Saturday 14 January 2012
Bouncing is Bad
At a Bikram class I went to last night there were a few postures where we were encouraged to bounce. Many people, including the teacher I had, think that bouncing into a stretch is a good technique to improve your flexibility. But bouncing can cause injury and can actually stiffen your muscles. It is also less effective then easing into the stretch and holding it. You want to feel your muscles stretching and perhaps some minor discomfort but no pain.
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That is exactly what I was talking about. In the Hot classes especially there is too much heat, when class is over people go outside to their cars and get a blast of cold air, also. Bouncing is beneficial if you want to increase tone, but not for sustained stretch or lengthening the muscle. This is commonly known as ballistic or dynamic stretch. It does get some blood to the muscle but is usually for athletes and those that wish to 'engage' the muscle. Think of it like breathing, to increase your lung capacity you take deeper breaths, not shallow fast ones... that gets you hyper acidic and prone to cramp. It is better to take a stretch to 50% capacity and breathe, then return to neutral and do 75% and breathe... etc. Good comment.
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