- Okay, this is a video by Brad Walker,
who is one of the world's top experts on
stretching. - Stretching.
And he's got an excellent first name
- Right.
Watch and learn.
♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
- Okay. Hi, everyone.
Dynamic stretching is a real topic
of interest at the moment.
There's a lot of people
who are interested in dynamic stretching.
A lot of people think it's a new type of stretching.
It certainly isn't.
It's been around forever,
but it is new to a lot of different people.
So let's go over some dynamic stretching basics
and have a look at just how to use dynamic stretching.
So, firstly, let's answer the question,
what is dynamic stretching?
So typically there are two groups of stretching
or two main types of stretching.
We have dynamic stretching, and we have static stretching.
Now, dynamic stretching or dynamic stretches
are any type of stretching exercises done with movement.
So things like arm swings and leg swings.
You've probably seen swimmers at the end of the pool
before they start their race.
They're there swinging their arms around,
getting themselves warmed up and ready for their race.
Or maybe before a sprinter takes his marks on the blocks,
you'll typically see them standing behind the blocks
swinging their legs back and forth,
getting ready for their race.
So that's dynamic stretching.
As opposed to static stretching,
whereby you would get into the stretch position
and then you would hold it for a certain amount of time.
So there are many different types of dynamic stretching,
even within the sort of broader category
of dynamic stretching.
We have things like your typical basic dynamic stretching,
then we have things like ballistic stretching,
which is really an outdated form of dynamic stretching.
Ballistic stretching can be quite violent.
It can be quite rapid and aggressive
in the way that athletes move their arms and limbs around,
and it's typically not done much today
just because it can be quite dangerous
if the person doing it overdoes it
and pushes things too far.
It's really only reserved
for high level professional athletes
who are very used to stretching,
they've already got a good level of flexibility,
and they're able to handle those increased loads
and increased pressures.
Some other forms of dynamic stretching
include active isolated stretching,
whereby we move a client into the stretch position,
hold it just for a second or two, and then come out,
and we repeat that maybe 12 or 15 times
so that the athlete is sort of constantly
moving in and out of the stretch position.
Then there's some other types of dynamic stretching.
Loaded stretching and resisted stretching.
These are types of dynamic stretching,
again, typically reserved for more athletes
and sports people,
and they use both dynamic stretching
and some resistance as well against the stretch.
So a question I often hear is,
is dynamic stretching dangerous.
And the short answer to that is yes, it can be,
but just like any other type of stretching,
strength training can be dangerous.
We can get injuries from strength training,
even cardio training, things like cycle riding,
or running, or swimming.
These can be dangerous if we overdo them,
or if we do them incorrectly.
And that's exactly the same with dynamic stretching.
Dynamic stretching is very safe if you do it properly,
but it can be also very dangerous if you don't do it right.
So what are some of the precautions we should take
when it comes to dynamic stretching?
Firstly, it's really important
that you keep the intensity very low when starting out.
So if you've never done any sort of stretching exercises,
you've never been involved in any agility type sports,
so sports like martial arts or gymnastics,
or cheerleading, or dancing, or anything like that,
any sport that involves a lot of quick sharp movements,
it's really important that you keep
your dynamic stretching very low in intensity
when you start off.
Just like any other type of stretching
if you've never done it before,
you can overdo it very easily in the early stages.
So my recommendation would be to at least have
two or three very, very easy sessions
where you just go through the dynamic stretches
very slowly, very gently.
Let your body adapt to what you're doing.
It does take your body a little bit of time
to adapt to the new exercise of dynamic stretching.
So start off nice and easy before you add some intensity,
and get into the stretches a little bit more aggressively.
So build up over time so you're not starting out too hard
and getting sore in the beginning stages.
So let's have a look at some typical
or common dynamic stretches, and have a look at
how you would perform them.
So some of the most basic or common dynamic stretches
are things like leg swings and arm swings.
And I mentioned the examples before
of the swimmer behind the swimming blocks
getting ready for his or her race.
So that's a really good dynamic stretch to start with.
Just swinging the arms around
and loosening up that shoulder joint.
Same with the legs, I gave the example
of the sprinter behind the blocks
getting ready for their race.
You'll typically see a lot of team sports
before they start their sport,
doing their warm up on the field or the oval.
Oftentimes, you'll see two athletes
they'll stand side by side
and hold onto each other's shoulders for balance
and then do those leg swings back and forth.
And again, start off nice and easily
and then gradually get more and more higher up,
more and more intense with those dynamic stretches.
Some other things that are common with dynamic stretching
are things like trunk rotations.
So standing with your feet about shoulder width apart,
and then just slowly rotating your shoulders
from side to side.
Again, we start off nice and easy
and as you start to loosen up
and feel your body adapting to the stretching,
then you can go a little bit further each time,
and extend that dynamic stretching.
Hip rotations are also very popular for dynamic stretching.
So there are exercises where you simply
just raise your knee up,
and then rotate the knee out to one side.
These help to loosen up the hip area,
open up that hip joint, get a bit of space
in the joint there, get the blood flowing around the joint,
and really open up that hip joint.
Some other dynamic stretches
are things like deep walking lunges.
So doing a walking lunge
but going quite deep into the lunge.
So you can do this walking forward,
you can also do this walking to the side
so doing side lunges.
And again going nice and deep into the lunge,
and then coming back out of the lunge.
This will help to open up the hips, et cetera,
all those muscles in the legs.
And lastly, something like a walking calf raise.
So as you walk along, raising up on your calf,
and then lowering down again.
These are all examples of dynamic stretches that you can do
to really open up those muscles,
open up those joints, and get the blood flowing
through those joints and warmed up ready for exercise.
So there's some basic information about dynamic stretching.
Make sure you put those precautions to good use.
Don't overdo it to begin with.
Experiment with some of those dynamic stretches.
Use your imagination, you can probably come up
with a few of of your own ones,
and get out there and give it a try.
Okay, everyone.
Thanks for listening.
This has been Brad Walker from stretchcoach.com.
I've got a whole heap of resources on my website
that are available to you guys all for free.
I have hundreds of articles, I have hundreds of videos,
I have stretches for every sport you can think of.
I have stretches for all the different muscle groups.
I have stretches if you're suffering with injuries.
I can teach you how to incorporate your stretching properly
to help you improve those injuries,
and that's all available to you for free.
So head on over to my website at stretchcoach.com.
Have a look around, use the search feature
to look for whatever you're looking for,
and I'm sure you'll find plenty of useful information there.
Bye for now.
(upbeat bright music)