Week 3:
Bam Jam: Preparation for Game Day sponsored by St. Luke’s Men’s Health.
Stretching is important! It helps keep our bodies flexible and moving fluidly. If you don’t have stretching in your workout schedule, you’re not getting the most out of your workouts and you’re not at your top playing abilities. Flexibility is affected by age and gender (among other factors), so is especially important as we mature, but it is important at any age!
1. Static Stretching– stretching without movement. You stretch a muscle (or group of muscles) to its farthest pain-free point and then holding that position 30-60 seconds. Ease into it, a stretching sensation and pain are two different feelings so don’t confuse the two.
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Increase flexibility
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Increase range of motion
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Derease your chance of injury
Dynamic stretching will:
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Improve explosive power moves.
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Increases range of movement, blood and oxygen to your muscles.
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Improve your performance.
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Decrease your chance of injury.
- Simple leg, arm and trunk motions (with or without the ball) that gently bring you to your full range of motion (ROM).
- Start with small motions and end with big ones, gently propelling your muscles towards their maximum ROM.
- Don’t use jerky or forced movements (this may cause injury).
- Don’t move past the limits of your ROM but you should feel the muscles stretch as you warm up.
There is a lot of controversy about stretching but one thing to keep in mind is…..a program with consistent dynamic and static stretching will make you a better player and increase your longevity and the court.
