Quote:
Originally Posted by aj.
Hey Nick,
Can you ask Dan Riley what's behind the change in the stretching routine? We're used to seeing them on the ground and now they're line dancing. Is there a particular reason for this?
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Here's what Dan had to say:
"There are more than 360 studies done to determine if stretching prevents injuries. Stretching before practice or games will not prevent injury. Our players need to be warmed up before a game or practice. The literature states that for an exercise to be considered a warm-up, the core tissue temperature must be increased two degrees or break a sweat at room temperature. Stretching does neither. The next best warm-up is active stretching where the athlete moves and takes his muscles through an active range of motion. Those are the types of activities our players perform in the three lines before practice. The best warm-up is performing the position specific skill patterns our players perform on the field gradually performing them at faster speeds until they are eventually practicing at game speed. We only have a seven-minute period to warm them up. The activities we use are best for the allotted time. The time to stretch is after exercise, not before."
He also provided me with a link to
this report on the stretching debate.
Thanks,
NS