Flexibility-stretch reflex

[phillipo]

Hi Rip,
First I want to say thank-you for your dedication to this field. I attended your cert in Seattle last year which was fantastic. I highly recommend that others do the same. I have many questions that have come to mind since Seattle but will try to space them out in different threads and ask them one at a time.

1. Regarding flexibility, Lon mentioned at the cert that you dealt with a kid who was so stiff he could barely move but after a few weeks of squatting and deadlifting his flexibility greatly improved more than it had with stretching. I have read the past posts which concur with this. I'm not challenging these observations, I was just wondering what information you or Mr. Kilgore have on the scientific theories/studies behind them. How does muscular contraction contribute to flexibility? Is it neurological, mechanical, etc?

2. Is the stretch reflex activated at the point when the muscle is fully stretched? If so, how does the increase in flexibility from these movements (squat, dead) affect the point at which the stretch reflex kicks in when coming out of the hole? Does it require that you go deeper to engage the same reflex response as flexibility increases?

Thanks Rip,
PS. I have put on 30lbs with GOMAD and SS, thanks.

[Mark Rippetoe]

1. Lon doesn't post on this board, so I'll have to ask him to address this if he has time.

2. There is a limit to the extensibility of the muscles involved -- they won't just keep getting longer until your ass is below the platform when they reach SR activation. If there are extensibility issues, they are usually addressed in the first 3 weeks or so, and then you are at the point you'll be.

[iMagnusX]

Apparently a better stretch reflex is achieved at middle ROM:

http://www.performancemenu.com/forum...12&postcount=6

I don't think the reflex point will change as Mark said, but the effectiveness of that stretch reflex will improve (until one is hyperflexible).