Corrective Stretching & AssessmentIf you are familiar with Overtime Athletes, you are familiar with our passion of Structural Integrity, which is essentially our bodies ability to have a mechanically sound foundation. This includes restoring muscle balance through flexibility and functional movements that create mechanical advantages. We have achieved this through Corrective Stretching and PreHab Movements.

Corrective Stretching is correcting muscle imbalances through relaxing hypertonic or “tight” muscles through static stretches. These often, but not always, occur in our flexors.

PreHab is a word tossed around in the strength and conditioning industry that simply represents movements that are performed to prevent injury. We use prehab movements to stimulate phasic (hypotonic) or “weak” muscles that have become dormant or inhibited. These tend to be our extensors and we activate these prior to performance training.

When it comes to our stance in Corrective Stretching we align with the Janda Approach. Vladimir Janda was a physician who was diagnosed with polio in his teens and spent the rest of his life studying the musculoskeletal system and neuromuscular imbalances.

He discovered “Upper Cross” and “Lower Cross” syndromes, which led to the approach that “muscle imbalances are systematic, predictable, and involves the entire body”. With this outlook we created a simple path for us to simply assess and begin to correct our athletes through the recurring imbalances we see in the human body.

It is important to note that we conduct our Corrective Stretches and Prehab prior to our training. Although research displays that you can lose power production by static stretching prior to utilizing that muscle we view this as contradicting in most cases. If an athlete has muscle imbalances, why would we be worried about power production if the movement is not mechanically sound due to hypertonic muscles. When hypertonic muscles take over an exercise, faulty movement patterns are created and it creates not only a decrease in performance but also postural deficiencies.

We overcome this by deadening the nervous system to our particularly tight muscles by statically stretching them prior to training to restore muscle balance for the stimulus we are about to apply to the body.

Everyone to an extent has some imbalances and this does not mean we correct everyone. Lebron James may have some imbalances created through repetitive motions but this doesn’t mean we would correct him. If he were to have recurring injury then there would be a case. But never fix what’s not broken in regards to performance.

It is essential to reveal our “tight” muscles and restore muscle balance through our simple assessment to ensure correct posture and increased performance.

AssessmentIn the words of Paul Chek from his book, Eat, Move, and Be Healthy, “if the muscle is not tight it does not need to be stretched. We often make the mistake of continuing to stretch our muscles that don’t need to be”. This is simple but very often do we see it. Our goal here is to easily identify tight muscles and work to reduce the nervous system activation of them prior to training.

Simply follow the steps below and record your findings in the chart provided. This requires you to “feel out your body” since we are not in person taking exact measurements. Corrective Stretching can be very easy to start and get more in depth as you uncover more layers. Let’s get started in the simple step by step process below.

Probably the easiest way to determine muscle imbalances is to simply align yourself with perfect posture in the mirror. If you feel as if the posture you are standing in feels uncomfortable or unnatural then it’s easy to determine we have some imbalances. But to help us go through each section from head to toe, let’s run through the most common imbalances we see using the actual stretches. If the muscle feels tight, simply jot it down and if the muscle is not tight then do not worry about it. It is important to note that you want to reassess approximately every 4 weeks.

Muscles Right LeftNeck FlexorsNeck ExtensorsLevator ScapulaePec MinorLatsShoulder, Tri, Int/Ext Rotators

BicepAbdominalsTrunk RotatorsHip FlexorsQuadsHamstringsGroinCalves

Neck and Shoulder Region

Neck Flexors ! -Sitting tall, grasp the end of a bench.! -Grab your head and tilt the opposite way.! -Record if either direction is tight.

Neck Extensors! -Grab one side of your head with your hand! on the opposite side of your chin.! -Draw diagonally down tucking your chin.! -Record if either direction is tight

Levator Scapulae! -Raise one arm and place your hand at the! base of your skull! -Turn the opposite way and drive the head ! downward! -Record if either direction is tight.

Pec Minor! -With your elbow anchored at a 90 degree ! angle against a wall! -Draw your torso away the opposite direction! so your shoulders ! are parallel with the wall.! -Record if either side is tight.

Lats! -Anchor your arm against a wall! -Push your armpits towards the wall! -Record if either side is tight.

Shoulder, Tricep, & Internal/External Rotators! -With good posture grab a stick or towel as shown.! -With the top arm pull up.! -With the bottom arm pull down.! -Record if either direction is tight on both sides.

Bicep! -Stand perpendicular to a wall with your arm ! extended.! -Flatten your palm against the wall.! -Record if either side is tight.

Torso Region

Abdominals! -Lay flat on your stomach with palms down.! -Press away from the ground while keeping ! your hips on the ground.! -Record if the abdominals feel tight when ! elbow is locked.

Truck Rotators! -Lay flat with shoulders pinned on ground.! -Raise your legs to 90 degrees at the hip and knee.! -Draw your legs to each side while keeping the ! shoulders pinned.! -Record if either way can not touch the ground

Hip and Lower Limb Regions

Hip Flexor ! -Kneel on the ground.! -Drive your hips forward as shown.! -Record if either side is tight.

Quads! -Place one leg behind you propped on a bench.! -Draw your knee to the ground as shown.! -Record if either side is tight.

Hamstrings and Glutes! -Stand tall with one leg forward! -Keeping your leg locked, draw your chest! towards your knee.! -Record if tight on either side.

Groin ! -Standing tall with your legs spread apart.! -Drive your hips down to one side.! -Record if either side is tight.

Calves! -Standing a few feet away from a wall! push your hands into it.! -Lock your leg straight and drive the heel down.! -Record if either side is tight.