If stretching hurts your explosiveness, how come gymnasts are so flexible?

People seem to be confusing a state of being with an action.

There is research that shows static stretching can be detrimental to explosive movement. That is not the same as saying greater flexibility is deterimental to explosive movement, in fact I would think there's probably a significant body of work that shows a positive correlation between range of movement and performance in explosive movements.

There is also research that shows a negative correlation between range of motion and performance in long distance running - something related to a reduction in elastic recovery - those with stiffer muscles tended to store and return a higher proportion of energy than those who are more supple.

My understanding is that there is an optimal degree of flexibility that depends on the activity, but every athlete needs to be ready to move through that range of motion efficiently when it's time to perform. It's best when they can do that without static stretching just prior to the event.

Normally, it seems like LRC readers are on top of this kind of thing, so I am surprised by messages in this thread so far.

Bib #1 wrote:

They have a lot of upper body strength. Also, explosiveness is more of a function of throwing their entire body weight into a movement, often to be met by a rigid (vault / mat) or semi rigid (uneven bars) object which they deflect off to create even more force. The women are pretty tiny and young so they are naturally more flexible. The guys are more about strength than speed.

Gymnasts are very flexible in their legs as they can do the splits and stuff. However this extreme flexibility has bascially removed the explosiveness in their legs so they have to have spring boards to jump up and do their vaults and spring turbo loaded floors so they can jump up and do their somersaults during their floor tumbling routines. However gymnasts are not really more flexible that the average dude in their upper bodies so their arms are actually very explosive and they can land on their arms when doing vaults and stuff without having to use springboards taped onto the vaulting apparatus. With this upper body explosivity I would imagine gymnasts could throw a good javelin, but they might struggle to do a good high jump (without a springboards) as their legs would be less explosive than a highjumper's due to their increased flexibility. That's how analyze the situation anyway.....

So the reduction in explosiveness is only temporary, meaning you can still do static stretching to gain flexibility but you definitely would not want to do it before performing maximal explosive activities (like the day of a meet for a sprinter or power lifter). You gain the flexibility over time doing static stretches. Most of the time athletes I see will do a dynamic warmup before an explosive workout, then do static stretching afterwards.

Have you ever watched high jumpers before they compete? Is that an explosive event?

Boomer here. When I was (briefly) in gymnastics the floor X mats were....mats that absorbed energy not the spring loaded floors of today. Yet we still had guys who could do double back flips. That took some explosion

upper body explosive wrote:

However gymnasts are not really more flexible that the average dude in their upper bodies so their arms are actually very explosive and they can land on their arms when doing vaults and stuff without having to use springboards taped onto the vaulting apparatus. With this upper body explosivity I would imagine gymnasts could throw a good javelin, but they might struggle to do a good high jump (without a springboards) as their legs would be less explosive than a highjumper's due to their increased flexibility. That's how analyze the situation anyway.....

hmm... have you ever watched gymnasts on the bars? Their shoulders are so flexible that it looks unnatural.

they may use springboards for their vault, but have you watched them run and how much power they get using the board? they may use spring floors for tumbling but all of them could do a back flip on a cement floor.

It's not really an interesting question. I am an opponent of stretching, but I don't claim it necessarily impairs explosiveness, only that it is useless. Stretching only "works" (to make you more flexible) through a neurological mechanism, whereby the nervous system becomes desensitized to the stretch and therefore allows you to move further into an abnormal ROM before the muscles reflexively fire to stop you. This is absolutely stupid stupid and useless activity that has neither any valid theoretical nor scientifically validated benefit.

Next, just because someone is flexible does not mean he attained that quality as a result of stretching. Like ALL qualities, flexibility is PRIMARILY influenced by genetics. It may be that elite flexibility is a requirement for elite gymnastics performance, and if so, the correlation between explosiveness and flexibility in elite gymnasts is the result of natural selection, NOT stretching.

Being able to do back flips or even double back flips does not require a lot of vertical explosion. It's about quickness and execution of rotation.

You're missing the point! Stretching =/= flexibility.

Believe it or not, the range of motion of a muscle is set by the nervous system. When you're asleep, you're completely flexible and can flop all over the place. So increasing range of motion is not about doing anything physically to the muscles and tendons themselves, only priming the nervous system for the optimal range of motion. That's what dynamic warmups do.

Static stretches, if done too much, can end up physically altering your tendons and ruining your stretch reflexes. That will indeed rob your explosiveness. If gymnasts do develop hypermobility (do they?), this might have something to do with their very short careers. Typically by their early 20's they are done forever.

Brian Gates2 wrote:

It's not really an interesting question. I am an opponent of stretching, but I don't claim it necessarily impairs explosiveness, only that it is useless. Stretching only "works" (to make you more flexible) through a neurological mechanism, whereby the nervous system becomes desensitized to the stretch and therefore allows you to move further into an abnormal ROM before the muscles reflexively fire to stop you. This is absolutely stupid stupid and useless activity that has neither any valid theoretical nor scientifically validated benefit.

Next, just because someone is flexible does not mean he attained that quality as a result of stretching. Like ALL qualities, flexibility is PRIMARILY influenced by genetics. It may be that elite flexibility is a requirement for elite gymnastics performance, and if so, the correlation between explosiveness and flexibility in elite gymnasts is the result of natural selection, NOT stretching.

Correct, but those that are not flexible and have developed a proper stretching routine become much more flexible than those that just play the piano before or after a run.

Ggggg wrote:

You know the argument that stretching makes you less explosive? So how come all those gymnasts, who are extremely flexible, are also extremely explosive and strong?

I'll answer that with a question. ever wonder why a gymnast is washed up at 20?

No kidding wrote:

Ggggg wrote:

You know the argument that stretching makes you less explosive? So how come all those gymnasts, who are extremely flexible, are also extremely explosive and strong?

I'll answer that with a question. ever wonder why a gymnast is washed up at 20?

I'll take a chance at replying.

No.

I can dunk off a springboard wrote:

Not sure how this works? wrote:

Great point. The anti-stretching movement has not produced better performances or reduced injuries. If one were to actually look at the trendy "dynamic warm ups" you would see more injuries especially in sports like football where that is the new norm.

Not sure why common sense doesn't prevail with stretching vs. the new pulling and tearing routines also known as "dynamic warm ups"?

Um, yes it has. The WRs are all faster now.

Not sure how this works? wrote:

Have you ever watched high jumpers before they compete? Is that an explosive event?