Thread: Guide to Running

That's been the line of thought for many many years. It changed my freshmen year of college, when all NCAA coaches stopped doing that. The CDC did an extremely large scale study about the effects of stretching before exercise and overturned that thinking in 2004. Damn, I can't find the study itself, but google CDC 2004 and stretching and you'll find lots and lots of articles referring to it. Olympic and NCAA coaches stopped extensive pre-workout stretching then. The teams still stretch, but not nearly as much.

Originally Posted by ninja9578

That's been the line of thought for many many years. It changed my freshmen year of college, when all NCAA coaches stopped doing that. The CDC did an extremely large scale study about the effects of stretching before exercise and overturned that thinking in 2004. Damn, I can't find the study itself, but google CDC 2004 and stretching and you'll find lots and lots of articles referring to it. Olympic and NCAA coaches stopped extensive pre-workout stretching then. The teams still stretch, but not nearly as much.

Wow. I have been out of the loop on that since the early 90's. Maybe that change in thought has to do with why the times have gotten a good bit better.

It reminds me of how the thinking on running your guts out every single practice changed around the late 60's. My dad used to screw with me for training the way the biggest experts in the world believed in training. He had the 50's and early to mid-60's mentality that you are supposed to push it to the limit every time you run. I think maybe he still does. I could never convince him otherwise.

Ninja, what is the best the best foundation to run on? Asphalt or grass?

Originally Posted by Abra

Ninja, what does DDR do for my running? :B

It'll increase your joint strength and coordination, it does very good things for your running.

Originally Posted by XeL

Ninja, what is the best the best foundation to run on? Asfalt or grass?

Grass. It's soft but not too soft. Asphalt is way way too hard, it'll give you shin splints. Sand is way way too soft, it'll make your ankles tendonitis.

Ninja, I have been trying the reduction in stretching technique with my long runs and bike rides, and my legs are killing me. The new tightness in my hamstrings is pulling my back muscles and making my back hurt too. I really don't think it's for everybody.

Are you cutting down on stretching entirely or cutting down before running? You need to stretch just as much, you just need to do it afterwards. After many years of stretching the old way, your body needs to adjust to it.

Originally Posted by ninja9578

Are you cutting down on stretching entirely or cutting down before running? You need to stretch just as much, you just need to do it afterwards. After many years of stretching the old way, your body needs to adjust to it.

Oh, maybe so. I thought you meant there should not be much stretching ever.