Feel Good Fridays: giving back to self
Strength without flexibility is nothing. And the converse is true. As in everything, we need balance. I learned that lesson the hard way; through trial and error and injury and recovery. Ultimately, I discovered for myself what I consider to be the "healthy trinity": Pilates, Therapeutic Massage and Active Isolated Stretching. When I finally replaced my uninformed and misguided training methods with my "healthy trinity", I started to experience life more fully in my body.
What is Active Isolated Stretching?
AI Stretching is a comprehensive system of stretching designed to:
- Achieve ideal posture
- Increase elasticity of muscles, joints & fascia
- Maintain mobility and range of motion in our joints
- Promote circulation of blood and lymph
- Maintain a healthy nervous system
- Improve sports performance
- Decrease risk of injury
- Reduce muscle soreness
- Accelerate recovery
AI Stretching has been used by professional athletes, sports/personal trainers, physical therapists and massage therapists for decades because it's the most effective technique to achieve maximum flexibility without the soft-tissue damage caused by static stretching.
The effectiveness of AI Stretching can be attributed to its application of 2 basic rules of human physiology.
1. Sherrington's Law of Reciprocal Innervation: When a muscle contracts (agonist), there is a corresponding inhibition of the opposing muscle (antagonist) causing it to relax.
2. Stretch Reflex: When a muscle lengthens beyond a certain point, the stretch reflex (aka "myotatic reflex") causes it to tighten and attempt to shorten.
The AI Stretch Technique
1. Isolate & Position the muscle you want to stretch so that it’s not weight bearing. That way, it can achieve its fully relaxed state allowing for optimal stretch potential. Why is it important that the muscle not be weight bearing?
Here's an example: Imagine your client has just finished Running on the Reformer and they’re craving a great calf stretch. So, you have them keep their toes on the foot bar, bend one knee and let the other heel reach forward. They hold the stretch and breathe... Their calf muscle is no doubt lengthening, but it’s simultaneously contracting, too, because it’s supporting their body weight. This is an eccentric contraction. Although it may feel awesome in the moment, eccentric contraction is more ideal for strengthening and toning a muscle.
2. Contract the opposing muscle group to the end of the existing range of motion. Your target muscle will naturally relax. (Sherrington’s Law of Reciprocal Innervation)
3. Apply gentle pressure in the direction of the stretch to move the stretched muscle to a point of “slight irritation.”
4. Hold the stretch for only 2 seconds to avoid the stretch reflex from kicking in. Then, release the joint back to the starting position and repeat up to 10 times.
When I got certified in AI Stretching, I learned a full-body system that was divided into 5 zones:
- ZONE 1: Upper legs, hips and trunk (the foundation)
- ZONE 2: Shoulders
- ZONE 3: Neck
- ZONE 4: Arms, elbows, wrists, and hands
- ZONE 5: Lower Legs, ankles and feet
Within each zone, we learned how to assess the mobility of specific muscles on a scale of "too tight" to "hypermobile". Plus, we learned how to effectively stretch ourselves and how to be a facilitator for others.
The Results
The controlled repetitions allow for incremental increases in range of motion. Plus, the active motion warms the tissue by stimulating blood flow to the area which, in turn, delivers oxygen and nutrients that keep the tissue healthy. I kid you not... after completing all 5 zones, you feel as if you've just had an invigorating full body massage!
There's More...
Remember the example above? Well, how would you stretch your calf muscles using Active Isolated Stretching? Stay tuned... I'll show you next week!
Rock Your Powerhouse!
Kira
first of all, sorry my bad english!
i'm a physical therapist from brasil, and a student of classical pilates at a power pilates school here in sao paulo.
i was searching for "lower crossed syndrome pilates" at google than i find you.
i became admired with your story and your blog, so well posted.
so, cliking and cliking i found something called AI STRETCHES, and became more fascinated!!
for year i tried to find a better way to stretch my pacients, and AI-S seens to be the most efective way to do that.
this comment is just to say tank you.. because i already in contact with wharton performance to get some books and dvds.
if you have some tip for me.. please mail me!!
bye bye
Posted by: Philip | February 17, 2008 at 10:13 AM