Thread: Need help with stretching

I am need of advise for stretching before practice/games. I help coach a 12u team who is gonna be 14u soon. Now our girls are 13 and 12 year olds and we have had a few injuries that have come back from the doctor as injuries to growth plates. Who did those who have gone through this growing time dealt with and prevented these kind of injuries?

Also an specific stretches that we could add into would as well. We are currently doing the basic arm and leg stretches and give the girls plenty of time to stretch before practice. We use to have them circle off and count but have slowly gone away from that. Which Im thinking might be something to go back to.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Never stretch cold muscles! This is just one of many posts on Dynamic warm ups. If you google it there are some good posts on the subject. Most colleges now use some type of Dynamic warm up at a camp or clinic.

Before You Run: The Dynamic Warm-Up | Active.com

Don't do static stretching, you want to do dynamic warm ups, the days holding your arms,legs or what ever and counting are over. That was way of the past, you need to get the blood flowing, the nervous system awake and standing there and holding a static stretch does nothing, but put the muscles to sleep. You can do stretching after practice as a cool down.

Originally Posted by texas4life

we have had a few injuries that have come back from the doctor as injuries to growth plates. Who did those who have gone through this growing time dealt with and prevented these kind of injuries?

I am not a Doctor but I am not sure you can prevent this type of injury no matter what you do as a parent or a coach. DD has a growth plate issue in her foot.

I always hear NOT to do static stretching, but can't it be PART of the warmup, ie slow stretch first just to get the kinks out and then do dynamic stretching....building to something that's at least a bit aerobic to get the blood flow/heart pumping a bit, like cherry-pickers, karaokes, down and backs etc....

Is there an actual downside to brief static stretching? (If I can be convinced, I guess we'll stop it altogether...but a few minutes circled up doesn't seem harmful and feels like a good part of a routine...)

By the way, if you search for Austin Wasserman (austinwass) and PM him he'll send you a nice PDF with a bunch of dynamic warmups....he offered in another post and was kind enough to send them to me...

I would be more than happy to send a copy of our Dynamic Warm Up to those who are interested. Email me at austin@abathletics.com.

RichK, hope the Dynamic Warm Up is working out great!

Thanks,

Austin

Originally Posted by RichK

I always hear NOT to do static stretching, but can't it be PART of the warmup, ie slow stretch first just to get the kinks out and then do dynamic stretching....building to something that's at least a bit aerobic to get the blood flow/heart pumping a bit, like cherry-pickers, karaokes, down and backs etc....

Is there an actual downside to brief static stretching? (If I can be convinced, I guess we'll stop it altogether...but a few minutes circled up doesn't seem harmful and feels like a good part of a routine...)

By the way, if you search for Austin Wasserman (austinwass) and PM him he'll send you a nice PDF with a bunch of dynamic warmups....he offered in another post and was kind enough to send them to me...

We jog 3 laps around the inside of the fence to get the system warmed up. After that I'm pretty sure it is safe enough to do static stretching. At least as far as being warmed up.

Originally Posted by Greenmonsters

I think you've missed the point SBP. Static strectching actually limits performance; dynamic warm ups focused on sport-specific movements are more effective. Check out the host site for this forum, follow up on Austin's offer above, talk to exercise or physical therapy specialists etc.

My bad—what was I thinking? We do dynamic stretching after the jog. We do an abbreviated form of static stretching AFTER workouts. Very abbreviated; we hang from an overhead bar for 20 seconds.