Monday, December 22, 2008

Antagonist Stretching for Strength Gains


A tactic that's been used for a long time and works for many to induce strength gains is antagonist stretching. To catch everyone up to speed, antagonists are the muscles that oppose those primarily doing the work. For example, muscles in your chest ("pecs") amongst others fire during a bench press. The muscles in your upper back ("posterior delts" for example) oppose the pecs. Therefore, the idea is to pre-stretch the upper back (horizontal pulling) muscles prior to a horizontal pushing exercise like push-ups, or in this case the bench press.


Give it a shot and see if it helps with strength gains. Also, apply the principle with other groups (pre-stretch the triceps before doing bicep curls). Let me know how you do. I haven't done it in a while to be completely honest and need to implement it more.

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