DC Extreme Stretches. Do you do them?

[desibaba]

How many of you who do DC also do the stretches. I have done em and man they are painful as hell but do they actually work? Whenever i do em everyone looks at me like im crazy because no one stretches like that in the gym lol :D

[Frosty]

I've even heard Poliquin talk about similar stretching for growth, so there may be something to this....especially if the muscle is tight to begin with or is really tough with fibers like calves and forearms.

[Wheels]

I don't do DC (I will eventually) but I incorporate the stretches.

[buster12]

hell yes! I beleive the stretching is crucial! Heres an example I use to show how much stretching can help mucle growth. Have you ever seen those gymnastic athletes? All they do is stretch with their bodyweght and they have great upper bodies. Infact, the DC stretches are somewhat similar to the gymnastic stretches.

[Frosty]

hell yes! I beleive the stretching is crucial! Heres an example I use to show how much stretching can help mucle growth. Have you ever seen those gymnastic athletes? All they do is stretch with their bodyweght and they have great upper bodies. Infact, the DC stretches are somewhat similar to the gymnastic stretches.

Because their muscular development wouldn't have anything to do with tons of training volume on a daily basis over many years, right? :)

[buster12]

^lol. Off course I'm not attributing all that growth to just stretching. lol. but I personallly beleive the stretching does help alot! lol

[ironwarrior22]

Gymnasts do so many controlled strength movements also mostly focused on the eccentric portion of the movement. I am actually incorporating dc into my training this week and today I'm going to do my first extreme stretching, and I look forward to it( I really enjoy pain). I hope it hurts as much as I hear.:D

[orhochris]

I did and thought they were indispensable. a MUST for true DC training.

[desibaba]

Okay say today you worked chest,shoulders,triceps and back. Would you stretch your pecs immediately after you have finished chest or would you wait till the end of the entire workout and do all your stretches together? Reason being that with DC you do your calves,then hams and then finally quads. Would it be a good idea to really stretch out your hams and THEN do a heavy set of squats and a the widowmaker?

[Frosty]

Extreme stretching before a set will reduce the ability of the muscle to contract. Not a good idea. I tried stretching my hip adductors before a set of squats and...duh...I almost got pinned under the weight because I was a lot weaker without the adductors contracting as hard.

But if you did chest and legs in the same workout, I'd stretch the chest right after training, the move to training legs, then stretch them.

[Yolo]

Okay say today you worked chest,shoulders,triceps and back. Would you stretch your pecs immediately after you have finished chest or would you wait till the end of the entire workout and do all your stretches together? Reason being that with DC you do your calves,then hams and then finally quads. Would it be a good idea to really stretch out your hams and THEN do a heavy set of squats and a the widowmaker?

I, for one, stretch after every bodypart but it's not set in stone. Also (don't quote me on this) I believe you're "allowed" to stretch quads and hams after you're done training them (i.e. train hams, train quads and then stretch both)

[orhochris]

Okay say today you worked chest,shoulders,triceps and back. Would you stretch your pecs immediately after you have finished chest or would you wait till the end of the entire workout and do all your stretches together? Reason being that with DC you do your calves,then hams and then finally quads. Would it be a good idea to really stretch out your hams and THEN do a heavy set of squats and a the widowmaker?


you decide. if its going to negatively impact your lifting for other bodyparts then wait til the end and do it all together. but if you're going to do chest, shoulders, triceps, and back. then there's a lot of time for your chest to cool down before you're done with the workout. going straight into your extreme stretch with a dumbbell flye after not doing anything with your pecs for 40 minutes would be an accident waiting to happen.

Just be smart. use your head. DC is all about KISS.

[Frosty]

From Poliquin:

"Tip 1 - Stretch your muscles thoroughly, four to five times weekly.
Besides the well known injury prevention and increased flexibility benefits of stretching, regular stretching maximizes the hypertrophy process by stretching the fascia, allowing room for the muscle to grow. After a very brief cardiovascular warm-up (2 to 5 minutes, just enough to break a sweat) stretch the targeted muscle group with P.N.F. stretching.


Consult a physiotherapist or Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist on this particular stretching method. Finish off with static 4-6 stretches of 15 seconds duration. The combination of these two stretching methods is more effective than using one method alone. Static stretching permanizes the rapid gains made with P.N.F."



http://charlespoliquin.com/Guru/recovery.php

[SUMO]

Just read the DC article in the new Musclemag. When talking about the stretching, there was a little editors note saying the MMI doesn't advocate the extreme stretching because it's too painful.
If they had any balls they would have said "our lawyers are afraid we'll get sued if some idiot tears a muscle while doing it."

[bigtimektz]

I do the extreme stretches every time I train. To benefit from them you have to put a lot of effort into it. You simply cannot do some normal stretching and expect it to help. You have to push your stretches like you push your training.
I do the chest stretch immediately after my one rest-pause set for chest. And so on for my other body parts. Not only do they assist in growth but also with muscle soreness and recovery. Do em'.

[bigtimektz]

Just read the DC article in the new Musclemag. When talking about the stretching, there was a little editors note saying the MMI doesn't advocate the extreme stretching because it's too painful.
If they had any balls they would have said "our lawyers are afraid we'll get sued if some idiot tears a muscle while doing it."

What a bunch of pussies.

[Razer]

I do them between each body part set. They do cut back on the soreness and feels like the pump/fullness in that particular body part is good and tight. Helps stretch the muscle heads!

[Frosty]

If your sets are in low rep ranges and you're focusing on strength and recruiting the higher threshold motor units, I think stretching between sets is a very bad idea. It is counter-productive to this goal.

However if you're doing sets with incomplete rest for higher reps, I can see value in stretching between sets when you're "resting". This would help stretch the muscle tissue and fascia better, increasing IGF-1 and hyperplasia, and not hinder too much the goal of what you're doing. Finish off with a long 60-90s extreme weighted stretch at the end.

[.DP]

I like some more than others, and for some I have my own stretches I like to do but I always stretch after a workout.

The only DC stretches I don't bother doing are for shoulders and quads, for some reason those two bodyparts have super range of motion and the shoulder stretch/sissy squat stretch don't quite do it for me.

[dropshot001]

I like some more than others, and for some I have my own stretches I like to do but I always stretch after a workout.

The only DC stretches I don't bother doing are for shoulders and quads, for some reason those two bodyparts have super range of motion and the shoulder stretch/sissy squat stretch don't quite do it for me.

have you tried doing the behind the back shoulder stretch instead of the one where you put your hands behind your back grabbing the barbell? the behind the back stretch is shown here by shelby YouTube - Shoulder Stretch