, and your joints to begin to deteriorate due to uneven load.
My students are often surprised when I explain the concept of the fascial sheath to them. Imagine that each of your muscles is packed into a dense leather bag - fascia. If this bag is hard, tight and inelastic, the muscle simply has nowhere to physically grow. She runs into this barrier. Gentle, proper Stretching after strength training returns the muscles to their natural length, makes the fascia elastic and creates the very space for hypertrophy. Stretching does not burn muscles - it gives them freedom to grow.
In addition, the stretched muscle recovers much faster. When we gently stretch the fibers, we relieve spasm and open blood flow. Blood, rich in oxygen and nutrients (amino acids, glucose), rushes into tired tissues, washing away waste products, including lactic acid. In my practice, those athletes who began to regularly stretch after strength training noted that muscle pain the next day (soreness) decreased by 40-50%.
How to train correctly: three golden rules of Stretching for musclemen
In order for Stretching to bring only benefits and not harm your joints and ligaments, you need to follow strict safety precautions. Over 17 years of work, I have formulated three ironclad rules that will protect you from injury and help you get the most out of every workout.
Rule #1: No ballistics - only soft statics
Forget about sharp, springy movements. No jerking! If you start jerking violently while trying to reach the floor with your hands after a deadlift, the protective reflex of myotatic contraction will be triggered. The brain will decide that the muscle is torn and will give the command to urgently contract it even stronger. At best, you will get a severe spasm, at worst, a tear. Our goal after iron is relaxation. You take a position of light tension and smoothly freeze in it for 30–60 seconds. The muscle should get used to the length and “give up”, relax under your control.
Rule #2: Pain threshold is your main guideline
In the gym we are taught to endure pain: “No pain, no gain.” In Stretching, this principle is a direct road to disability. If you are Stretching through wild pain, clenching your teeth and with tears in your eyes, your nervous system is in a state of extreme stress. She will never allow her muscles to relax at this moment. On a pain scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being unbearable pain, you should be at a level of 6, with a maximum of 7. You should feel a nice, deep stretch, but still be able to breathe calmly and even smile.
Rule #3: Breathing as the main tool for relaxation
You won't be able to stretch a tight muscle if you hold your breath. Straining only increases intra-abdominal pressure and muscle tone. Every inhalation is a preparation, every exhalation is a movement deeper into the stretch. Take a deep breath through your nose, and as you exit through your mouth, slowly and smoothly release the tension, going a little deeper into the tension. Imagine how with each exhalation your muscles melt like hot wax.
Practical complex: 4 basic exercises after leg and back day
I have prepared for you a simple but incredibly effective complex that will take only 7-10 minutes after your main workout. These exercises target the largest muscle groups that get hammered the most when lifting weights.
- Stretch the hamstrings and hamstrings. Starting position: sit on the floor, straighten one leg in front of you, bend the other at the knee and rest your foot on the thigh of your straight leg. As you exhale, gently tilt your straight body forward from the hip joints, not from the lower back. The back should remain as straight as possible. Stretch your stomach towards your thigh, not your forehead towards your knee. Hold the pose for 45 seconds on each leg. This exercise relieves the lower back after squats and deadlifts.
- Stretching the quadriceps (front of the thigh). Stand up straight and, if necessary, hold on to the wall or counter of the machine with your hand. Bend one leg at the knee, grab your foot with your hand and pull your heel towards your buttock. Important: keep your knees together, move your pelvis slightly forward, squeezing the buttock of your working leg. You should feel a strong stretch across the entire front of your thigh. Hold the position for 45 seconds, then switch legs.
- Stretch the pectoral muscles against the wall. After a heavy bench press, your shoulders often roll inward. To return them to their place, stand with your side to the wall or frame of the crossover. Place your forearm on the wall so that your elbow is at shoulder level or slightly higher. Smoothly turn your body in the opposite direction from the wall until you feel a deep stretch in the chest and anterior deltoid area. Breathe evenly and hold the position for 45 seconds on each side.
- Stretching the latissimus dorsi muscles (“cat back” at the support). Stand facing any stable support (for example, a squat rack), grasp it with your hands at chest level. Take a step back, tilt your body parallel to the floor and stretch your pelvis back, rounding your back and as if hanging on your hands. You should feel your sides and entire back line stretch from your armpits to your lower back. Direct your breath into your ribs and hold in this position for 1 minute.
My 17 Years of Experience: How My Students Gained Strength Through Flexibility
Over the years of my practice, thousands of people have passed through my hands. Among them were professional bodybuilders, powerlifters, and just fans of lifting iron. One of the most striking examples is my student Mikhail. He came to me with a classic problem: “Slava, I squat 180 kg, but I can’t go below parallel - my back is rounded, my knees fall inward, everything hurts.” His hamstrings and ankles were as stiff as dead branches.
We didn't take away his strength training. We simply added proper, deep Stretching immediately after his gym sessions, and also allocated one full hour a week for gentle Stretching. Two months later, Mikhail not only sat down in a deep, beautiful sitting position without pain. His working weight in the squat increased to 195 kg! And this happened solely due to the fact that we increased the amplitude of movement and turned on those muscle fibers that previously simply slept due to tightness.
When you are flexible, your muscles work more efficiently. They can contract from a point of maximum stretch to a point of maximum contraction. This uses many more motor units. Strength increases, volume increases, and the risk of getting a hernia or tearing a tendon tends to zero. Understand one thing: strength without flexibility is a delayed disability. True athleticism is a balance of strength, endurance and complete freedom of movement in your body.
If you want to train really correctly, forget about the old stereotypes. Start Stretching for at least 10 minutes after each strength training session. You will be surprised at how much easier your body will feel, how quickly your recovery will proceed, and how your muscles will respond to this new freedom.