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What are the different types of stretching?
New research answers the question does stretching build muscle. But first, let’s talk about what static stretching is, and how it differs from other forms of stretching.
Static Stretching is what you did to warm up in gym class in the 80s and 90s. It consists of holding a stretch for 30-60 seconds, and repeating two to three times. An example would be the standing hamstring stretch, where you reach down to touch your toes with straight legs, and hold that position for a minute or two. Static stretching was the popular warmup routine for everyone from recreational joggers to high level athletes up until about 15 years ago when the other common type of stretching became popularized around the world.
Dynamic stretching is the other common type of stretching, and as the name suggests, it involves moving your body until you feel a stretch, returning to the starting position, and repeating for a specified number of reps, or time. A common example of dynamic stretching is butt kicks, where a person jogs forward and alternates kicking their heel to their butt to stretch the quadriceps muscles on the front of their thigh, while warming up the hamstring muscles on the back of their thigh. This type of stretching is utilized by athletes of all ages nowadays, and for good reason.
Why is stretching beneficial?
Static stretching is great for increasing flexibility and is now commonly performed after a workout, while dynamic stretching is an effective way to increase one’s core temperature, literally warming up the body from the inside out and preparing it for exercise. This increase in core temperature helps to increase the elasticity of the muscles in order to optimize performance and decrease the chance of injury. Loaded dynamic stretching on the other hand, which involves using dumbbells, barbells, cable machines, or other external loads, has been used for decades but under a different name: weight lifting.
While weight lifting is rarely intended as a comprehensive stretching routine, it is a form of loaded dynamic stretching, which is why bodybuilders have been putting a premium on “feeling the stretch” since the art of physique training began. This is because “the stretch” is one of the main drivers of building muscle and getting stronger. That’s why when you do a dumbbell fly, or a dumbbell pullover, any personal trainer or strength and conditioning coach will tell you the most important part of the movement is the stretch you feel at the bottom of the exercise, because it’s that stretch that’s going to help stimulate new muscle growth.
This idea that loading a muscle while in a stretched position can lead to muscle growth has also played out in the research, with numerous studies confirming that performing partial reps in a stretched position lead to greater hypertrophy, aka muscle growth, than reps performed in a less stretched position. For example, this study found that performing preacher curls in the bottom half of the movement, when the biceps are in a more lengthened position, led to significantly greater increases in muscle than when performed in the top half of the movement. That being said, in general, working a muscle through its full range of motion is the best way to maximize muscle hypertrophy, so if you’re trying to decide between half squats or deep squats for your next workout, opt for the deep squats, they’ll help feel the stretch in your glutes and your quads and maximize your gains. So does stretching build muscle? The answer is….yes! But how?
How does stretching increase muscle mass?
Stretching leads to increased muscle strength and muscle size through mechanical tension, which is a fancy way of saying the amount of force a muscle is required to generate at any given time. This tension can be the result of the muscle contracting to lift a heavy object, like a heavy dumbbell, or when the muscle is in a lengthened position, like a standing calf stretch, or both, as is the case in the study above when the biceps are stretched at the bottom of a preacher curl. This lengthened position causes microtrauma to the muscle tissue which prompts the body to respond by increasing the strength of the muscle fibers and the size of the muscle fibers in the hopes that building a bigger, stronger muscle will help prevent a similar stretch from causing localized microtrauma again in the future. The goal of training in general is to push the body just beyond what it is capable of in order to encourage muscles to get stronger and grow in size. This process of stress and recovery is known as progressive overload, and is the underlying principle to any kind of physical training, from weight lifting, to physique competition, to endurance events.
Up until now, we’ve been talking almost exclusively about loaded dynamic stretching, so where does that leave us in terms of traditional static stretching?
Overall, static stretching has gotten a bad wrap in recent years. It’s been shown that static stretching can decrease strength, power, and speed if done before workouts, and generally dynamic warmups are being emphasized to help increase the body’s internal temperature, and the elasticity of the muscles. So is that it? Is static stretching bad for muscle growth and should be avoided at all costs? Not according to new research.
Does stretching build muscle?
We’ve already answered the general question, does stretching build muscle? Yes, dynamic loaded stretching can definitely build muscle, but what about plain old static stretching? It turns out the answer is also yes! A new study showed that static stretching can build muscle. The participants in the study on average, increased the size of their calves by 15% and increased the strength of their calves by 25%, all through static stretching. Now before you grab your sweatband and get your stretch on, it’s important to know the specifics of the study. The participants stretched for an hour a day for six weeks using an orthosis stretching boot to allow them to set the stretch intensity to an 8 out of 10 so it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows to get the extra 15% in muscle hypertrophy. As their flexibility increased, they adjusted the orthosis to keep the intensity of the stretch to an 8 out of 10. Participants saw a 13% increase in calf flexibility on average, in addition to a significant increase in muscle strength and muscle size. This phenomenon is known in the scientific community as stretch mediated hypertrophy.
It may take a while for thorough practical applications of this research to come to light, but for the time being, this research can immediately be put into practice for training calves since the study gives the exact parameters for how the participants grew their calves using only static stretching. So if you are an eager early adopter it’s quite feasible to buy an orthosis and strap it to your foot for an hour while you put the game on. The research suggests it could have a significant impact on the strength, size, and flexibility of your calves.
In the meantime, this knowledge of using dynamic loaded stretching to enhance muscle strength and size can be used to improve training programs that over emphasize exercises of a limited range of motion, like regular spider curls and quarter squats. Below is a list of exercises that create a stretch that will be sure to help you get on the fast track to incredible results.
Stretch based exercises that help build muscle.
Donkey calf raises are a phenomenal exercise because of the unique biomechanics they require. By elevating the toes, and by bending at the hips, both the upper and lower calves are also placed under maximal tension respectively, allowing for greatest stretch across the whole muscle, and more muscle hypertrophy.
Deep squats are great for stretching the quads around the knee, but the natural leg extension is one of the few exercises that stretches both the lower quads that attach just below the knee, and the upper quad that attaches at the hip. This makes it an excellent exercise to build strength and size in the quadriceps muscles. This strength around the knees and the hips helps to decrease the risk of injury and maximize muscle growth since both the upper quad and the lower quads are rarely used in their lengthened positions.
While the conventional deadlift usually allows for more weight to be used, the romanian deadlift maximizes the stretch on the hamstrings, typically resulting in more soreness and greater gains. Take note that the stretch on this exercise comes from sitting your hips back, not reaching the bar further towards the ground. You will feel a great stretch just above the back of the knee when executing the movement correctly.
The deep sumo squat is a variation on the back squat that increases the tension on the glute muscles by having the feet wider than a normal squat stance, and turned out to about 45 degree angles. While the wider stance and foot position technically decrease the stretch on the glutes at the top of the movement, they help to maximize the contribution of the glutes at the bottom of the squat when they are in the most stretched position, leading to an increase in muscle size.
This exercise puts the abdominal muscles in a maximally stretched position which will leave you sore for days after the first time you try this movement. Be careful to ensure that you curl your shoulders up first, then your belly button, and finally your hips to minimize the chance of a low back injury which can occur when leading the sit up with your belly button, instead of rolling your spine up one vertebra at a time.
Seated overhead tricep extensions help to target the long head of the triceps which originates on the shoulder blade and is placed in a lengthened position when the arms are overhead. By controlling the weight as the elbows bend and the dumbbell lowers down towards the mid-back you will get an excellent stretch which will help maximize muscle strength and size of all three heads of the triceps muscle.
The incline dumbbell curl does an excellent job of putting the biceps in a lengthened position in order to maximize tension on the muscle which increases the stretch on the biceps more than the traditional standing dumbbell curl. To create more consistent tension throughout the lift, you can opt for the cable machine instead of dumbbells. Both of these variations are awesome for growing your biceps through stretch mediated hypertrophy.
This is a timeless exercise that dynamically stretches the lats and leads to the v-shape torso that’s coveted by men everywhere. Ensure that your low back is flat when executing the movement and that the motion is coming from your shoulders and not your spine to help prevent injury and increase the effectiveness of the exercise.
The seal row is one of the best rowing movements out there as it allows for a full stretch through the shoulder blades and mid back while minimizing the chance of compensation by rocking forwards and backwards through the chest which can sometimes occur with more traditional back exercises like the seated cable row, or the standing barbell row.
The dumbbell fly is a great exercise to develop strength and size in the chest. Make sure the elbows are at about a 120 degree angle, and remain in line with the wrists and the shoulders to maximize tension through the pecs and decrease the chance of injuring the rotator cuff which can occur if the elbows drift down towards the waist.
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Donkey calf raises are a phenomenal exercise because of the unique biomechanics they require. By elevating the toes, and by bending at the hips, both the upper and lower calves are also placed under maximal tension respectively, allowing for greatest stretch across the whole muscle, and more muscle hypertrophy.
Deep squats are great for stretching the quads around the knee, but the natural leg extension is one of the few exercises that stretches both the lower quads that attach just below the knee, and the upper quad that attaches at the hip. This makes it an excellent exercise to build strength and size in the quadriceps muscles. This strength around the knees and the hips helps to decrease the risk of injury and maximize muscle growth since both the upper quad and the lower quads are rarely used in their lengthened positions.
While the conventional deadlift usually allows for more weight to be used, the romanian deadlift maximizes the stretch on the hamstrings, typically resulting in more soreness and greater gains. Take note that the stretch on this exercise comes from sitting your hips back, not reaching the bar further towards the ground. You will feel a great stretch just above the back of the knee when executing the movement correctly.
The deep sumo squat is a variation on the back squat that increases the tension on the glute muscles by having the feet wider than a normal squat stance, and turned out to about 45 degree angles. While the wider stance and foot position technically decrease the stretch on the glutes at the top of the movement, they help to maximize the contribution of the glutes at the bottom of the squat when they are in the most stretched position, leading to an increase in muscle size.
This exercise puts the abdominal muscles in a maximally stretched position which will leave you sore for days after the first time you try this movement. Be careful to ensure that you curl your shoulders up first, then your belly button, and finally your hips to minimize the chance of a low back injury which can occur when leading the sit up with your belly button, instead of rolling your spine up one vertebra at a time.
Seated overhead tricep extensions help to target the long head of the triceps which originates on the shoulder blade and is placed in a lengthened position when the arms are overhead. By controlling the weight as the elbows bend and the dumbbell lowers down towards the mid-back you will get an excellent stretch which will help maximize muscle strength and size of all three heads of the triceps muscle.
The incline dumbbell curl does an excellent job of putting the biceps in a lengthened position in order to maximize tension on the muscle which increases the stretch on the biceps more than the traditional standing dumbbell curl. To create more consistent tension throughout the lift, you can opt for the cable machine instead of dumbbells. Both of these variations are awesome for growing your biceps through stretch mediated hypertrophy.
This is a timeless exercise that dynamically stretches the lats and leads to the v-shape torso that’s coveted by men everywhere. Ensure that your low back is flat when executing the movement and that the motion is coming from your shoulders and not your spine to help prevent injury and increase the effectiveness of the exercise.
The seal row is one of the best rowing movements out there as it allows for a full stretch through the shoulder blades and mid back while minimizing the chance of compensation by rocking forwards and backwards through the chest which can sometimes occur with more traditional back exercises like the seated cable row, or the standing barbell row.
The dumbbell fly is a great exercise to develop strength and size in the chest. Make sure the elbows are at about a 120 degree angle, and remain in line with the wrists and the shoulders to maximize tension through the pecs and decrease the chance of injuring the rotator cuff which can occur if the elbows drift down towards the waist.
Summary
Static stretching involves holding a stretch to improve flexibility, while dynamic stretching involves moving through a range of motion to increase the core temperature of the body and elasticity of the muscles. Traditional weight lifting is a form of dynamically loaded stretching that has been utilized for decades by bodybuilders and strength coaches alike, but it’s recently come to light that static stretching can also generate muscle growth when done for longer periods of time at a sufficient intensity level. So does stretching build muscle? Yes, it can!
Above are just a few of the exercises that can help you feel the stretch and improve your results in the gym. Some of them are classics, others aren’t as well known, but there are literally hundreds out there. Try them out and let us know which ones are your favorites in the comment section below.
