Stretching before a jump...

[BigMikeH77 0]

I've got crazy legs. Actually, a crazy right leg that even when I THINK it's symmetrical with its counterpart is always bent in just enough to make things difficult. Then I realized that I haven't been stretching that well prior to jumps, perhaps that in addition to the airborne toe taps could be beneficial... And stretching is always a good idea, right? Do you stretch regularly?

[kawisixer01 0]

Actually I dunno. Yoga is certainly good. But things I have been reading lately have cited studies showing stretching immediately before performance actually reduces performance.

[oldwomanc6 38]

kawisixer01

Actually I dunno. Yoga is certainly good. But things I have been reading lately have cited studies showing stretching immediately before performance actually reduces performance.

I guess it would depend on why are you stretching before jumping. Are you stretching as a stress/anxiety reliever or as a way to possibly avoid injury?

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[billvon 2,379]

Most of the teams I've trained with stretched before training days. Seemed to help.

[mrubin 0]

Make sure you warm up before stretching. It's not good to stretch cold muscles.

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

[hokierower 0]

I do the same series of stretches that I do at stretch & bend every morning during the week. Helps loosen everything up and get prepared. I haven't had any issues yet vs. a couple of tweaked muscles before I started stretching.

[IanHarrop 37]

http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/04/05/stretching-before-workouts-may-weaken-muscles-impair-athletic-performance-studies/

Excerpt:

A study published in this month’s Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research concluded that static stretching performed before weight-lifting made athletes feel weaker. Researchers suggest that static stretching before physical activity may alter or impair the neurological function in active musculature.

Research published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports featured similar findings.

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[HomeyTheClown 1]

I LIKE BOOBIES

[airtwardo 6]

I stretch every day whether I'm going to work out or not.

I got into martial arts 40 years ago and trust me ~ flexibility is the key to better performance in any athletic endeavor.

You tend to use the whole muscle when you need it instead of just the part that get work during normal activities.

Stretching 'works' the whole thing...if you do it right and often.

It also helps reduce injuries and if you do get an injury you'll recover faster.

I have two 9 inch rods in my lower spine, 5 vertebrae are fused...I was told I would need a wheelchair and crutches for at least 30 days following surgery.

48 hours after they closed me up I walked out of the hospital unaided...Docs figured because of my flexability the muscles deal better/faster to trauma.

That was 25 years ago...

Check out this vid from a few months ago~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Leo42yeX4

Fairly flexible for an old man with 1/3 of my spine one solid piece, wearin' a rig!

I'm 6'4" & 225# ~ started jumping 38 years ago on rounds that did not land big people very easy - I have never been injured Skydiving.

So yeah...MY opinion ~ you should stretch!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[babz 0]

I did the odd stretch before jumping to loosen my lower back (not the most flexible and had issues before). Then on our 4way camp our coach had us do 30mins of stretching / warm up prior to jumping and I found it aided my performance.

Since then I do some light stretches prior to fun jumping and more when we've got competitions / training.

[Joellercoaster 6]

IanHarrop

A study published in this month’s Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research concluded that static stretching performed before weight-lifting made athletes feel weaker.

The problems I have with this as a reply to the question are "weight-lifting" and "feel"

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[wmw999 2,114]

I think the best way to stretch is regularly to maintain flexibility -- don't do it for the sake of the exercise, do it on its own for the flexibility.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[BillyVance 34]

Everybody should do basic stretching before and between jumps (if there is time). In hindsight, if I had done that, then I probably would not have torn a small section of my abdominal muscle when after a long day of jumping, I stretched my torso with my arms up in the air and felt a pop in the area of my rib cage. It didn't hurt right away, but 5 hours later when I got home I felt like I had a broken rib where I couldn't move without pain. I could feel a lump where the muscle tore and retreated, bunching up. It's still there after 10 or so years.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[BigMikeH77 0]

Great insight everyone! I thought for sure that even a simple, innocouos question like that would for sure spark a heated debate. Glad it didnt.

As far as stretching making you feel weaker, I can see how that could happen especially if one over-stretches. And I remember doing morning PT in the army, we's ALWAYS work warm-ups and THEN stretches. It makes sense now.

I think some easy warm ups and gentle stretches prior to and in between jumps will do me a world of good. That and tunnel time... And more jumps... And more beer...

[dthames 0]

airtwardo

I stretch every day whether I'm going to work out or not.

I got into martial arts 40 years ago and trust me ~ flexibility is the key to better performance in any athletic endeavor.

You tend to use the whole muscle when you need it instead of just the part that get work during normal activities.

Stretching 'works' the whole thing...if you do it right and often.

It also helps reduce injuries and if you do get an injury you'll recover faster.

I have two 9 inch rods in my lower spine, 5 vertebrae are fused...I was told I would need a wheelchair and crutches for at least 30 days following surgery.

48 hours after they closed me up I walked out of the hospital unaided...Docs figured because of my flexability the muscles deal better/faster to trauma.

That was 25 years ago...

Check out this vid from a few months ago~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Leo42yeX4

Fairly flexible for an old man with 1/3 of my spine one solid piece, wearin' a rig!

I'm 6'4" & 225# ~ started jumping 38 years ago on rounds that did not land big people very easy - I have never been injured Skydiving.

So yeah...MY opinion ~ you should stretch!

Show off!

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[Southern_Man 0]

IanHarrop

http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/04/05/stretching-before-workouts-may-weaken-muscles-impair-athletic-performance-studies/

Excerpt:

A study published in this month’s Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research concluded that static stretching performed before weight-lifting made athletes feel weaker. Researchers suggest that static stretching before physical activity may alter or impair the neurological function in active musculature.

Research published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports featured similar findings.

Academic studies on stretching are all over the place. I am a runner and it is very difficult to find repeatable studies that show that stretching improves performance or prevents injury (the two most common benefits). However I think this has to be take with several grains of salt becuase: 1. there are many ways to stretch and many protocols. Different studies use different protocols. 2. It is important to look at what they are measuring. 3. Most exercise physiology studies are short term (and often have few participants as well) and as such may overlook or underestimate longer term benefits.

Skydiving is not weightlifting. In the short term there is no doubt that stretching may weaken your explosive muscle power. However skydiving performance is much more dependent on flexibility and much less dependent on explosive power than weightlifting. Specificity is important.

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[riggerrob 558]

The latest fashion is to mix warm-ups and stretching. The logic is that if you run for a few minutes, then do thirty minutes of stretching, some of your muscles will have cooled down by the time you stretch them.
Better to warm up a bit, stretch a bit, warm up some more, etc. This is the same logic as tai chi and many aerobic exercise programs.

It is also important to stretch at the end of a vigorous work-out, to squeeze the toxins out of your muscles, to speed the healing/growing process tomorrow.

[chuteless 1]

Maybe if I had done some stretching in my jump days, I might not be so broken in so many places now.

I too, used to be 6 ft 2 ", but now have shrunk down to 6 ft + 1/2 inch. I used to be 167 pounds when jumping was my way of life, but recently gained weight to 200 +, which I have managed to get down to 187 pounds now.

To watch how you pull you leg up and over your head is a good indication that your old body will outlast mine........and I hope it remains in better shape than mine is now at 80 yrs old + . Now I hurt all over, and what doesnt hurt...doesnt work anyhow.

Bill Cole D-41 Canada

[airtwardo 6]

chuteless

Maybe if I had done some stretching in my jump days, I might not be so broken in so many places now.

I too, used to be 6 ft 2 ", but now have shrunk down to 6 ft + 1/2 inch. I used to be 167 pounds when jumping was my way of life, but recently gained weight to 200 +, which I have managed to get down to 187 pounds now.

To watch how you pull you leg up and over your head is a good indication that your old body will outlast mine........and I hope it remains in better shape than mine is now at 80 yrs old + . Now I hurt all over, and what doesnt hurt...doesnt work anyhow.

Bill Cole D-41 Canada

That was me doing the Gumby leg Bill, and yeah that's my plan...keep these ole bones in the best working condition possible.

I stretch twice a day...first thing in the morning while the coffee is brewing I do 15 minutes & when I hit the gym late afternoon I do another 20 minutes of pretty hard core - leg, back, arm & neck stretching exercises.

I'm a pretty big corn fed midwestern guy and we tend to wear out quicker than the feather butts...I don't wanna go down that road.

Got a call from an old jumping buddy last week, he's my age & been jumping almost as long as I have. He use to laugh at me laying on the floor at the DZ stretching every morning...he just had a double knee replacement & his jumping days are over.

He ain't laughin' NOW!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[EtherPilot 0]

I've been doing Crossfit for awhile now, and flexibility is part of it.

I would start small and make it impossible to say, "I don't have the time."

Every morning stand on your toes for a few seconds and reach for the ceiling, then touch your toes, or try to. While this is simple, it's not easy, and there is always room for improvement.

If freefall lasted five minutes, skydiving would replace sex.

[Greell 0]

I stretch before I jump because I suffer from shouldewr injuries, and knee injuries...and being a little more limber helps a lot...both in the air...and if I land rough...always a good idea to stretch a bit, you're less likely to get little injuries (sprained knee, pulled muscles etc) when you're limber.

[ChrisD 0]

kawisixer01

Actually I dunno. Yoga is certainly good. But things I have been reading lately have cited studies showing stretching immediately before performance actually reduces performance.

This is a highly flawed study that got much coverage on the National Enquirerer and then some local media just because of the bullshit it would stir up. To repost it here is just wrong! It indicates a fundamental problem with your misunderstanding of research and life in general. You have done an incredable disserevice to every individual worldwide who participates in any physical activity!


Streching is fundamental to health, safety, and any individuals well being!

This is NON-DEBATABLE.
C

But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

[GooniesKid 0]

BigMikeH77

I've got crazy legs. Actually, a crazy right leg that even when I THINK it's symmetrical with its counterpart is always bent in just enough to make things difficult. Then I realized that I haven't been stretching that well prior to jumps, perhaps that in addition to the airborne toe taps could be beneficial... And stretching is always a good idea, right? Do you stretch regularly?

Stretching?
Dude, I go by Bill O'Reilly's moto..."We'll Do It Live"!

[Sierra117 0]

Tallahassee: Are you fucking with me?

Columbus: Uh, no. You should actually limber up as well. Especially if we're going down that hill. It is very important.

Tallahassee: I don't believe in it. You ever see a lion limber up before it takes down a gazelle?