Jerky: My Beef with Stretching

Musings of a Melted Masseuse

I’ve been saying it for a while now: I'm not a fan of stretching. First, let me explain what I’ve learned about fascia. We know that it surrounds everything in the body: our cells, bones and muscle fibers (get that… Every. Muscle. Fiber.) It's what gives us our shape. When we stretch, we must include the principals of fascia. We thrive when we look at every system in the body with fascia in mind because it’s the most abundant substance our the bodies.

Wrongly, I used to say it's what gives us slip. However, there is no slip in the body; no layers, no glide. It's just not how this beautiful body works. It is better to think about fascia like you might think of a sponge. Imagine a sponge, one that is hydrated… How? When you run water over it and squeeze it a few times at the sink, it's ready to absorb. Now imagine a sponge that is dry, one that you come home to after a long weekend away. You try to mop something up with that sponge and you just can’t get the same absorption as when it was hydrated. Now think about trying to stretch it. It’s like trying to stretch beef jerky!

What I see with my eyes and feel with my body when stretching is joint torsion. With any movement, we have specialized receptors that prevent us from over-stretching so as to protect the joints. I find our egos get in the way here in our quest to getting our foot over our head, or our head to our knees, or our body to look the way our teacher or other students look. When we repeatedly stimulate these protective receptors, they tighten our fascia so as to protect us. You have heard me say a thousand times: Fascia is there to surround, support and protect. In stretching, you have stimulated the protective feature of fascia. In doing so, you create more tension in the fascia, a tighter sensation. Now you feel tight! So, you stretch more, because the reason you stretched in the first place was to feel “looser.”

Go back to the sponge. Think about the hydrated one and how it will move if you bend it or twist it. It has movability. This is why I advocate Melt before you stretch. However, I do know there is nothing better than a morning pandiculation. ;)