Inflexible old geezer

[grizzlybuck]

As an "Elderly" noob to SS (book hasn't actually arrived yet) I decided to start working on my form, using the resources here, and videos here, in the squat and DL.

What I found was that my flexibility is pitiful. I just started some hip and hammy stretches, and now slightly pulled a muscle in my groin. I found some good info on treating a muscle strain and lots of good stuff about stretching here
http://www.youtube.com/v/Zp00_XHvhgI..._embedded&fs=1

Any of you other "Elderly" folks let your flexibility falter, and if so what have you done to get some of it back?

[Mark Rippetoe]

I managed to watch about the first minute of this video and there was not one single materially correct statement in that period of time. So I lost the desire to continue. Maybe it gets better. First, how do you get this full of shit in 2010, with all the resources available on the web to learn about the actual microanatomy and physiology of muscle contraction? I suppose the answer is that you learn from the internet -- maybe from this guy. Sorry for this rhetorical question.

Second, get the idea out of your head that you treat a muscle tear, no matter how small, with stretching the torn muscle. If you realize that a "strain" -- the extremely localized phenomenon we identify as resulting from a perceptible trauma during a movement or as the result of a blow -- is a tear in the tissue resulting from a transfer of energy to the tissue that exceeds its tensile strength, then it immediately makes sense that you don't stretch it, any more than you would stretch a cut in your skin to make it heal. A muscle belly is more vascular and thus heals faster than a dermal wound, but for the first few days after the tear you just ice the damn thing. Stretching it just tears it more.

Soreness is not tearing per se, it is an inflammatory process that is normal in barbell training, and all the stretching in the world does not make it any less sore. It is not an injury, and if it were you would not stretch it. In fact, one of the best ways to get very sore is to overstretch a muscle belly. This is due to the way the contractile elements of the sarcomere interact, and if you're interested there are many online resources that explain this physiology. Don't believe me, look it up yourself.

Third, muscle extensibility -- that is, the ability of a muscle to act eccentrically and concentrically along an extended range of motion -- is largely a function of its interstitial and encapsulating connective tissue bed, the fascias, epimysium, endomysium, and paramysium, since the contractile components are inherently limited in their ability to extend by the connective tissue in which they are embedded. This essentially means that if your muscle extensibility is limited, you fix it most effectively with a myofascial release, and this is most effectively performed by someone other than you; get a massage therapist to mash on you. It's the most time-efficient method of increasing ROM.

[ColoWayno]

Thanks for that in depth response.

[grizzlybuck]

Rip, thanks for checking out that site, and thanks for your attempt at educating this ignoramous. I think I the "strain" occurred when I was stretching my hip, and I stupidly did a bounce type movement, I noticed when attempting some Squats with 135 and shut it down soon after. Regardless, I have been icing the affected area and have attempted to massage said area to get blood flowing, glad I didn't attempt any restretching of my grion.

I'll do some more research on stretching and look into some massage therapy. I haven't gotten SS in the mail yet, so I figure by the time it arrives and I get it read, I have some time to recover and maybe improve my flexibility some before I jump in.

Thanks again for your attempts at teaching the masses, I know that I at least need as much help as I can get.

[ColoWayno]

Maybe it gets better.

No.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I didn't think so.