Acute Stretching Followed By Varied Rest Has Similar Effects On Upper And Lower Body Strength

Abstract

Recent research has shown that rest intervals of 5 min or longer may mitigate the effects of acute stretching on performance in collegiate track athletes and further, it is unclear whether stretching has the same effect on upper versus lower body muscular strength (Torres, E.M. et al., J. Strength Cond. Res. 22:1279-1285, 2008). PURPOSE: To compare the acute effects of static stretching with varied rest intervals on one repetition maximum (1RM) bench and leg press performance in recreationally trained college-aged males. METHODS: Eleven healthy resistance trained males (mean + SD, age=20.4 + 1.3 y, height=178.0 + 7.2 cm, mass=79.76 + 15.23 kg, body fat=12.8 + 5.7 %) involved in a regular weight training program for 4 consecutive months immediately prior to the study and, with a minimum of 1 y of weight training experience volunteered to participate in the study. Subjects completed 4 randomly assigned protocols to include: 1) static stretch with no rest followed by 1RM bench press (SSNRBP), 2) static stretch with no rest followed by 1RM leg press (SSNRLP) 3) static stretch with 5 min rest followed by 1RM bench press (SSWRBP) and 4) static stretch with 5 min rest followed by 1RM leg press (SSWRLP). Four upper body stretches were performed prior to 1RM bench press protocols that targeted the chest, shoulders, triceps and upper back. Similarly, 4 lower body stretches were performed prior to 1RM leg press protocols that targeted the quadriceps, hamstrings, gastrocnemius and hip flexors. The stretching interventions included 3 sets of each exercise passively held to a point of moderate tension by the same technician for 30 sec. RESULTS: Paired t-tests were used to determine mean differences across the 2 stretching treatments for both bench and leg press. The data indicated that average SSNRBP (104.7 + 6.1 kg) was not significantly different (p>0.05) versus SSWRBP (104.0 + 5.6 kg). Similarly, the data showed that average SSNRLP (235.41 + 21.0 kg) was not different versus SSWRLP (229.2 + 20.0 kg). CONCLUSION: We conclude that varying rest intervals up to 5 min following static stretching has the same effect on 1RM bench and leg press in college-aged recreationally trained males. The data from this project suggests that acute static stretching followed by varied rest intervals up to 5 min has similar effects on upper and lower body muscular strength.