Breaking Down the Bro Bible
When I first walked into the gym for my premiere experience
as a paying gym member, at a moderate-to-poorly equipped fitness suite in a
sports centre in Kidderminster, I didn’t have a clue what the hell I was doing.
I took a look around, glanced down at the generic workout card I had been given
by the smiling faces behind the desk, and picked the least-imposing (yet most
masculine, obviously) machine I could see and went to work.
Except, as previously stated, I didn’t have a clue what the hell I was doing.
Until, that was, a pretty swole-looking guy came over and gave me what he felt was some much needed advice. As a new recruit to the gym fraternity I was pretty keen to take on this guy’s words of wisdom, thinking he’d have me looking like Hercules in no time.
I was mistaken.
Turns out this guy was a total bro, spouting standard broscience.
Except, as previously stated, I didn’t have a clue what the hell I was doing.
Until, that was, a pretty swole-looking guy came over and gave me what he felt was some much needed advice. As a new recruit to the gym fraternity I was pretty keen to take on this guy’s words of wisdom, thinking he’d have me looking like Hercules in no time.
I was mistaken.
Turns out this guy was a total bro, spouting standard broscience.
Broscience - "Broscience is the predominant brand of reasoning in bodybuilding circles where the anecdotal reports of jacked dudes are considered more credible than scientific research."
That’s not to say he wasn’t
friendly, or he wasn’t a cool guy, or that he was a rung lower on the
evolutionary ladder, it was just broscience.
So what I’m going to do is take this opportunity to share with you some of his advice, so that you either don’t take it on-board as fact when some other gym bro decides to ‘initiate’ you (if you’re fairly new to the gym), or so that you don’t become that guy doling out this kind of uninformed advice and, frankly, damaging people.
So what I’m going to do is take this opportunity to share with you some of his advice, so that you either don’t take it on-board as fact when some other gym bro decides to ‘initiate’ you (if you’re fairly new to the gym), or so that you don’t become that guy doling out this kind of uninformed advice and, frankly, damaging people.
“Dude, you’ve got to hit it 3 x 10”
According to this guy who
approached me in the gym, my ‘hypertrophy response would really kick in’ if I hit 3 sets of 10 reps.
How long for? Well, forever.
Apparently, regardless of the fact he had literally no information on me, my background, my training goals, my current training experience or my understanding of exercise, he knew that 3 x 10 was officially the best thing for me to do.
Now look, beginners at the gym need to have a structure to their workouts because not having a plan is just a recipe for disaster. Various studies have shown that having an actual plan to your workouts, especially the use of periodization (which I can’t afford the word limit to go into), will always deliver better results than doing otherwise (Willougby, 1993; Fleck, 1999), so of course a plan is a necessity for any gym-goer. In addition, a periodized plan (as suggested in the research) has something very important that this gym bro had neglected to tell me – in a proper training plan the stimuli changes along with the muscular response. It’s what’s known as the overload principle – that a muscle will adapt to whatever stimuli it is presented with in order to better cope with it in future, therefore we must continually seek to overload our muscles with further stimuli (such as higher volume or higher intensity) to see improvements. Picking up your 35kg bar for some curls and doing 3 sets of 10 reps is all good and well, until your muscles adapt to it, at which time get ready to switch it up (add another set, more reps in each set, or raise the weight), or prepare to see less and less return on your investment.
Here’s what I’m saying – there is no ‘ideal’ rep or set scheme that will see you through your entire gym-going life. You want to train for strength? Great, get a strength plan that cycles you on and off of straight-up strength set/rep ranges (so you don’t overdo it on taxing the nervous system, etc). Want to work on muscular endurance? Brilliant, I doubt you’ll see many sets of 3 reps but you certainly won’t only ever see one scheme of sets and reps.
Speaking of the ‘one-size fits all’ mentality…
How long for? Well, forever.
Apparently, regardless of the fact he had literally no information on me, my background, my training goals, my current training experience or my understanding of exercise, he knew that 3 x 10 was officially the best thing for me to do.
Now look, beginners at the gym need to have a structure to their workouts because not having a plan is just a recipe for disaster. Various studies have shown that having an actual plan to your workouts, especially the use of periodization (which I can’t afford the word limit to go into), will always deliver better results than doing otherwise (Willougby, 1993; Fleck, 1999), so of course a plan is a necessity for any gym-goer. In addition, a periodized plan (as suggested in the research) has something very important that this gym bro had neglected to tell me – in a proper training plan the stimuli changes along with the muscular response. It’s what’s known as the overload principle – that a muscle will adapt to whatever stimuli it is presented with in order to better cope with it in future, therefore we must continually seek to overload our muscles with further stimuli (such as higher volume or higher intensity) to see improvements. Picking up your 35kg bar for some curls and doing 3 sets of 10 reps is all good and well, until your muscles adapt to it, at which time get ready to switch it up (add another set, more reps in each set, or raise the weight), or prepare to see less and less return on your investment.
Here’s what I’m saying – there is no ‘ideal’ rep or set scheme that will see you through your entire gym-going life. You want to train for strength? Great, get a strength plan that cycles you on and off of straight-up strength set/rep ranges (so you don’t overdo it on taxing the nervous system, etc). Want to work on muscular endurance? Brilliant, I doubt you’ll see many sets of 3 reps but you certainly won’t only ever see one scheme of sets and reps.
Speaking of the ‘one-size fits all’ mentality…
“Isolation means gains, bro”
“Want bigger arms? Better
isolate those bi’s with some concentration curls, bro! Bigger legs? Isolate
them quads on the leg extension and hams on the leg curl, buddy! Want size on
your chest? Isolate dem pecs with some flyes, holmes!”
This seems to be a pretty well-rehearsed bro-line in the gym and the guy I met was pretty on-top of this particular script.
Don’t get me wrong, isolation is not a bad thing. Isolation is a fantastic way to get extra hypertrophy response in specific areas that are not as targeted as independently in a compound move. What is wrong, however, is reliance on isolation moves as the basis on which you base your entire training plan.
Let’s be frank, if you want a bigger lower half then you’re going to be deadlifting, and you’re going to be squatting – those are the basis of any good lower extremity plan, because without them you will not see the ‘GAINZ’ you’re probably looking for. If you want a bigger upper half then you’ll be bench pressing and overhead pressing, etc.
There are good reasons for this, despite what some bros will tell you, and it begins with training goals. If your training goals revolve purely around aesthetics (looking swole) with absolutely no interest in functional strength then doing isolation-only may well work out fine for you (although trying to get bigger and more shredded without using compound moves is like trying to learn to swim without a pool – you can certainly do it, but it’s not the most expedient way to go about it). If your goals aren’t just to look like a swollen monster from a second-rate horror movie then you’re going to want to use compound movements.
Firstly, a compound movement taxes a much broader range of muscles/muscle groups than an isolation exercise (obviously), meaning that it’s a far more effective use of your precious gym time. And because they hit more than one muscle at a time they’re far more useful in a functional sense. Consider how the body moves in real life, in everyday activities and sporting activities; when Roger Federer is striking a backhand, or when Jon Jones is hitting a takedown, are they using one singular limb in isolation, or are they using their entire body in a coordinated and powerful manner? On a less grandiose scale, when you get out of a chair, or walk up the stairs, are you using your whole body or isolating one muscle/limb at a time? You use your whole body, so why wouldn’t you train to become more coordinated and use that whole body more effectively? Because that’s what happens in compound movements (Thompson & Baldwin, 2007). And while we’re at it, becoming more coordinated and being able to use your whole body effectively reduces your risk of injury (Kraemer, 2003).
Secondly, as discussed previously, the overload principle is necessary for growth to occur, and at some point that means you need to be getting stronger. Compound movements are far, far easier to get your progressive overload on, and much easier to get stronger in (Kraemer, 2002). If you think you can become a really strong guy by doing cable flyes and not bench pressing, you’re going to struggle.
Thirdly, and finally (because this point is becoming a tad belaboured) compound lifts increase testosterone production, and some studies have suggested that compound lifts could increase release of growth hormone (Kraemer, et al., 1990; Godfrey, et al., 2003). Now, without boring you with biology, testosterone and growth hormone are pretty essential for building muscle, that’s a fact you can just do a google scholar search on to double-check because the list of references would be too silly to put here. Pretty much all resistance exercise will cause a rise in testosterone as a response to the exercise, but there are a few variables that can affect to what extent the testosterone rises, such as volume, intensity, and the muscle mass being stimulated (Kraemer, et al., 1999). It’s that last one we’re going to fixate on here for a second. Compound movements, by their very nature, recruit and stimulate more muscle mass than an isolation exercise will. If you can use these exercises to increase your testosterone, an essential part of building muscle, then why wouldn’t you want to do that? Throw the isolation exercises in there afterwards, that’s great, but don’t ignore the kings of all exercises.
Get in there, get through your workout in a timely manner because you’re working more efficiently, then get the hell out of there with your extra testosterone still intact.
Speaking of getting in and out…
This seems to be a pretty well-rehearsed bro-line in the gym and the guy I met was pretty on-top of this particular script.
Don’t get me wrong, isolation is not a bad thing. Isolation is a fantastic way to get extra hypertrophy response in specific areas that are not as targeted as independently in a compound move. What is wrong, however, is reliance on isolation moves as the basis on which you base your entire training plan.
Let’s be frank, if you want a bigger lower half then you’re going to be deadlifting, and you’re going to be squatting – those are the basis of any good lower extremity plan, because without them you will not see the ‘GAINZ’ you’re probably looking for. If you want a bigger upper half then you’ll be bench pressing and overhead pressing, etc.
There are good reasons for this, despite what some bros will tell you, and it begins with training goals. If your training goals revolve purely around aesthetics (looking swole) with absolutely no interest in functional strength then doing isolation-only may well work out fine for you (although trying to get bigger and more shredded without using compound moves is like trying to learn to swim without a pool – you can certainly do it, but it’s not the most expedient way to go about it). If your goals aren’t just to look like a swollen monster from a second-rate horror movie then you’re going to want to use compound movements.
Firstly, a compound movement taxes a much broader range of muscles/muscle groups than an isolation exercise (obviously), meaning that it’s a far more effective use of your precious gym time. And because they hit more than one muscle at a time they’re far more useful in a functional sense. Consider how the body moves in real life, in everyday activities and sporting activities; when Roger Federer is striking a backhand, or when Jon Jones is hitting a takedown, are they using one singular limb in isolation, or are they using their entire body in a coordinated and powerful manner? On a less grandiose scale, when you get out of a chair, or walk up the stairs, are you using your whole body or isolating one muscle/limb at a time? You use your whole body, so why wouldn’t you train to become more coordinated and use that whole body more effectively? Because that’s what happens in compound movements (Thompson & Baldwin, 2007). And while we’re at it, becoming more coordinated and being able to use your whole body effectively reduces your risk of injury (Kraemer, 2003).
Secondly, as discussed previously, the overload principle is necessary for growth to occur, and at some point that means you need to be getting stronger. Compound movements are far, far easier to get your progressive overload on, and much easier to get stronger in (Kraemer, 2002). If you think you can become a really strong guy by doing cable flyes and not bench pressing, you’re going to struggle.
Thirdly, and finally (because this point is becoming a tad belaboured) compound lifts increase testosterone production, and some studies have suggested that compound lifts could increase release of growth hormone (Kraemer, et al., 1990; Godfrey, et al., 2003). Now, without boring you with biology, testosterone and growth hormone are pretty essential for building muscle, that’s a fact you can just do a google scholar search on to double-check because the list of references would be too silly to put here. Pretty much all resistance exercise will cause a rise in testosterone as a response to the exercise, but there are a few variables that can affect to what extent the testosterone rises, such as volume, intensity, and the muscle mass being stimulated (Kraemer, et al., 1999). It’s that last one we’re going to fixate on here for a second. Compound movements, by their very nature, recruit and stimulate more muscle mass than an isolation exercise will. If you can use these exercises to increase your testosterone, an essential part of building muscle, then why wouldn’t you want to do that? Throw the isolation exercises in there afterwards, that’s great, but don’t ignore the kings of all exercises.
Get in there, get through your workout in a timely manner because you’re working more efficiently, then get the hell out of there with your extra testosterone still intact.
Speaking of getting in and out…
“I’ve been in here a solid 2-hours now, bro – you should do it too
#swoldier”
Some guys, much like the guy who
first introduced me to the way of the bro, take pride in how long they can work
out for. It’s a badge of honour amongst some of the bros to be the last man
standing in the gym, and I have never worked out why.
My naïve little eyes lit up when my new friend, the swolebro, told me that I needed to get a good workout in over a couple of hours and I shouldn’t cheat myself by leaving early. Fair play to the guy, he was willing to spend ridiculous amounts of time in the gym in pursuit of gainz, but was it really the best way to go about it?
Research says: not so much.
You see, as I said in my last point, exercise causes your testosterone production to spike, which is good, but that spike usually only lasts around 45-60 minutes (Loebel & Kraemer, 1998), at which point it begins to decrease again, meaning that anything you do beyond this point yields less and less return on your efforts. You see, one of the things testosterone helps you do is train with intensity, and the less of it you have the less intensity you can go after it with – hence why endurance sessions seem to supress testosterone (Uchida, et al., 2009).
Given how long these points I’m making are becoming I’ll leave this one a tad shorter, like an extra point to my last point, and just say this – if you’re in the gym trying to get ‘massive arms’ and working your biceps and triceps for an hour and a half at a time, stop. Just stop. There’s less and less return on that energy expenditure after about 60 minutes, in terms of your testosterone. In terms of other factors, research indicates that it’s volume, more so than intensity, that can lead to overtraining, and also that the optimal amount of sets per muscle group per week is around 18-20 sets (Kreider, et al., 1998). With regards the rep range recommendation, think about that practically. A regularly observed amount of sets for a hypertrophy workout is around 4, so if we take that 18-20 recommendation, then you’re looking at 4.5-5 exercises per muscle group. That’s it – and those are the recommended maximum ranges… per week. That’s not an absolute, I hasten to add, that number is an average that will have +/- on it on an individual basis, but it’s a good place to start.
My naïve little eyes lit up when my new friend, the swolebro, told me that I needed to get a good workout in over a couple of hours and I shouldn’t cheat myself by leaving early. Fair play to the guy, he was willing to spend ridiculous amounts of time in the gym in pursuit of gainz, but was it really the best way to go about it?
Research says: not so much.
You see, as I said in my last point, exercise causes your testosterone production to spike, which is good, but that spike usually only lasts around 45-60 minutes (Loebel & Kraemer, 1998), at which point it begins to decrease again, meaning that anything you do beyond this point yields less and less return on your efforts. You see, one of the things testosterone helps you do is train with intensity, and the less of it you have the less intensity you can go after it with – hence why endurance sessions seem to supress testosterone (Uchida, et al., 2009).
Given how long these points I’m making are becoming I’ll leave this one a tad shorter, like an extra point to my last point, and just say this – if you’re in the gym trying to get ‘massive arms’ and working your biceps and triceps for an hour and a half at a time, stop. Just stop. There’s less and less return on that energy expenditure after about 60 minutes, in terms of your testosterone. In terms of other factors, research indicates that it’s volume, more so than intensity, that can lead to overtraining, and also that the optimal amount of sets per muscle group per week is around 18-20 sets (Kreider, et al., 1998). With regards the rep range recommendation, think about that practically. A regularly observed amount of sets for a hypertrophy workout is around 4, so if we take that 18-20 recommendation, then you’re looking at 4.5-5 exercises per muscle group. That’s it – and those are the recommended maximum ranges… per week. That’s not an absolute, I hasten to add, that number is an average that will have +/- on it on an individual basis, but it’s a good place to start.
“Cardio is bad for your gains, bro”
So there am I, sitting on the
preacher machine, chatting to this bro, when another gym-goer chooses to jump
on to the treadmill. “Oh, and don’t bother with cardio” he intones, watching this
other guy like a hawk watching a mouse, “it harms your gains because it’s
catabolic”.
And you know what? I actually didn’t do cardio, any cardio, for ages because of that. I was even nervous about playing tennis (which I love) in case my ‘search for swole’ was harmed by the running I would undoubtedly do.
It never occurred to me to say “hang on, what do you mean, catabolic?” – I didn’t even know what that meant at the time, I just assumed it meant injurious to gainz, and was therefore immediately disinterested in those types of endeavours.
Ridiculous, I know, but it really was a case of the blind leading the blind.
Now I’m not going to sit here and say doing a few hours of running after a strength workout isn’t going to affect your gainz, because obviously it will – that length of endurance running will just blast through your energy supplies until it begins to break down muscle to fuel the exercise (catabolic).
What I am going to say, however, is that not all cardio was created equal.
For instance, there’s research out there to suggest that utilising aerobic exercise, such as cycling, prior to a legs/strength workout, will encourage hypertrophy (Lundberg, et al., 2013). That’s a pretty major takeaway message, but one with a quick caveat – if you put in aerobic exercise before a strength day, whilst you likely will see an enhanced hypertrophic response, you will also see a slight decrease in strength (obviously).
Secondly, there are different types of cardio you can do, and some are better suited to your hypertrophic goals than others. For instance, sprinting has been suggested as an anabolic exercise in research (Esbjörnsson, et al., 2012) and has been shown to definitely not be catabolic. What that means is that if you’re intent on building lean mass (and therefore wish to shred fat whilst building muscle) you’re going to want to sprint. It’s potentially going to help you see an increase in muscle mass, due to its potential anabolism, and it will help you remove fat when done in a HIIT fashion (which we all know is better than LISS cardio for fat burn).
So don’t be put off by cardio, or (as I should say) aerobic exercise, just be smart about what you choose.
Additionally, it’s also worth considering when you do what you’ve chosen to do…
And you know what? I actually didn’t do cardio, any cardio, for ages because of that. I was even nervous about playing tennis (which I love) in case my ‘search for swole’ was harmed by the running I would undoubtedly do.
It never occurred to me to say “hang on, what do you mean, catabolic?” – I didn’t even know what that meant at the time, I just assumed it meant injurious to gainz, and was therefore immediately disinterested in those types of endeavours.
Ridiculous, I know, but it really was a case of the blind leading the blind.
Now I’m not going to sit here and say doing a few hours of running after a strength workout isn’t going to affect your gainz, because obviously it will – that length of endurance running will just blast through your energy supplies until it begins to break down muscle to fuel the exercise (catabolic).
What I am going to say, however, is that not all cardio was created equal.
For instance, there’s research out there to suggest that utilising aerobic exercise, such as cycling, prior to a legs/strength workout, will encourage hypertrophy (Lundberg, et al., 2013). That’s a pretty major takeaway message, but one with a quick caveat – if you put in aerobic exercise before a strength day, whilst you likely will see an enhanced hypertrophic response, you will also see a slight decrease in strength (obviously).
Secondly, there are different types of cardio you can do, and some are better suited to your hypertrophic goals than others. For instance, sprinting has been suggested as an anabolic exercise in research (Esbjörnsson, et al., 2012) and has been shown to definitely not be catabolic. What that means is that if you’re intent on building lean mass (and therefore wish to shred fat whilst building muscle) you’re going to want to sprint. It’s potentially going to help you see an increase in muscle mass, due to its potential anabolism, and it will help you remove fat when done in a HIIT fashion (which we all know is better than LISS cardio for fat burn).
So don’t be put off by cardio, or (as I should say) aerobic exercise, just be smart about what you choose.
Additionally, it’s also worth considering when you do what you’ve chosen to do…
“Static stretch before a workout to avoid injuries, bro”
This.
This is my waterloo sometimes.
I often have a quiet little rage fit to myself when I visit gyms because so many of them have, on the walls, massive posters suggesting that you sit and stretch before your resistance workout. I’ve even seen personal trainers suggest to their clients, or take their clients through a stretching regime minutes before they get them under the bar to squat.
Back to me – as I was trying to soak up these pearls of wisdom my new friend was dropping into my shallow pond of knowledge, the main man dropped one more nugget of advice my way: stretching before a workout will straight-up guarantee I wouldn’t get injured when lifting. He then walked away, presumably into the bro aether, because I never saw the bloke again.
Look, I understand that the common knowledge back in the day (read: 70/80’s) was that static stretching before a workout prepares the muscles for movement, gets the muscles comfortable in their ROM (range of movement), prevents injury, will reduce muscle soreness, and will aid in removal of lactic acid (therefore speed up recovery). The issue I have is that we’ve moved past that now, we know full well that these things, whilst perhaps not all being necessarily untrue, are not helpful pre-workout.
Let’s address that list first and foremost, based on what research says – static stretching does not reduce muscle soreness, static stretching does not prevent sporting injuries (and if you go nuts it could actually cause some), static stretching will not prepare muscles for movement and will likely result in subsequent poor performance.
Static stretching does not reduce muscle soreness. I bet a few people saw that and thought “but, surely, he must be wrong! All of the literature in my gym says the opposite!”
Well, I hate to break it to you, but sometimes (vis a vis: a lot of the time) the people putting out the flyers and posters in commercial gyms don’t actually know anything about training. They’re graphic designers, not personal trainers, hence why they make bitchin’-lookin’ posters and not posers. If they were informed, they’d likely know that studies have shown there is likely no link, other than potential placebo, between muscle soreness and stretching (Ryan, et al., 2009; Herbert & Gabriel, 2002). But you might be thinking that placebo is enough, if it means you’re not going to get injured and you don’t feel like your DOMs are trying to murder you the next day, right? Well…
Static stretching does not prevent sporting injuries. This is a bit of a hotly-contested issue for some people, especially some old-school coaches I’ve met who insist on static stretching their performers before a session, but it has to be understood. One issue I often come up against is the reliance of hard-line static stretch fans upon some research they read in the past which stated that stretching does reduce risk of injury (Ekstrand, et al., 1983). The study used stretching as one of a group of randomised intervention pre-training (including leg guards, special shoes, ankle tape, controlled rehab, education, and close supervision) which ultimately showed the intervention group sustaining 75% fewer injuries than control. Sounds good, right? Damning, perhaps, for my stance on stretching as unhelpful in this regard, but look closely – of course the control group sustained more injuries than the intervention group, stretching was matched with at least one totally useful intervention (warm-ups, leg guards, etc). There was no evidence to suggest that the lower rates of injuries was the work of stretching, it could have been entirely down to the other interventions used (Shrier, 2000). A few years later, van Mechelen (1993) asserted the same thing anyway, so you don’t have to rely entirely on me.
Static stretching could actually incur injuries. Yeah, I’m flipping the script today for some people, I imagine. Not only am I saying static stretches won’t prevent your injuries, I’m suggesting in some instances it might cause them!
Just briefly then, I’ll go through this with you. Firstly, eccentric contractions seem to be the main time at which injuries are occurring (Garrett, 1996), which causes damage within the normal ROM (Horowits & Podolsky, 1987). As Shrier (2000) aptly put it “if injuries usually occur within the normal range of motion, why would increased range of motion prevent injuries?”.
Secondly, cytoskeletal-level damage can be caused by as little as a mild stretch (MacPherson, et al., 1996).
Thirdly, and finally for me, there’s what’s called an analgesic effect that can be triggered by stretching, which ultimately results in an increased tolerance to pain (Magnusson, et al., 1996). I’d like to think it obvious why that’s bad, but here we go anyway – let’s say you’ve done your stretching; so you’ve damaged your muscle at a cyto-skeletal level, decreased your pain awareness, and then decided to start banging out squats on that anaesthetised muscle… Does that seem smart?
Nope.
Static stretching can harm subsequent performance. I won’t spend too long on this point, but here are the bare bones – a hell of a lot of studies have looked at whether static stretching impairs performance and most have shown that measures such as jumping, sprinting, 1RM strength, isometric torque production and more are all impaired as a result of static stretching (Young, 2007). In addition, meta-analysis of 104 studies also showed likely negative effect of static stretching on explosive muscle performance, maximal muscle strength, and potentially muscle power (Simic, et al., 2013).
So, before the ardent stretchers moan, I’m not saying that static stretching is bad, but there’s a time and a place – the gym before a leg day is neither. It does have chronic benefits so static stretching does have a place, but either post-workout or a separate session altogether would be my recommendation. If you do want to warm-up properly, and you love getting some stretching done, then try dynamic stretches. I won’t take any more time breaking down their benefits (maybe I’ll do it in another post), because I’ve moaned about stretching for too long now.
This is my waterloo sometimes.
I often have a quiet little rage fit to myself when I visit gyms because so many of them have, on the walls, massive posters suggesting that you sit and stretch before your resistance workout. I’ve even seen personal trainers suggest to their clients, or take their clients through a stretching regime minutes before they get them under the bar to squat.
Back to me – as I was trying to soak up these pearls of wisdom my new friend was dropping into my shallow pond of knowledge, the main man dropped one more nugget of advice my way: stretching before a workout will straight-up guarantee I wouldn’t get injured when lifting. He then walked away, presumably into the bro aether, because I never saw the bloke again.
Look, I understand that the common knowledge back in the day (read: 70/80’s) was that static stretching before a workout prepares the muscles for movement, gets the muscles comfortable in their ROM (range of movement), prevents injury, will reduce muscle soreness, and will aid in removal of lactic acid (therefore speed up recovery). The issue I have is that we’ve moved past that now, we know full well that these things, whilst perhaps not all being necessarily untrue, are not helpful pre-workout.
Let’s address that list first and foremost, based on what research says – static stretching does not reduce muscle soreness, static stretching does not prevent sporting injuries (and if you go nuts it could actually cause some), static stretching will not prepare muscles for movement and will likely result in subsequent poor performance.
Static stretching does not reduce muscle soreness. I bet a few people saw that and thought “but, surely, he must be wrong! All of the literature in my gym says the opposite!”
Well, I hate to break it to you, but sometimes (vis a vis: a lot of the time) the people putting out the flyers and posters in commercial gyms don’t actually know anything about training. They’re graphic designers, not personal trainers, hence why they make bitchin’-lookin’ posters and not posers. If they were informed, they’d likely know that studies have shown there is likely no link, other than potential placebo, between muscle soreness and stretching (Ryan, et al., 2009; Herbert & Gabriel, 2002). But you might be thinking that placebo is enough, if it means you’re not going to get injured and you don’t feel like your DOMs are trying to murder you the next day, right? Well…
Static stretching does not prevent sporting injuries. This is a bit of a hotly-contested issue for some people, especially some old-school coaches I’ve met who insist on static stretching their performers before a session, but it has to be understood. One issue I often come up against is the reliance of hard-line static stretch fans upon some research they read in the past which stated that stretching does reduce risk of injury (Ekstrand, et al., 1983). The study used stretching as one of a group of randomised intervention pre-training (including leg guards, special shoes, ankle tape, controlled rehab, education, and close supervision) which ultimately showed the intervention group sustaining 75% fewer injuries than control. Sounds good, right? Damning, perhaps, for my stance on stretching as unhelpful in this regard, but look closely – of course the control group sustained more injuries than the intervention group, stretching was matched with at least one totally useful intervention (warm-ups, leg guards, etc). There was no evidence to suggest that the lower rates of injuries was the work of stretching, it could have been entirely down to the other interventions used (Shrier, 2000). A few years later, van Mechelen (1993) asserted the same thing anyway, so you don’t have to rely entirely on me.
Static stretching could actually incur injuries. Yeah, I’m flipping the script today for some people, I imagine. Not only am I saying static stretches won’t prevent your injuries, I’m suggesting in some instances it might cause them!
Just briefly then, I’ll go through this with you. Firstly, eccentric contractions seem to be the main time at which injuries are occurring (Garrett, 1996), which causes damage within the normal ROM (Horowits & Podolsky, 1987). As Shrier (2000) aptly put it “if injuries usually occur within the normal range of motion, why would increased range of motion prevent injuries?”.
Secondly, cytoskeletal-level damage can be caused by as little as a mild stretch (MacPherson, et al., 1996).
Thirdly, and finally for me, there’s what’s called an analgesic effect that can be triggered by stretching, which ultimately results in an increased tolerance to pain (Magnusson, et al., 1996). I’d like to think it obvious why that’s bad, but here we go anyway – let’s say you’ve done your stretching; so you’ve damaged your muscle at a cyto-skeletal level, decreased your pain awareness, and then decided to start banging out squats on that anaesthetised muscle… Does that seem smart?
Nope.
Static stretching can harm subsequent performance. I won’t spend too long on this point, but here are the bare bones – a hell of a lot of studies have looked at whether static stretching impairs performance and most have shown that measures such as jumping, sprinting, 1RM strength, isometric torque production and more are all impaired as a result of static stretching (Young, 2007). In addition, meta-analysis of 104 studies also showed likely negative effect of static stretching on explosive muscle performance, maximal muscle strength, and potentially muscle power (Simic, et al., 2013).
So, before the ardent stretchers moan, I’m not saying that static stretching is bad, but there’s a time and a place – the gym before a leg day is neither. It does have chronic benefits so static stretching does have a place, but either post-workout or a separate session altogether would be my recommendation. If you do want to warm-up properly, and you love getting some stretching done, then try dynamic stretches. I won’t take any more time breaking down their benefits (maybe I’ll do it in another post), because I’ve moaned about stretching for too long now.
So there you have it, guys!
That was how my first trip to the gym went, and you can see that I actually picked up some pretty bad habits that, luckily, I managed to work through/past with great education and some varied reading. I would recommend you guys do the same, for the sake of your GAINZ.
Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail me at gutsgloryathletics@gmail.com, regaling me with either your first trip to the gym, or some classic bro advice you were given.
That was how my first trip to the gym went, and you can see that I actually picked up some pretty bad habits that, luckily, I managed to work through/past with great education and some varied reading. I would recommend you guys do the same, for the sake of your GAINZ.
Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail me at gutsgloryathletics@gmail.com, regaling me with either your first trip to the gym, or some classic bro advice you were given.
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