Totally overrated: Fitness Guru Froböse shattered popular sports myth

Professor Froböse, most of the fitness courses, and Work-start out or end with stretching exercises. Many Studios even offer a pure Stretching classes. This is useful for you?

Ingo Froböse: The whole question is, what is the purpose of the muscle stretches to warm him? Or the mobility of the joint improved? What exactly should the effect of the Exercises?

What exactly is causes for Stretch?

The muscle is pulled in the length. You can imagine how crossed fingers that it solves of each other: The protein filaments, from which the muscle is built, to be pulled apart.

Why is this necessary?

Necessary Stretch is really only for people whose mobility is restricted, or for athletes who want to increase the mobility of certain joints, specifically on the normal level. Spear-thrower, for example, moving the shoulder need joints to be able to Throw that far on the swing. Turner are especially in need of moving the hip and leg joints can be a balancing act.

What is learning, sitting at a Desk and whose muscles is shortened is not a sport?

For me "verkürzt" of a misnomer, because the muscles are only rarely shorter, but they stick mostly. You move too little, the metabolism slows down in the muscles and this is worse supplied with liquid and nutrients.

The consequence of this is that the fluid in the muscle is tough and the sliding movements are not so smooth to run. The structures remain in the folded position, the glue is actually really. To solve it, you have to stimulate the metabolism in the muscles, in order to be better supplied with liquid. You can do this with any kind of movement, not only with stretching exercises.

Instead of extending, you could do so also Gymnastics or go for a walk?

When it comes to mobilise stiff muscles, Yes. The Key is that you will hook the taped muscle, the metabolism is activated.

Nevertheless, one hears and reads again and again, Stretching is so important, for example to prevent soreness.

Stretching is overrated in General. Muscle soreness is an inflammatory response of the muscle by stretching exercises.

Stretching exercises help prevent existing muscle soreness?

Muscle soreness occurs when the muscles are heavily used. The muscle fibers are small cracks, you must repair the body after Training only once to form. The immune system inflammatory cells in the muscle fibers transported, making them swell. The muscle swells, which causes a feeling of tension.

This is not bad, the tissue damage have a positive effect: The stimulus stimulates the muscle building. It is claimed the muscle but in addition through stretching exercises, you risk to disturb the muscle in the healing and growth.

Why does it feel so good to stretch but the muscles?

Probably because the movement stimulates the metabolism and the lymph flow, promotes. The scrap generated during the repair of the tissue is removed faster, which will reduce the swelling temporarily and thus the feeling of tension relieves.

Stretching helps?

Slightly stimulating movements that activate the metabolism, can help. Stretching exercises should be avoided in the case of muscle soreness after the strength training but, because you can cause additional muscle injuries, and thus the healing process to stop.

Some runners stretch between rounds. What do you think?

If you are training on Sprint speed, is the even more counterproductive. Stretching reduces the Tonus of the muscles, increases the flexibility of the joints and temporarily decreases their stability. A Sprinter stretching his leg muscles before a run, the knees and ankles therefore initially unstable.

For their stabilization, the leg muscles have to expend more power, which they missing for the acceleration of the movement speed. The runner is so slow, when it is stretched before or during exercise because of the muscle tone and thus the bias is too low.

There are muscles which you should stretch, in principle, no?

We say so For certain sports, it should strengthen certain muscle groups and stabilize as a stretch. Swimmers sacrifice the mobility of the trunk for the benefit of a large back muscle. Footballers to take a powerful shot, the limited mobility of your legs.

And Non-Athletes?

Not athletes, I would recommend to stretch only if they are restricted in their mobility. And only to the extent that the muscle is not stretched. Much more important than Stretching, regular exercise, if possible, the whole body is claimed. Walking, Cycling, Swimming, soccer: no matter, the main thing is you keep moving.