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ok so here's my first blog entry:

i've been doing the stretches for 3 days now.
my flexibilty really went up but my muscles are kind of sore (i think thats also because i hit the weights damn hard on tuesday). i feel kinda loose and agile when i walk around.

but when i step on the court.. i feel like im less explosive than before. im slower in defense, my first step is slower and what bothers me most is: my VJ has decreased!!!!!!!

i dont exactly know why that is so, but i think it's because my body is not used to having loose muscles yet. so it doesnt know what to do with them and how to effectively do athletic movements with them.

but i'm not even thinking about aborting the programm now. ill keep doing it and see how it changes my VJ over time. because i cant really see any reason why being flexible should make you run slower or jump less high. because all of the top 100m sprinters, long jumpers, triple jumpers etc. are flexible as shit!!! and it doesnt look like it makes them less explosive lol.

peace

ok so here's my first blog entry:

i've been doing the stretches for 3 days now.
my flexibilty really went up but my muscles are kind of sore (i think thats also because i hit the weights damn hard on tuesday). i feel kinda loose and agile when i walk around.

but when i step on the court.. i feel like im less explosive than before. im slower in defense, my first step is slower and what bothers me most is: my VJ has decreased!!!!!!!

i dont exactly know why that is so, but i think it's because my body is not used to having loose muscles yet. so it doesnt know what to do with them and how to effectively do athletic movements with them.

but i'm not even thinking about aborting the programm now. ill keep doing it and see how it changes my VJ over time. because i cant really see any reason why being flexible should make you run slower or jump less high. because all of the top 100m sprinters, long jumpers, triple jumpers etc. are flexible as shit!!! and it doesnt look like it makes them less explosive lol.

peace

well, as long as you're lifting hard, those yoga poses/stretching won't cause any problems, in fact it can help.. right now your body could be having problems understanding the "new length-tension relationships" you are causing, based on your new flexibility/mobility routine.. it might take a little more than a week to feel explosive again. I have no doubt that, if you lifted hard in addition to those exercises, your vert would not suffer.. if you however place more emphasis on those exercises than lifting hard/jumping hard/sprinting hard, then yes, your vert/power will suffer greatly.

I wouldn't abort 3 days in, go at least 2 weeks If you do happen to lose some vert because of the daily flexibility/mobility work in those 2 weeks, you need to understand that whatever vert you "lose" you will easily gain back by ceasing to perform that mobility 'program'.

all of the top 100m sprinters/high jumpers etc are NOT flexible as shit.. some are extremely "tight".. whatever your "natural flexibility is", you want to improve it slightly, you don't want to go overboard by trying to become a contorsionist is not going to help one bit, it'll definitely hurt.. make sure you are doing those stretches/mobility work LIGHTLY, don't force anything to extreme ROMS.... i have a feeling this is why you are so sore, you are stretching TOO hard.. a slight stretch is still a stretch, it's much less intense on the fascia surrounding the muscle, which can easily experience very small tears due to TOO much intensity during the stretch (too much intensity = too much stretch).

as always, progress SLOWLY... do not overstretch.. by overstretching you are definitely confusing your CNS, i have a feeling this is what you are doing.. when CNS gets confused, all of your "motor programs" need retuning based on the new level of flexibility you have, and this is why your jumps can turn to crap immediately.. but if you stick with it everything should come back, picture it as you are "reprogramming a computer" somewhat... it's going to take a few weeks, as long as you're lifting heavy, you should be alright and experience either:
- no gains
or
- gains

peace man

alright i've been doing the stretches for almost 5 days now.
VJ has come back, I cant jump higher yet but at least im back to my normal jumping abilities. Jumping feels a little bit easier and more fluent.

But I noticed good gains in speed and agility. All the movements on the court, especially euro-steps, crossovers and defensive slides are a lot more efficient. I wouldnt say more explosive, but i can use my explosivity more since the steps are longer.

So far i am really impressed with what stretching has already done for me. imma keep doin this and keep yall posted

Be careful using your explosivity     to take "longer" steps, especially when youre sprinting, you essentially put the brakes on and put the body in a very bad position to produce force.  Longer strides and steps come primarily from more powerful ground contacts, not over reaching on strides or steps.  If youre going to stretch alot you may want to look into pnf stretches or iso holds in the stretch position, intensive and too frequent static stretching without involving a strengthening element can be detrimental to athletes movements on the court/field and end up causing injuries in the long run.

I personally stretch and do you Yoga regularly, but it's mainly for recovery and injury prevention.  I definitely notice that I can workout harder when stretch, because I am not sore the next day.  As far as it directly improving your vj, I'd be surprised but couldn't hurt.  Good luck.

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