Static Stretch, the uncomfortable kind of move to a stretch and hold for a minute or 2 that feels like a lifetime.

Dynamic Stretch, the 80’s football kind, like swinging your leg back and forth slowly moving to greater ranges of motion.

But whats the point?

To improve range of motion at a joint or flexibility.

Flexibility: The range of motion available at a joint, usually measured in a passive aspect. i.e how far you can be moved by someone else.

Mobility: The range of motion at a joint which YOU can move and control, usually measured in an active capacity, i.e how far you can move yourself using the muscles around that joint.

Something to note here is that everyone responds differently to different stimulus, some people will see good changes from static stretching and others from dynamic but for me I break them up into 2 categories, personally I like to use dynamic stretching for warm ups or general mobility improvements if I have a spare 5 mins and feel like I need to move more or better, I use static stretching for when I have a bit more time, a 5 minute dynamic warm up and then static stretching while resting in the 2 mins rest between sets of squats or whatever other exercise.

THE BREAKDOWN

STATIC STRETCHING, Muscles and Tendons respond to a principle called Time Under Tension (TUT), the more time under tension the more opportunity to adapt to the stimulus. The more time you spend under tension the longer tendons and ligaments are stressed this causes them to thicken and strengthen, muscles also have more opportunity to lengthen and become more springy.

It is taught in many practices that your ability to relax is your ability to breathe. Holding static stretches and breathing into the tight areas will more often than not help the stretched areas to relax and therefore have better lengthening, the more time the more opportunity to breath.

In todays “I want it now” culture people tend to push stretching too far, try and hold a stretch at a 9/10 on the pain scale for 10 seconds and wonder why they aren’t improving, your muscles will literally hold tension to protect themselves from damage, so stretching at a 4 or 5/10 for a longer period ( 2 or 3 minutes) often has better results.

Static stretching is also very measurable, personally I would measure when cold, just so you get a constant reading.

NERVE TENSION, Trying to stretch your hamstring and feel it in your calf? This is called nerve tension or long story short, either your nerve isn’t gliding in its sheath properly or the tension is being held elsewhere. For this symptom you either need lighter stretching for longer time, active assisted stretching such as PNF or to release the other tighter muscles where the nerve is being held hostage.

DYNAMIC STRETCHING, A great way to move through ranges of motion, get the synovial juices flowing and to connect the dots between your brain and a movement pattern.

This is typically not a long time under tension exercise, i.e you don’t swing you leg for 30 minutes and the time at the end range of motion is pretty short in the grand scheme of things.

The brain loves movement, it is one of its biggest functions and the more time we spend moving and challenging ourselves to move better the more the neutrons in the brain get stimulated and fired up, personally I have a 2 minute joint mobility sequence that I got through 3 or 4 times a day, it wakes me up, makes me feel more alive and it is a good opportunity to check in with my body and see whats going on.

In summary I think both are great and a good athlete will have both in their program, they just seem to me like they have different purposes and I use them differently myself, I may be wrong here and I am keen to hear your thoughts?