Five rules for stretching that actually works

Mobility matters both for having a good guard and for passing well and recovering faster. But a session done badly is not half a session: it is wasted time, and sometimes an injury.

These are the five rules I follow and make others follow.

1. Warm up first

Start the session with at least five minutes of warm-up: running, skipping rope, rowing, whatever you like. You will help blood reach the muscles and avoid injuries.

A cold muscle does not lengthen: it defends itself. Five minutes is the minimum, not the target.

2. No rushing

Never rush the practice. Find a quiet moment, ideally away from training, when you have enough time.

Enter the position slowly and increase the range gradually. At the end, release the tension a little at a time to come out of the posture: coming out abruptly undoes much of what you have just done.

3. Breathe, and breathe in a specific way

In stretching, breathing is fundamental. The rhythm should be 1:3 up to 1:5:

• inhale deeply and quickly, through the nostrils;
• exhale through slightly parted lips, slow and controlled, three to five times longer than the inhale.

It is the breath that tells the body it can let go. If you notice you are holding your breath, you have gone too far: back off until you can breathe like this again.

4. The body decides the time, not the clock

The position is not held for thirty seconds. It is held for as long as it takes to feel the lengthening.

Once you are in position, listen: you will feel a moment when the muscle starts to «give». That is the moment to stay a little longer. Counting to thirty and coming out often means standing up a moment before anything happened.

5. Never reach pain

Pain is a negative signal for the body: when it registers pain it goes on alert, and a body on alert stiffens — the opposite of what you are after.

While stretching you must never reach the sensation of pain, only a signal of lengthening. And a diffuse sense of lengthening beats a sharp pain in one spot: that spot is telling you that you are pulling where you should not.

Remember that you can always adapt the posture to your own needs.

When, and how much

1. 1After training, or at a separate time of day. Before class you want short, active movement, not long holds.
2. 2Ten minutes, three times a week. Less than you think you need, and enough for a measurable change in a couple of months.
3. 3Two or three positions, always the same ones. Changing the exercises every time makes progress impossible to notice.
4. 4Record where you got to. A photo every three weeks tells you what today's sensation does not.

Apply these rules to your sessions and you will see a clear improvement in your mobility.

Read this first

If you are still deciding whether stretching is for you, start here: «I'm too stiff for yoga».