Brad Appleton posts Stretching & Flexibility monthly in rec.martial-arts, misc.fitness, rec .arts.dance, alt.arts.ballet, rec.sport.misc, alt.answers, rec.answers, misc.answers, news.answers Ftp-site: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/ Web: http://www.enteract.com/~bradapp/docs/rec/stretching/stretching_toc.html Stretching can help ward off injuries, help recovery after running and can get rid of stiffness before running. Some runners stretch before running, some stretch after, some run for a few minutes and then stretch before their main run. You can stretch better when warmed up, so after some running may be the best time. Personally, I do a few gentle stretches before and after running, taking more time and trying to lengthen the stretches only after running. Maybe once a week I do a longer (half-hour) session, really working on increasing my flexibity, but most people don't bother with this type of thing. The most important thing to say about stretching is DON'T BOUNCE !!!! The old-fashioned ballistic style will do you more harm then good. Stretch gently into position, hold and try to get your muscles to relax in the stretched position. If you are warmed up, try to lengthen the stretch after holding for at least 20-30 seconds. A good calf (muscle on the back of your lower leg) stretch is to stand a long pace away from a wall, lean onto it then either bring one leg forward or lift it off the ground. As you lean into the wall you should feel a stretch in the calf of the rear/lower leg. Bending the knee slightly will move the stretch lower down the calf. You should look as if you are trying to push the wall down. To stretch your quadriceps (muscles on the front of your upper leg), grab onto something with one hand, lift a leg up towards your bottom and grab the ankle with your free hand. Pulling upwards/inwards should stretch the muscle. Keep standing upright. Holding with the hand on the same or opposite side to the leg will alter the location of the stretch. The best stretches for hamstrings (the muscles on the back of your upper leg) are done on the floor. Sit on the floor with legs together, then lean forward, reaching towards your ankles and trying to keep your back flat. Depending in how flexible you are you may be able to keep your legs straight or you may have to slightly bend your knees. You can also spread your legs apart and stretch to each ankle in turn. An alternative for when you can't sit on the floor is to put one foot forward until it is ahead of the toes of the other foot, but still the normal width apart. Lift the front of the forward foot off the ground, so it is now resting on the heel. Bend the rear leg and lean forward. You should feel a stretch down the back of the forward leg. DO NOT use the old-fashioned hamstring stretch with feet together or apart and knees locked in a standing position, or the newer variant with crossed ankles. These risk back damage in anyone who doesn't have a perfect back and good flexibility, which means most of us. There are many more stretches useful for runners - find a book or someone knowledgeable to instruct you. Beware of older books or unqualified people (or anyone who teaches the old-style hamstring stretch or tells you to bounce "to increase the stretch"). There are a number of popular stretches which are either unsafe for everyone or unsafe for anyone who isn't very flexible to start with - these include the hamstring stretch mentioned above, the "hurdlers stretch" (seated, one leg forward, the other tucked back under the body - put it against the side of the knee of the straight leg instead), the floor stretch (yoga plough) where the arms are extended and the legs are lifted over the body to touch the floor, with the head tucked between the body and floor (this presents obvious danger to the neck). Experiment with how altering positions affects the stretch. Find what works best for you and in particular what helps out your own trouble spots. I have to pay lots of attention to my calves and achilles tendons. Some stretches work for some people and not others. It all depends on your skeleton, musculature and level of flexibility. Running strengthens some muscles but leaves other relatively untouched. This imbalance can lead to injuries. The most common example of this in beginners (and more experienced runners) is weakness of the muscles running up the shin. Strengthening these may help to ward off shin-splints. Gordon Haverland <ghaverla @ freenet.edmonton.ab.ca>writes about some shin strengthening exercises: There are 3 kinds of exercise which I tell patrons at my YMCA about for strengthing the tibialis anterior. Two are weightlifting. 1) Walking up hills (on treadmill). A person has to lift their toes more to walk (or run) uphill, which will with time cause the muscles in the front of the shin to strengthen. Using a treadmill means you don't have to watch your step so closely. 2) On a seated calf machine. Normal position is to have the balls of your toes on the rear edge of the footrest, and then contract the calf muscles (mostly soleus (sp?)) to force the weight up and down. If you rest the ball of your heel on the front edge of the footrest, then you will work tibialis when you lift your toes up. Rule of thumb, about half the weight you can lift with the rear calf muscles, but it depends on how muscle bound you are. 3) On a padded bench. Have your ankles overhand the end of the bench (you are seated on the bench). Put a dumbell between your 2 feet. Then when you dorsiflex (bring toes toward head), you will be working the tibialis muscle(s). From Ozzie <gontang@electriciti.com> who believes that it's not a matter of strengthening the shin muscles but teaching them to be elongated. Here's what I do for the posterior tibialis: The muscle behind the shin bone is called the posterior tibialis or the muscle behind the tibia bone. If it is the right leg, cross it so that the right ankle or there abouts rests on the left thigh as when you cross your legs. In front of you as you look down is your right crossed knee and you are looking at the posterior tibialis. Take your left hand and place the fingers so they are holding the tibia and the thumb is pointing toward the inside of the right knee and resting just on the inside of the tibia. Take your right thumb and place it on the left thumb and the right hand grasps the shin bone. Push in lovingly at first and start at the bottom of the posterior tibialis. As you make a small circle with your right foot, you'll feel the muscle push against the thumbs pressing in. As you continue to make a small circle with your foot, slowly push in with the thumbs and slowly slide the right thumb on top of left thumb up towards the right knee. Gradually massage out this muscle. You'll notice that you have allowed the muscle to gradually relax and loosen....and therefore relieving some of the pressure on what is often called a "shin splint."