Relax into stretch

I stretched for years....then I learned to relax and get loose!

One of the steps in going from average stretching techniques, and therefore average results, to superior techniques is learning that muscle length is more about letting the tissues relax and let go than it is about stretching the tissues like rubber bands. The pros know that simply pulling on tissues a while is NOT the best way to gain range of motion. They know they must learn to relax (not to be confused with comfortable and happy).

If you start with a bad premise you get nothing but bad results.

The garbage premise is: In order to make the tissues longer you must stretch them.

The truth is the muscles are already long enough.....they just don't know it. The trick is in learning the skills necessary in order to allow the muscles to relax to their full potential. Most of us are carrying around so much low level tension that we don't even know what fully relaxed is. So we must learn how to release it.

That's right, we have to learn how to do it. This again is another example of how everything we teach at Active Escapes is a skill. Strength is a skill. Endurance is a skill. Mobility is a skill. Flexibility is a skill. I prove this to students all the time when I get them drop into a rock bottom squat or touch their toes for the first time since they were a kid......and I do it in 15 minutes! There is no way I could do that if I had to wait for their tissues to grow longer. By using the Relax Into Stretch and the Forced Relaxation techniques, I use natural nervous system responses to down regulate the stretch reflex and, presto, the muscle relaxes and the joint moves further. We do magic, not miracles.

The difference between the good and the great is that the great ones do the basics just a little bit better than everyone else. If you want to be great, quit yanking on your muscles like piano wires and learn to Relax Into Stretch!

-Cabell