Does a recent increase in flexibility affect strength?

[Jaylene Deane]

Hi all.

An experience I had this Sunday with some sprint training has left me a little puzzled, and the explanation I've come up with I'd like to know if I'm anywhere near the mark.

I've gained probably two inches in hamstring flexability in the last few weeks, and it is a consistant gain, I can display it when not warmed up, but I have experienced a very sudden decrease in explosivness when I sprint. The 'turbo' isnt there, so to speak. Is it because my strength in the increase ROM is weak, or now I have the greater ROM, its exposing the weakness of other muscles? Is this also why it takes so long to develop strength in statics as one is also gaining flexibility at the same time, for example the German hang?

[Joshua Naterman]

Your nervous system may be down-regulating your ability to produce force while your muscles adjust to the new length.

If you have been stretching pretty hard and consistently you are probably inhibiting your power output.

Whatever the case may be, you will probably need to do specific rate of force development work like low reps (2-3 reps) of flying 20-40m runs for top speed work. You will probably also want to do low level plyometrics on a fairly consistent basis, like single leg ballistic back extensions and toe hops. Working low reps of jumps may help as well, especially in your start. Do two jumps for max length and then rest a minute. That's 1 rep. After 2-3 reps, take 3-5 minutes of rest and repeat. This is PURELY to teach your body to become explosive again.

As far as the stretching goes, give active isolated stretching a try. You hold a stretch for not more than 2 seconds, take 3-5 seconds rest, and apply the stretch again. You do as many reps as you want, but usually you don't get much past 15-20 reps, at least in my experience. This allows you to teach the muscle to allow itself to stretch more fully without activating any inhibitory mechanisms in the body. Put simply, this lets you stretch without making yourself less explosive.

Long stretches tend to actually stretch the tissues themselves, while AIS-type methods tend to teach the body to allow muscles to fully lengthen. Personally, if your goals are purely athletic AIS type stretching is what you need. You should be doing it every day at least once a day for maximum results, but just stretching before your workouts will work well. I would stretch before the warm up.

Speaking of warm ups, try to have a good active warm up that primes your body for sprinting.

I'm sure there's a ton of other suggestions that can be made, I don't want to fill the entire internet. Just keep it simple: if you want to be REALLY fast you have to make speed your primary goal, and that means you need specific power training, which is what I described above. What I wrote is very minimal, but it's enough to take you a long long way. I hope that helps.

[Jaylene Deane]

Slizz, you're damn awesome. Thanks for the advice on what to do better and the expanation. Oh, and I'll have to take a photo some time and post it up for you. I made one of your quotes a inspirational banner. It hangs in my workout room!

[Joshua Naterman]

Hahaha, thanks! That will be cool to see.