I have done many shameful things in my life. Aside from my feeble attempts in trying to emulate LL Cool J's style of dress and wearing skin tight sweater vests and Abercrombie T-shirts in high school, I have also dated fat girls, cussed out telemarketers, and got myself ensnared in road rage episodes while commuting to and from work and school. Luckily for me, since I am a city dweller, I mostly use the train or the couple pair of Nike Frees I own, as my primary modes of transportation. Equally, if not more shameful, was my prescription of Ballistic Stretching exercises to my clients, while a novice trainer at a commercial health club nearly one decade ago. Hey, I was fresh out of high school, and if you read my last article, I wasn't even competent enough to dress myself at the time.

So what exactly is Ballistic Stretching?

Ballistic Stretching, often erroneously referred to as "dynamic stretching", adds a repetitive bouncing movement to the end position of a static stretch that is not held. In theory, the repetitive movements during a ballistic stretch, increase flexibility as they force the muscles beyond their maximum resting length. In reality, ballistic stretching triggers the stretch reflex, by stimulating the muscle spindles, whereas, static stretching involves a slow, deliberate lengthening of the relaxed muscle. Ballistic stretching can prove injurious in athletic, non-athletic, injured, and non-injured populations alike.

Ballistic stretching also can impede performance, as it did in a University of Louisiana study, consisting of physical education students (1). The students noted both reductions in knee-extension 1 RM (-5.6%) and knee-flexion (-7.5%). Ballistic stretching isn't that useful in improving flexibility. A study conducted by Brazilian researchers, further noted that the improvements in acute flexibility netted by ballistic stretching paled in comparison to those netted by static stretching (2). The Department of Exercise Science at the University of South Carolina compared the acute effects of ballistic stretching with dynamic stretching on maximum jumping height, force, and power. The study concluded that ballistic stretching will not lead to improvements in jump performance (3).

Okay, so performing ballistic stretches isn't THAT shameful, however, that statement only applies if you're NOT this woman:

Learn from your mistakes, and move on, just not "ballistically".

References

1. Nelson AG, Kokkonen J. Acute muscle stretching inhibits maximal strength performance. Res Q Exerc Sport. 2001;72:415-419.
2. Bacurau RF, Monteiro GA, Ugrinowitsch C. Acute effect of a ballistic and a static stretching exercise bout on flexibility and maximal strength. J Strength Cond Res. 2009;23:304-308.
3. Jaggers JR, Swank AM, Frost KL. The acute effects of dynamic and ballistic stretching on vertical jump height, force, and power. J Strength Cond Res. 2008;22:1844-1849.

Joe Giandonato is a Philadelphia-area healthcare professional and personal trainer, he holds an M.S. in Exercise Physiology and has nearly a decade of personal training experience. Presently, he trains clients at Broad Street Fitness in Philadelphia, PA.

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Joe Morden came to me 12 weeks ago with goals of increasing his one rep max in the squat, bench press, military press and deadlift. These goals are nothing out of the ordinary. What is out of the ordinary is Joe decided to get serious about his strength training while simultaneously training to climb Mount Rainier, he literally did two hours+ of straight conditioning many days during the previous 12 weeks and accomplished his goal of climbing Mt. Rainier.

Joe dropped twenty pounds over the last 12 weeks as well as climbing Mt. Rainier. His starting point at the beginning of the 12-week cycle was Squat 330, bench press 300, military press 215 and deadlift 430. After 12 weeks Joe Squatted 405, bench pressed 345, military pressed 250 and deadlifted 500. Joe did everything I asked, thank you for being a great client Joe!

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