gms | German Medical Science

Objective: To observe if total work is influenced by different short stretching volumes.

Material/Methods: 21 trained adults men (22.05±2.09 yrs; 176.0±6.7 cm; 75.8±8.5 kg; 12.1±4.1% BF) underwent to four isokinetic randomized testing session after 5 minute of cycloergometer (50 Watts). Each session were separated at least 48 hours and no more than 7 days between them. During three of sessions (20sec; 40sec; 60sec) a short prior acute static stretch (SPASS) were applied after a cycloergometer perform as a warm up complement. One session with no PASS (NPASS) was assessed as a control. During SPASS sessions exercise stretches were carry out once and intent for quadriceps and hamstring muscles held passively by them in a non-pain position. Total Work (TW) was calculated from concentric knee extension (EXT) and flexion (FLX) at all 5 repetitions in two different angular velocities (60 and 180°•s^-1). Statistical analyses were performed using One-way ANOVA to repeated measures comparing different sessions (NPASS, 20sec, 40sec, 60sec). Significance level was set at α ≤0.05 for all comparisons.

Results: No differences were observed between all sessions. Table 1 [Tab. 1] shows all results.

Conclusion: As opposed of some believes, our study observed that short prior acute static stretches were unable to influence on total work in adults men. Regardless of short volumes used in our study, they are similar to those used as a warm up complement during the majority of training programs.