Im not sure about you, but I’m a girl of the 80’s. Do you remember Aerobics Oz Style?!?!  

I dare you to do a Google search for it, I just did, and it’s hilarious!!

I grew up believing that passive stretching was essential to prevent injury and give me long, lean legs (I can tell you now, it certainly didn’t achieve that second goal).

Fast forward to 2023.

We’ve progressed from leg warmers and leotards, but have we progressed from passive stretching? It’s a trend that many of us have found hard to shake, and a quick search on social media will leave you even more confused. 

So what is the latest on stretching? Should it feature in your routine or not?

The most compelling evidence against passive stretching comes from the Australian Ballet Company. About 10 years ago, they stopped passive stretching of calf muscles. They removed all the wooden blocks the dancers would use to stretch out their calf muscles and switched to a focus on dynamic strength. 

Dynamic strength is a fancy way of saying they focused on ensuring dancers had good strength and control throughout their full range of motion – sounds a lot like Pilates, huh?

What happened? Calf injuries were significantly reduced.

Read that again. Removing passive stretching from a dancer’s routine significantly reduced injury and lost performance time.

So if passive stretching is no longer recommended, what is? I gave you a hint above, but let this sink in for now.

Passive stretching may not be doing what you think it is.

For a better alternative, look out for Stretching…yeah or nah? Part 2.

Cath x