The quitting point and stretching incorrectly

 Disclaimer : This information is not guaranteed to be accurate and I am not liable if you make any decisions or take any actions, in terms of medical treatment, health decisions, exercise, behavior or anything else based on the information presented.  I am not telling you any decisions to make even if I use terms like "you" but am using the word "you" as part of a writing style to simplify writing.  Any suggestions for what "you" should do are not for you personally to do but what someone might do as part of a exercise or nutrition program which might help some people's health and make other people's health worse.  You should not do any activity that will make your health worse even if "you" should do it according to the program described.  If the information is wrong and you believe it is true, act on it and it causes you problems, I am not responsible because I have warned you the information is not guaranteed to be accurate.

The quitting point and stretching incorrectly by voluntarily increasing tension to prevent deeper stretching

For someone whose psychological reaction to passive static stretching is to resist it with more force the more length their muscles are stretched

This article is specifically about passive static stretching not other forms of stretching where tension is temporarily increased for certain reasons during the stretch

Even though muscles have less maximum force they can exert the more they are stretched beyond resting muscle length people usually do not exert maximum force but choose to exert different amounts of submaximal force.  Someone who really does not like stretching might have a response of choosing to exert more submaximal force to prevent further stretching the further their muscle is stretched beyond resting muscle length even though they are capable of producing less maximal force the further their muscle is stretched.  Once they receive a certain amount of submaximal tension they refuse to stretch any further and quit as a free will choice.  They quit in response to not being able to handle the pain they are creating through their psychological response of increasing the tension.  This amount of tension at which they quit will be called the quitting point. 

 I am not talking about the muscle spindle response to stretching but about people who think stretching will hurt them so choose to use tension to prevent stretching too deeply causing it to really hurt them when it otherwise would not have.  

Stretching is increasing in length and tension is a force that shortens things or prevents them from increasing in lemgth.  Stretching is not tension and tension is not stretching.  Tension is a force that opposes stretching.

Tension does not mean a increase in length or stretching but a direction of force to prevent increasing in length or to cause shortening.  People often confuse stretching and tension because when you stretch a spring or slinky beyond it's resting length and it increases in length the tension is said to increase.  The longer you stretch it the more tension force will occur to prevent further stretching.  There is an exception if you stretch it so long in lemgth or such a large duration in time to break it and change it's properties, which I would discourage doing.  But, the tension is the force that will shorten it when you let it go not the force that is lengthening it nor is tension the change in size of it becoming longer.  Not only is tension not stretching , but it is the very force that prevents stretching further

You may think tension is just a natural 100% involuntary response of the body to stretching and I am blaming innocent people who have no choice in the matter.  But, I am fairly certain it is not 100% involuntary, because I think I have voluntarily increased tension in response to stretching myself before and can personally know that in some cases it is a free will choice.  Then again maybe other people tricked me into blaming myself for what I can not help. 

 I am not denying that such tension can happen without free will choice.  Nor am I, denying that involuntary muscle spindle stretch responses which increase tension in response to quick jerky stretching are real.  But, simply claiming that sometimes people voluntarily choose to create extra force beyond what their muscle spindles involuntary reactions create.

They might think that increasing the tension reduces the pain by preventing further stretching but increasing tension actually cause a good portion of their pain because stretching further would not increase the pain or not increase it as much if they did not choose to increase tension whenever they increased the length they stretched.  

Now there might be a exception where the muscle is very near it's end length where decreasing tension would allow it to lengthen further resulting in pain or injury, but this exception does not apply to most people most of the time because they do not have the motivation to stretch their muscle to that long of a length.  Most people, most of the time will usually get scared long before reaching the point where this could happen and make every effort to reduce the length of the stretched muscle in order not to stretch that far out of fear or lack of motivation in dealing with pain.  I believe I personally have reached this end point of exception but only on very rare occassions and found that by holding the stretch without reducing tension until the pain decreased then reducing tension I could lengrhen the muscle and hold it for a sustained period of time without experiencing much pain.  But if I immediately reduced tension allowing my muscle to lengthen instead of waiting a while first it would result in a immediate large enough increase in pain to make me want to stop the stretch.  This happens very rarely and most of the time decreased tension, results in decreased pain.  

But, what if I am wrong and this is very common.  If it is common then the solution is to hold your stretches longer until the pain is decreased then reduce the tension, not to create more tension, say, I can not stretch far without pain and quit after less than 1 minute.  If it is common then most people should hold their passive static stretches more than a minute and and still reduce tension just not immediately and only after a sufficient delay.  You can not stay tense and then reduce tension after a sufficient delay, if there is no delay.  And if you are stretching for less than 30 seconds there might not be a long enough delay.  This delay might take 30 seconds to 3 minutes in my experience for these rare cases.  This delay should not take more than 5 minutes because you should decrease the tension before you reach a point of fatigue.  

It is possible to hold some poses more than 1 hour for some people but these poses are not usually the type of pose where this problem happens it usually only happens on very difficult poses that are extremely fatiguing to maintain.  Since we are not talking about 1 hour poses but poses that are so difficult they can not be safely maintained for an hour at whatever your personal acceptable pain tolerance is.  I therefore, suggest reducing tension at the five minute mark before fatigure sets in at the very latest.  

Reducing tension is much more likely to injure you with strength training that is not stretching then with passive static stretching that is not strength training.  

Passive static stretching is not the same as isometric strength training.  Often people confuse the two because in both types of exercise you stay in place.  In isometric strength training the muscle length stays the same while the muscle resists force.  In Passive Static Stretching the muscle length is increased beyond resting muscle length then it is held in the same position. 

Someone could injure themself if they reduced tension doing isometric strength training like a handstand where they fell on their head or a bridge or plank where they fell on the floor after reducing tension so much they go limp.  Or doing isometric strength training with free weights held in place where they dropped a weight after reducing tension.  Then some person would say I was doing stretching and I reduced the tension then I injured myself when I dropped the weight, because of a lack of knowledge and or with bad motive to make very bad excuses for bad habits of increased tension during passive static stretching.  But, those activities are not passive static stretching they are isometric stremgth training.  Or if you want to say they are both, ( which most of the time they are not to any practically significant degree , ) then maybe you should not decrease tension with passive static streching if you are combining it with certain strength training exercises.

I am talking about passive static stretching not bodyweight strength training or strength training with free weights, or isometric strength training where you might get injured if you reduce tension and fall into some joint breaking position.  So from this perspective the assumption will be reducing tension in the stretched muscle will typically reduce risk of injury not increase risk of injury.

Unmotivated or Unknowledgable people who stretch every day but do not put enough effort into stretching may experience losses in flexibility even with daily stretching especially if they are motivated to do certain types of strength training but not motivated or knowledgable about stretching

Usually for a motivated person doing Passive Static Stretching the muscle is held at as long a length as it can be stretched at the pain tolerance level they are willing to safely endure for the duration they choose to hold it and for a unmotivated or unknowledgable person it is at such a sort length and sort duration as to not improve flexibilitiy a noticeable amount.  In fact a unmotivated or unknowledgable person who does not stretch their muscle far enough nor hold it long enough might find themself less flexible with every passing day even if they stretch every day because the decline from their sedentary lifestyle of "half assed" stretching is greater than any gains in flexibility they would achieve when not stretching enough, especially if they do strength training with heavy weights that avoids getting anywhere near what would be the full range of motion for their muscles without extra weight resisted.

Beliefs some people may need to change to improve flexibility

People who voluntarily increase tension when they increase muscle length need to change their belief from 1 to 2

1  Creating extra tension or muscle force will reduce pain by limiting how deep I stretch or limiting the length my muscles stretch.  The actions that acconpany this belief result in more immediate pain and less immediate flexibility during the present moment of passive static stretching, for most people, most of the time.

2 Choosing not to limit how much I stretch by reducing the portion of the tension I voluntarily add will reduce pain.  Even though I can not or have not yet learned how to control the portion of tension that I think is involuntary.  Some of the tension I might never be able to control but some of it I might learn how to control.   The actions that acconpany this belief result in less immediate pain and more immediate flexibility during the present moment of passive static stretching, for most people, most of the time.

And possibly also change belief from 3 to 4

3 More tension means I am stretching the muscle more.  This is a false belief

4 I am only stretching the muscle if I am increasing it's length.  Thle amount of force or tension a muscle experiences has nothing to do with whether or not it is stretched.  This is a true belief.

And possibly also from 5 to 6

5 Relax means make my muscles tense.  This is a false belief in regards to the muscle being passively stretched.

6 Relax means reduce tension.  This is a true belief in regards to the muscle being passively stretched.

And possibly also from 7 to 8

7 Stretching a joint a muscle does not cross can increase it's tension to better stretch another muscle.  This is a false belief

8A: A muscle can only be stretched by stretching the joint or joints it crosses, since moving a joint the muscle does not cross will not change the length of the muscle.  Whether or not stretching the joint the muscle does not cross  effects the tension of the muscle you are trying to stretch is not relavant as to whether or not the muscle you are trying to stretch is stretched because tension is force not length.  This is a true belief.  

Relavance of belief in this truth

8B: The relevance of this belief is it prevents excuses against stretching difficult muscles by stretching totally different muscles at joints the difficult muscle does not cross.  There is also a second point of relevance in that if the position of a joint the muscle does not cross effects the range of motion in a joint the muscle does cross then the joint the muscle does not cross should be at a point to maximize range of motion in the desired direction for maximum muscle length at the joint the muscle does cross.

For some individuals that intentionally increase tension, the root of the problem maybe a phobia connected to wrong beliefs

Simetimes, the root of the problem is the exageration of the level of pain involved in stretching in the human mind.  The more painful they imagine stretching to be the more tense they choose to be in order to limit their degree of stretching hoping they will limit the pain.  But using tension to limit the degree of stretching will increase the pain higher than the level of pain that would be present with stretching if they did not do that.

Wrong beliefs is the greatest limiting factor in flexibility for most people today 

The limiting factor in flexibility for most people is belief more than muscle length.  Some people do not stretch beyond a certain level of depth or muscle length because they tried and know they can not, but most people believe they can not and never tried.  

Lack of knowledge of what poses or stretching positions exist can be a limiting factor in flexibility for the small percent of the population who are motivated

Other people would have tried if they thought of the possibility but the idea never crossed their mind.  Some people do not even know certain poses such as the over-splits even exist.  They may think once they reach the splits they do not know how to stretch any farther and then they quit because there is nothing more to do.  But one day they see someone else do the over-splits and say I did not even think that could be done, it is not that I thought it was impossible, I simply never thought of it at all.  Then they try it and either fail or succeed.  These kinds of people suddenly become motivated to go back to the basics after failing at things to advanced for them and try the basics over and over again until they can do the advanced because they no longer are at a dead end having a mind enlightened to new possibilities.  

The elite few who have tried to their maximum tolerable pain level can claim to be limited by muscle length.

Unless you have have tried something to difficult for you where your muscles could not safely get any longer within your maximum acceptable tolerable pain level then your limit is not muscle length but mindset.  I am not saying to cross a line and do something too painful that may injure you but to be willing to go as close to that line as you can without injury.  You do not have to go as close to that line as possible but simply have to be willing to try simething that might put you there as long as you know it is safe.  Some people say even though I know it is safe, I will not try it because it will hurt a lot, but if they actually tried it, it would hurt very little.  Do not be like those people.  Of course they do not know how little it would hurt because they never tried it.  

Hatred for pain can be a motivation to do execises which are painful in the short term, but decrease pain in the long term

Sometimes it might hurt a lot but there is a chance it might not hurt much at all.  I do painful things regularly and frequently because I hate pain.  I know if I do certain painful things regularly enough they will be less painful.  Sometimes I even do extremely painful things many days in a row and after doing so they are not extremely painful anymore.  But if they get more painful each time instead of less painful, then I stop doing them.

Refusal to tolerate a little bit of pain will put you in a lot of pain.  Avoiding exercise because of small pain is the gateway to great pain

But you know what I will not do because it is too painful, avoid exercise out of laziness.  There are people who are busy and have many things to do so they do not exercise as much as they would like to and then there are those who would like to exercise less so they say they are too busy when they are not because they are lazy and or think it will hurt.

Someone who is not willing to suffer even small daily exercise pain in an environment with adequate food supply and opportunity for rest and chooses not to even do light exercise at all as their lifestyle will experience great pain in the distant future if they even live that long.

Numerus medical conditions are caused by a sedantary lifestyle all of which are greater than the pain of daily exercise to prevent such conditions.

A sedentary lifestyle is only safer than a exercise lifestyle when sleep or nutrition is limited or some bizzarre situations like if someone threatens to shoot you if you exercise that did not effect the majority of people in the majority of countries prior to a certain event in 2019 or 2020

But I do not exercise and I do not experience pain.  

Either you really do exercise and do not know it such as by doing physical labour as part of your work or hobby but did not think to count it as exercise because it is not recreational exercise during your free time.  Or it is just a matter of time before you enter a world of pain.  Or you are a biologically abnormal human who does not get weaker, slower and less flexible muscles while sedentary nor any other sedentary related health conditions whose medical abnormality has not yet been named and discovered by publicly available medical science.

Making stretching easier by not stretching extra joints a muscle does not cross

For the sort of person who voluntarily and or involuntarily increases tension when muscles are stretched.  

The following points might not be true but could potentially be true

It might follow that stretching muscle 2 through changing the angle of joint B would increase the length of muscle 2 which would increase the force of muscle 2 resulting in an increased force on muscle 1 even though muscle 1 does not cross joint B because muscle 1 and muscle 2 are arranged like springs in series and not like springs in parellel.   

If that is true then changing the angle of joint B may make or prevent the person from reaching the quitting point when stretching muscle 1 at joint A. 

In such a case that individual should stretch muscle 1 with joint A in the position in which muscle 1 is longest and joint B in the most comfortable position.

This is because joint B does not effect the length of muscle 1 but may effect the pain level and tension force of muscle 1 preventing it from reaching maximum length except in the most comfortable positions.

The length of the muscle is a function of the angle of the joint

Muscle 1 : Moves Joint A but not joint B

Muscle 2 : Moves Joints B  but not joint A

Muscle 1 : Is connected to Bone X and Bone Y but not Z

Muscle 2 : Is connected to Bone Y and Bone Z but not X

Joint A : Is between Bone X and Bone Y

Joint B : Is between Bone Y and Bone Z

Some muscles are multijoint and others are not

If a multijoint muscle crosses both the knee joint and the ankle joint then you have to stretch both your knee and your ankle to stretch that muscle if you have a sufficient level of flexibility.  

But if a single joint muscle crosses the ankle joint and does not cross the knee joint then the position of the knee does not matter, so you should put your knee in the most comfortable safe position to stretch it, when you are only trying to stretch that single muscle.

Copyright Carl Janssen 2022

In mechanics, two or more springs are said to be in series when they are connected end-to-end or point to point, and it is said to be in parallel when they are connected side-by-side; in both cases, so as to act as a single spring: 

  http://web.archive.org/web/20201112032055/https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_and_parallel_springs