Do Not Mix Weights and Stretching

health

Oct 8

There is always a human temptation to mix purposes to create a faster, more efficient, end. For many years, I was making an unwitting, but ultimately dangerous, mistake.

I was doing deep stretching while also lifting heavy weights in the same workout session. That is completely dangerous for a myriad of reasons, mainly because it confuses the muscles in your body: “Are we stretching, or are we compressing?” Fair question, and my answer was always failing.

If you need to both stretch and lift weights in the same session, you need to wait at least 30 minutes after performing one of the two — fully rest for a full 30 minutes of cool down time doing nothing — before you go into an opposite exercise mode because, when you lift heavy things, your muscles tighten and compress to sustain the added weight so you won’t fall over or lose your grip.

That makes sense, right?

So, you finish a heavy Kettlebell session and then, to cool down, you decide to immediately drop to the ground and do some deep stretching, and you’re going to be in trouble because the parts of your body that you were just compressing with the weight are sort of locked in that steadying mode — they’re not ready to release and deep stretch yet — and if you force yourself into a stretch when your muscles aren’t ready to relax, you’re going to get muscle cramps, and to “stretch the other way” and your body will not feel good or relaxed.

The opposite is also true. Don’t undo all the good you just did.

If you’re into deep Yoga stretching to start a workout, and if you’re totally calm and relaxed — and then you decide to lift some heavy iron — you’re going to be in trouble, because your body is not in a right state to tighten up, and react to a heavy weight management that isn’t a natural part of what you just asked your body to complete. There’s a risk that a relaxed body is not a body ready to lift a heavy burden, and the risk of a pulled muscle, or a strained back, or knee, compounds that disinterest in the body.

Some light warm up before a Kettlebell session is fine. Liquid stretching. Warm up the joints. All good. However, deep breathing, and holding stress positions, is not a good idea.

As well, doing a little lightweight warm up with a weighted ball you can hold in one hand can help the body learn to relax faster; but doing deep squats with heavy metal is not a good way to start an intensive Yoga session.

I finally discovered the best way to compel my Yoga sessions and my Kettlebell sessions is to split them completely apart by both time and distance. One day Yoga. Next day Kettlebell. Then take a couple of days off over the weekend to let your body recover — and then switch the exercise on Monday to the opposite one you used last Monday.

It works!

That simple schedule adjustment immediately saved my back, and my knees, and my confused mind, from a wary, and unsuspecting, injury. I always thought more was better, but now I know managed moderation is best because the body isn’t confused against intention, and the body, with the mind, and connected heart, can perform a single-intention exercise better together than they can manage a mixed method of emotion apart that leads to muscle confusion and injury.