Passive Stretching is making you weaker and tighter

I’d like to start off by saying flexibility is a good thing, I just do not believe stretching is the solution to inflexibility. If stretching works for you and has benefited you, do not change. This is my understanding of stretching, why I do not stretch, and why I will tell future clients to stay away from passive and lose stretching

So the difference between passive stretching and active stretching is that active stretching is controlling the stretch through an antagonist muscle group leaving you stronger and providing the central nervous system with the knowledge to become flexible. For example, let’s say I’m going into a Jefferson curl (seen at bottom of page), I will flex my quads to bring me into a stretch. Or I’m going into a full range dip, I will squeeze my back muscles to bring me into a stretch that I control.

Ok so the reason I am saying passive stretching leaves you weak and tight is because it fails to provide the brain with adequate knowledge to get more flexible. We have to understand what “tightness” is, and maybe that will allow us to understand why stretching fails to solve tightness. The reason muscles tighten up or feel tight is a survival mechanism. The brain detects weakness in a certain area- let’s use the ankle for the sake of it. The ankle and foot complex becomes weak and the brain knows this. It knows if it allowed the ankle to express its full range of motion you would shred through all the tissue.

In my opinion, I believe this is fascinating. The body’s intelligence is beyond our understanding and truly amazes me everyday. The brain is so dang smart, that it will tighten a joint or muscle group to prevent you getting injured! We do not want to massage this area to make it become relaxed. It is tight for a reason remember.

Now again, the solution to this is very simple. In a very controlled manner, move your joint or tight area through every single possible range of motion that joint or muscle can go through, then strengthen out of it. We are not only exposing our brain to a new area of range, but we are STRENGTHENING out of it (what passive stretching lacks).

Teach your brain to be strong in every range of motion and it will open up new areas of the joint. Don’t take my word for it. I encourage you to experiment. If you are constantly stretching, try out something new. Try getting strong through length and experience the benefits for yourself.