I was reading an interesting article on increasing your vertical jump and it said that you should static stretch your hip flexors prior to jumping so that they would relax and allow a greater range of motion. Would this also hold true for sprinting?
Here is the article: http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do;jsessionid=0FD500E6EF8789EABFB03CE027AEFAA4.ba02?article=306dirt2
no, in vertical jumpin the hip flexors serve as antagonist as there is no knee recovery, this relaxes them by “weakening” them as static stretching is known to do. Knee recovery is a part of sprinting that is needed, so this would be a hinderance.
Sorry if I’m getting the wrong end of the stick with this thread.
Blinky, the article is 100% correct… Increase the ROM in the Hip/Thigh flexors as opposed to them being tight, and you will run & jump higher, that is common sense.
The article isn’t talking about range of motion. The article says: “the goal is to weaken them and put them to “sleep” before jumping. Static stretching accomplishes these goals. Static stretching your hip flexors will create less friction during your jump. Less hip flexor friction during your jump equals higher vertical jump heights!”
Therfore, the goal is to “weaken” the muscles, not increase ROM…for this instance. By less “friction” they probably mean to say less resistance in the antoagonist muscle (hip flexors). So, the muscle tonus is weak and flabby and does not put up a fight against the opposing muscle allowing them to contract at a higher rate. This is sort of like the principle behind doing Colgan type supersets in resistance training. Push for one exercise, and pull for the next.
There is also such a thing as too much ROM.
so wat i said…
Ya, I was more or less reiterating your point to R&R
give up, hell tell u bike for 4hours prior to help
So you shouldn’t static stretch the hip flexors before sprinting???
no, ‘numba56’ described why pretty clearly.
Why is there always so much polarization on this site? Will doing a small level of static stretching on the hip flexors weaken them? I doubt it. Hip flexor flexibility it crucial to sprinting ability (believe it or not you can reduce internal resistance without weakening the muscle), and having this can help minimize hamstring stress during sprinting. Why are there always such alarmist responses on this site?
I agree… less talk and more training- who can argue with results?
So much testosterone raging… 
Agreed. I seem to run faster after 5-10 minutes of static stretching, just short, light holds, no more than 10-15 seconds seems to do the trick. Gets me feeling relaxed and fast as opposed to rigid and slow. Charlie’s athletes static stretched pre-workout, Tim apparently used PNF before his world record, but what could they possibly know.