Why do you need to stretch? - Functional Patterns

If practiced enough with the right strategy, static stretching can become a very useful tool in the re-alignment process.

The problem I see most with people utilizing static stretching, is stretching muscles that don’t need to be stretched.

For instance, most people who stretch their hamstrings all the time may not understand that the root foundation to their tight hamstrings has to deal with another set of muscle groups called, the hip flexors.

Your Gluteus Maximus and Hamstrings are the primary muscles involved in hip extension (opposite to hip flexion). The dominant of the two is the Gluteus Maximus. If you happen to have the habit of sitting a few hours a day, there are these muscles on the front part of your pelvis that are going to become tight.

These muscles (hip flexors) constrict the movement of the Gluteus Maximus when they are tight, because they work in the opposite motion.

Once this happens, the Hamstrings have to take over and become overworked a tight. So the origins of the Hamstring tightness never had to do with the Hamstrings at all.

Now if we wanted to correct this problem with the hamstrings, we could use several static stretches to open up the hip flexors. This would allow the Gluteus Maximus to mobilize, and now the hamstrings wouldn’t have to overwork anymore.

If we can understand why we stretch the muscles we are stretching, static stretching can be an immensely useful tool in your arsenal.