dirtymangos wrote:
It is very clear to me (from personal experience) that stretching after running and cycling reduces soreness and helps with cramping and tightness.
Ice baths do the same thing.
On the other hand:
The reason that we train is not to be sore. It is to cause our bodies to change in response to the training stimulus.
If stretching and ice baths reduce soreness, then do they also limit the bodies response to the training stimulus?
Well maximum adaptation is only one of my training goals.
Feeling good is another.
If stretching reduces soreness but also reduce my bodies adaptation to training it is a fair trade off- if I feel better.
I will continue to stretch.
I don't see how stretching or an ice bath, or a hot bath, could possibly "reduce your adaptation". When we train, we raise our heart rates and use our muscles strenuously, whereas when we stretch or take any sort of bath, we only change our HR marginally and we aren't really using our muscles in a strenuous manner, so i don't see how any of these things could interfere with adaptation. Certainly, it does feel good to stretch out tired muscles but my sense is that this is just a pleasant sensation w/ little relation to swimming/biking/running at a training pace. I stretch about 15 minutes or so after about 80% runs but, if it is raining or i'm in a hurry, i skip the stretching session and don't worry about it. I never notice the next day that i did not stretch yesterday.
All of that said, the only stretching I do religiously is what you might call "the swimmer's stretch", i.e. i put my arms up over my head in the "streamline position" and then stretch them as hard as i can up to the ceiling prob about 8-10 times per day. I don't really count this as stretching per se b/c it is so ingrained as to be almost reflexive, i.e. i don't even have to be thinking about it and might find myself just doing it unconsciously while talking to someone about something entirely unrelated to swimming. However, if you were to take 8 to 10 x 1.5 min, then i do about 12-15 min of shoulder stretching 365 days/yr:)
"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."