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Bodyweight Stretches
Stretching exercises for muscle growth
If you are training with bodyweight exercises in order to get stronger and grow bigger muscles you have to stretch in order to get the muscle to grow. Every muscle is protected and covered with a protective bag of connective tissue called Fascia.
When you train the muscle gets all pumped up with nutrients and blood that fills the muscle. But if the connective tissue that is protecting this muscle is stopping the muscle from getting fuller then your muscle size will simply not grow bigger.
It is like pushing too many feathers into a pillow as it reaches a point where no matter how hard you try you cannot put in any more feathers. The full muscle mentioned above is also known in bodybuilding circles as "the pump" which is when the blood has nowhere to go and overfills the muscle sheath.
When this happens it is the perfect time to stretch that muscle as you will be stretching the fascia's connective tissue and allowing the blood to squeeze into these areas. This will not only aid your general flexibility but will improve the size and balance of your muscles generally.
But there is a difference between specifically stretching the fascia and normal stretching. The difference is very subtle but basically it is doing the stretch when you are all pumped up but also make sure you hold that stretched position for at least 40 seconds.
When stretching the fascia you will feel it as it is a more rigorous form of stretching. Any and all body-parts can be stretched, this article will not be going through all the many different stretches that you can do to get the stretch on any and all muscles.
Normal stretching is also necessary and is a good habit to get into if you want to avoid getting injured. The difference between normal stretching and fascia stretching is not only the extent of the stretch but also the time that the stretch is held.
It is important that whenever you are stretching that you do not bounce on that stretch in order to go past the farthest point that you can. This is called bouncing and will not improve your stretching ability and is a waste of time as well as dangerous as it can tear a tendon/ligament.
Overstretching a muscle causes a stretch reflex, which is a protective mechanism that your body uses to prevent your muscle from tearing. This causes your muscles, tendons and ligaments to reflexively contract, causing a sharp pain in the area which can cause the muscle and joint to become tighter.
In my book "The Muscle Experiment" I talk about how I was able to put on a solid 39lbs of solid muscle in less than 6 months with bodyweight training, and exactly how YOU can do it as well. In case you haven't downloaded The Muscle Experiment, I suggest you download it immediately and start implementing the little known techniques. This alone should put you on the road to massive size and strength.
To your success,
Mike Thiga
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