How Stretching Can Explode Your Muscle Growth
By Nick Nilsson
Not only is stretching important for flexibility,it is CRITICAL for massive, rapid muscle growth.
When you think about gaining muscle mass, stretching is probably not the first thing that pops into your head. But did you know that stretching plays a critical role in building muscle, and getting stronger?
Every muscle in your body is enclosed in a package of tough connective tissue known as fascia. Fascia is important for holding your muscles in their proper place in your body.
But your fascia may also be holding back your muscle growth and strength gains. Think for a moment about your muscles. You train them and feed them properly. They want to grow and will grow but something is holding them back. They have no room to grow!
Because fascia is so tough, it doesn't allow the muscle room to expand. It is like stuffing a large pillow into a small pillowcase. The size of the muscle won't change regardless of how hard you train or how well you eat because the connective tissue around your muscles is constricting the muscles within.
The best example of this is the calf muscle. The lower leg is riddled with fascia because of its tremendous weight-bearing duties in the body. It is because of this fascia that many trainers have great difficulty developing their calves.
Using the pillowcase example from above, imagine you can expand the size of the pillowcase by stretching it. Suddenly, the pillow within has more room and will expand to fill up that new space.
By stretching your muscles under specific conditions, you can actually stretch your fascia and give your muscles more room to grow.The key to effective fascia stretching is the pump. The best time to stretch to expand the lining that's holding in your muscles is when your muscles are pumped up full of blood.
When your muscles are fully pumped up, they are pressing against the fascia. By stretching hard at that time, you increase that pressure on the fascia greatly, which can lead to expansion of the fascia.
One of the major reasons Arnold Schwarzenegger had such incredible chest development was that he finished his chest workouts with dumbell flyes, an exercise that emphasizes the stretched position of the pectoral muscles. He would pump his chest up full of blood during the workout then do flyes, holding the stretch at the bottom of the flye. This gave his chest room to grow to amazing proportions.
Fascia stretching is more rigorous than regular stretching but the results can be absolutely spectacular. When you stretch hard enough to cause the fascia to expand, you will really feel it deep with in the muscle tissue! When you are stretching the fascia, you should feel a powerful pulling sensation and steady pressure as the muscle works against the fascia to expand it.
Be sure you do not stretch so hard that you cause the muscle to tear or cause injury to yourself. You will rapidly learn to distinguish the difference between a good stretch and a bad stretch. You should not feel any sharp pain, just a steady pull.
Hold each stretch for at least 20 to 30 seconds as you must give your fascia time to be affected by the stretch. Stretch hard like this only when you have a fully pumped muscle as you must give your fascia a reason and space to expand. If your muscles aren't pumped, just stretch normally.
You can find instructions for stretching and giving the muscle room to expand at:
One set of hard stretching after each set you do for a muscle group, besides the obvious benefits of increased flexibility, can have an Amazing effect on the size of your muscles and their further ability to grow.
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Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including "Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass", "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of", all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.
Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick's 30-day "Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST," available at click here for more info now!
