Ballistic stretching consists of rapid alternating stretches and contractions of the same muscle groups (using the moment of inertia – rocking to overcome our ultimate range of motion). According to numerous studies, it is one of the POTENTIALLY risky ways of stretching because the elongated muscle reflexively (myostatic reflex) shortens, thus increasing the chance of breaking connective tissue and muscle fibers. So, what does reality tell us? Let’s take tennis as an example. If you’ve noticed, warm-up players perform the same move dozens of times (for example, “forehand”) at high speed in a matter of seconds. These fast movements are actually ballistic! It should be clear to you that there are NO dangerous exercises, but there are exercises that are performed in a dangerous way.
For example, if you lead a sedentary lifestyle and you enter the gym for the first time and start doing a squat with a barbell, then it can be said (without any research conducted) that you belong to a POTENTIALLY risk group of people because you can very easily injure yourself (such an exercise is dangerous for you to perform at that moment). The same is true for ballistic stretching, if we perform it for the first time in our lives, we do not immediately want to use the largest possible swings (thus increasing the torque of action on the tightened muscle group) because we will injure ourselves, but use a small momentum (well-trained athletes use larger swings) that will help us stretch half a centimeter, 1 centimeter more than our end of range because in this way we increase strength and flexibility muscles.
Types of ballistic stretching
There are pulsating and dynamic ballistic stretching . Pulsating means shorter, faster swings (for example, increasing hamstring flexibility) that help us get in – get out of our extreme range, while dynamic ballistic stretching involves a greater range of swings (for example, when practicing the “forehand” in tennis or when practicing kicks in karate, kickboxing, etc…). Pulsed ballistic stretching is performed in a large number of repetitions (40-80 swings per minute), and is a great way to increase the time spent in the end range and thus give your central nervous system (CNS) time to “get used to” the new – greater range of motion. Dynamic ballistic stretching involves a lower number of repetitions (5-20) compared to the pulsed method because there is a higher momentum during the movement.
The advantage of ballistic stretching compared to, for example, passive stretching is that in passive stretching under the action of an external force (for example, a partner) we reach the end range (which is uncomfortable) and stay in that position for at least 20 seconds, while in ballistic stretching the moment of inertia (momentum) allows us to slowly adapt to the final range of motion and thus send information to our CNS that we are in the “safe zone” in which we are in the “safe zone” We won’t get hurt and it will be a better feeling.
