Perseverance… the quality of all good athletes and successful people.

A new research paper from Florida State University may sound the death knell for static stretching before distance running events. In a question I asked her (see below), principal author Lynn Panton, Ph.D., says she and her colleagues have also concluded another, as-yet-unpublished article casting doubts on dynamic stretching.

The new paper, published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, looked at 10 highly fit male runners who were averaging at least 20 miles a week in their training. Before a treadmill test run, they either sat quietly for 16 minutes or did 16 minutes of static stretching exercises. They then ran for 60 minutes on the treadmill–the first 30 minutes at a relaxed pace, and the last 30 minutes as fast as they could.

With stretching, they covered an average of 5.8 km in the last 30 minutes. Without stretching, they ran 6.0 km, an increase of 200 meters or about 3.4 percent. Eight of the 10 runners performed better without stretching; one performed better with stretching; and one performed essentially the same under both conditions. On average, the stretchers hit a max heart rate 5 beats per minute higher than the non-stretchers in the final 30 minutes. In other words, the stretchers were working harder but covering less distance.

In another interesting comparison, Panton and colleagues measured the calorie-burn of the runners during the first “easy” 30 minutes of the treadmill test. In this case, the stretchers burned more calories than the non-stretchers. In other words, the stretching routine seemed to make them less efficient.

The presumed benefits of stretching are so ingrained in runners and other athletes that it’s difficult to help them understand why stretching might be counter-productive, at least as a pre-race routine. Here’s what the Panton paper says: Increased flexibility might lead to “lower muscle-tendon stiffness and strength,” while “high muscle strength and muscle-tendon stiffness are more efficient.” If stretching increases flexibility and decreases muscle-tendon stiffness, then “it may increase energy consumption during an endurance event, decreasing the performance of trained athletes.”

This leads inevitably to the study’s conclusion: “Stretching before an endurance event may lower endurance performance and increase the energy cost of running.” If you shouldn’t stretch, what should you do? Most studies still support a sufficient warm up. The warm up should probably include short pickups at a speed roughly equivalent to the speed you expect to run during the race. These pickups will prime your muscles without fatiguing them.

Panton and colleagues draw no conclusions about possible relationships between stretching and injury prevention. They have only been studying performance, and only with well-trained athletes. The stretching and injury-prevention question remains difficult to resolve, although there are few studies indicating that stretching is effective.
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Here, researcher Lynn Panton, Ph.D., answers several questions about the new research.

Q: What do you think is the major contribution of your new paper?
A: Of course, our subjects were specifically a group of well-trained distance runners. Most of the previous studies were with power athletes. I think our study follows along with results that have been published with strength performance and sprint performance that stretching before the actual event may hamper performance at the elite level. We’re talking about situations where a second or less can make the difference between 1st and 2nd place. For the recreational runner, I don’t think stretching is going to have a huge impact.

Q: So you don’t recommend stretching before racing? What about improving one’s range of motion?
A: Again for the recreational runner I don’t think stretching is going to make a huge impact. Stretching is very important though for health benefits. The best time to stretch is after you have exercised. That’s when you are going to improve your range of motion the most. We know that individuals who stretch have better ROM and have less problems with back pain.  So it’s still important to stretch but concentrate on stretching during your cooldown,

Q: Any thoughts on dynamic stretching as opposed to static stretching?
A: We actually have a article in review on dynamic stretching. Although the differences were not significant in performance between the strecting and nonstretching group, there were still decrements that could have implications for the elite athlete when 1st and 2nd place can be determined by tenths of a second.

Q: Are you doing any other followup studies on stretching for runners?
A: We also have a women’s study in review too. We did not see the differences in the women, so I am not sure what to think.  Maybe women are more flexible in general, or perhaps our sample women runners were not as elite as our men. But we saw no differences in performance between the stretched and nonstretched groups.

Sometimes an occasional Snickers bar can be a good thing. :^)

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The survival rate for people who have sudden cardiac ar

rest incidents outside of a hospital is only 8%.  That shockingly low statistic isn’t just something that affects the elderly – heart attacks are a leading cause of death in women under the age of 55, and young women who suffer heart attacks are nearly twice as likely to suffer long term damage or die than male victims.  This is partially due to the fact that women, and their doctors, frequently don’t recognize the symptoms, which are different in women than they are in men.  Women who are suffering a heart attack are likely to experience back pain, indigestion and nausea and or vomiting rather than actual chest pain.

Kaitlin Forbes was hardly even a woman when she had her sudden cardiac arrest.  At age 15 Kaitlin was an active, athletic high school student who competed in three varsity sports at Rhinebeck High School in Rhinebeck, New York.  ”I was 15, the only things I thought about were sports, and boys, and my friends. Death was the last thing that crossed my mind,” says Kaitlin.

Then Kaitlin collapsed on the playing field – walking pneumonia, coupled with an undiagnosed case of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), having caused her heart to stop without any warning what so ever.  Lucky for Kaitlin, her school had installed an Automated External Defibrillator system only two months before and trained the faculty how to use it.  That, in combination with her coach’s quick thinking and CPR training, saved Kaitlin’s life.

“I never even thought about the AED, but now I see signs for them everywhere. I guess you wouldn’t know about them until you’re affected by them.” Kaitlin says.  Kaitlin, now 20, has a pacemaker and is continuing her life at a fairly normal pace.  She and the mother of a teammate who was not so lucky and passed away in 2006 due to a similar condition have started a the Heart Safe Club in their hometown.  Kaitlin also serves as a Heart Ambassador for the American Heart Associations‘ Be the Beat campaign, which works to train young people to deal with cardiac arrest.  CPR and defibrillation training is vital for parents, teachers and teens themselves – moments can mean the difference between life and death.

Wow, watch your diet, get proper rest, train don’t strain your heart… and above all realize it can happen to you by recognizing, respecting the symptoms, and seeking medical attention before the attack occurs.