Stretching makes you stronger?

Published: Tue, 11/20/12

Yo!.. What's Up!
 
Hope your day is going great
 
I've been on fire writing all day tons of different ways to build muscle, methods to lose fat & simple methods to get stronger (both in bodyweight skills & lifting heavy weights)
 
I got notes are all over the place & I might later put up a guide with some of them
 
But back to the subject of today: stretching for more strength
 
Back in June I went to a workshop with Elliott Hulse (if your not familiar with him, hes a pro strongman, strength coach and all around crazy cool dude)
 
I've learned tons from this guy that has increased my strength & reduced my pain
 
One of the things that he emphasized is stretching the tight areas in your body before you workout
 
It's different for everyone but my main areas are: hip flexors, calves, pec minor, wrists & lats
 
I'll do a video showing the stretches later this week, but I want to emphasize the lats
 
A combo that I often do is:
  1. Grab a tennis ball & just put pressure on my lats (around my armpit area) this hurts like a biatch but feels great at the same time!
  2. After that I do a QL (Quadratus Lumborum) Strech by grabbing a pole or the squat rack with one hand & then floating my other hand over my body & grabbing the pole (so now both hands are in the pole) and then I stretch the side of my body
Kinda like when you do a flag pole (I'll do a video later showing it, since it's tough to explain in writing)

This stretches a muscle in your back, but you will feel a big stretch in your stomach as well if your thigh there
 
Ever since doing this my pull ups & deadlift are stronger & I do them with better form
 
The lats are often neglected & stay tight during basic movements you do which can compromise form, or overall be a little thing that stands in your way of lifting more weight
 
So give it a try, hold pressure with a tennis ball & stretch for as long as you want till you feel is good enough (one side will be tighter than the other so spend more time in that side)
 
ha!, You might even want to fall sleep because of how relaxing it is!
 
Stretching is not a sexy topic & often is plain ol boring, but can make a world of difference if you have developed muscles imbalances all around your body
 
I'll try to make it fun somehow,
 
Stay tuned for those videos, I know they will help you BIG time!