Strength Training vs Stretching
This might look like a bit of a dumb matchup, given people partake in one or the other for different reasons.
But there’s a pretty solid push in some circles to replace stretching with strength training with the misinformed idea that they both result in the same range of motion gains.
If we dig a little deeper on this topic, there’s a whole other side to this argument. Muscles don’t know whether we are training with the goal of gaining strength or gaining range of motion. They just adapt to the load.
Most of you would have discovered my content through my courses or programs on flexibility and mobility, so it probably seems like a no-brainer I’m going to coming in hot with a pro-stretching bias.
However, the bulk of my career has been spent writing strength and conditioning programs for athletes, and is really the reason why Stretch Yourself strong came about. I needed to develop a system that allowed the range of motion that athletes gained, to be used in their sport for performance and injury reduction. This means I needed to develop a system that allowed athletes to be stronger through full range, but to also be able to develop power and explosiveness.
On the surface it looks like strength training would be the way to go. A full squat for example should give us a fair bit of range to work the muscle at length.
But what if you want to squat deeper?
Just squatting won’t get you squatting deeper, you need a strategy for gaining range of motion for getting depth in the squat, and ensuring muscles are string enough to be loaded at range.
Besides the logic here, all research comparing strength training vs stringing for gaining range has shown stretching to be superior. But just stretching won’t make us stronger, we need to have a strategy for increasing load at longer muscle lengths. This not only increases our range, but the muscles adapt to this load by getting stronger.
Isometrics are key here, and those of you who have been through the Stretch Yourself Strong course are aware of the beautiful sequence of isometrics that are the cornerstone of the system. When comparing isometrics to dynamic strength training, isometrics have been shown to increase strength more than dynamic training in some instances.
Muscles are dumb, and just respond to load. They don’t care how fancy your program is. They’ll get longer and stronger with the right amount of load and tension.
Strength training and stretching don’t have to be an either or. The real difference between the 2 is the amount of load on the muscles. We could think about this more as a continuum than one of the other. Stretching at lower loads to gain range, and leading to strength training through full range is the key to gaining strength AND range of motion.
If you want to learn more about the ins and outs of mobility and flexibility training click here