How to Achieve Greatness via Dynamic Stretching

It was the end of an intense week of training and Mia did not look like she wanted to be here.

The weather was cold and damp day, very unusual for this time of year (May) in the Bay Area.

"Mia, you are looking strong"I clapped my hands excitedly.

Mia looked at me sleepily as she brought dynamically/sleepily brought her knee to her chest during our dynamic stretching routine.

I believe that in life your energy is everything. Energy is powerful enough to create your own success or contribute to your decline. Everything that you are involved in is a result of the energy that you contribute. As a coach you may have all the experiences, knowledge and skills, but if you have poor energy or attitude, you will find the coaching industry an unrewarding and unsatisfying one.

It was days like this and times like this when bringing my most positive energy was most important because it was going to be a major factor in the direction of this practice and how well these athletes do.

During a 90-minute speed session, mobility work takes about 30 minutes. This time is either very well spent, OR it is used ineffectively as the athlete just goes through the motions waiting to get to the so-called good stuff. 

During a typical speed, development day athletes do an easy 200 meter run around the field they enter into the dynamic stretching phase of the workout. 

Dynamic flexibility is the range of motion your muscles use while you move dynamically, like when you're playing your sport or sprinting.

The best way to increase the dynamic range of motion is to perform drills (I.E Dynamic Stretching) where the dynamic movements are exaggerated and force your body to stretch at a high speed. Dynamic flexibility only improves when the exercises are completed with intention, intensity, and effort. 

From the moment an athlete arrives at their training session I remind them of the importance of putting all of their effort and focus into every piece of the programming, not just the sprints and weights. This includes rolling, dynamic stretching and recovery. 

George Leonard is an author of numerous books on human possibility including his most recognizable book Mastery. In Mastery Leonard teaches us, “Could all of us reclaim lost hours of our lives by making everything—the commonplace along with the extraordinary—a part of our practice?”

This is powerful. Why not make every moment an opportunity to express our mastery? Whether that is running a sprint for time, competing in the 4th quarter of a Nationally Televised Game, or doing A Skips and B Skips alone on a rainy field in the early morning. The best athletes do not simply do more of the same drills and sets compared to other athletes; they also do those same drills better. 

That’s where they separate themselves.

Very small differences, consistently practiced, will produce big results.

In speed development that could be how well you did each dynamic stretch, how well you recover between sprints, and how well you take care of your central nervous system between workouts.

James Clear is the creator of The Habits Academy, the premier training platform for organizations and individuals that are interested in building better habits in life and work, This is how he describes these very small differences, this quote is a little long but bear with me here because all 3 paragraphs are important, “It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis. Too often, we convince ourselves that massive success requires massive action. Whether it is losing weight, building a business, writing a book, winning a championship, or achieving any other goal, we put pressure on ourselves to make some earth-shattering improvement that everyone will talk about. 

Meanwhile, improving 1 percent isn’t particularly notable—sometimes it isn’t even noticeable— but it can be far more meaningful, especially in the long run. The difference a tiny improvement can make over time is astounding. Here’s how the math works out: if you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done. Conversely, if you get 1 percent worse each day for one year, you’ll decline nearly down to zero. What starts as a small win or a minor setback accumulates into something much more. 

Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same way that money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them. They seem to make little difference on any given day and yet the impact they deliver over the months and years can be enormous. It is only when looking back two, five, or perhaps ten years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent.”

You may not feel like putting all of your effort, intensity and focus into your dynamic stretching sequence today but just know that you are building habits and these habits compound. Oh and always remember that the little things make up the big things.

Dynamic stretching has actually been shown to significantly increase the ability of a muscle to produce force. This has huge implications for athletes, as dynamic stretching can improve muscular performance throughout a muscle’s entire range-of-motion. This effect can protect the body’s joints during activity and actually prevent injuries that would have otherwise occurred following a standard static stretching routine. These are the effects that people are usually looking for when employing a proper dynamic stretching program.

The strength and conditioning industry loves talking about force and how the more mass specific force you put into the ground the Faster you run. Well, dynamic stretching done properly increases the ability of a muscle to produce force just as much as a concentric deadlift combined with a plyometric:)

I tell my sons KJ and Maceo that if they expect to be great at anything, then they need to practice that thing—every single day. Often the trick is doing little things (like dynamic stretching:) correctly, all the time, every time. The greatest work of art anyone can construct is the architecture of their own talent, and this only happens when the little things are done well to the finest detail. World Class training consists of doing more and more of these little things—each one consistently, so that each one produces a result.

Doing these little things like Dynamic Stretching with intensity and precision has more than a physiological benefit, it has a psychological benefit as well. You are attacking every moment of every day, doing your best in every activity on your quest to relentlessly improve. That is how you build true confidence. Confidence is a skill and that skill is cultivated by racking up small, worthy, and achievable victories on the way to mission accomplishment.

You want to know a small, worthy, and achievable victory you can get today?

Attack your dynamic stretching with relaxed vengeance and focus. 

Dynamic stretching and form drills also help you build your sprinting “skill”, breaking your stride down into its component parts – picking the feet up off the ground quickly, driving the knee upward, snapping your leg back – and helping you become more efficient at each part.

No matter what skill you want to learn, the pattern is always the same: See the whole thing. Break it down to its simplest elements. Put it back together. Repeat. 

There is an ancient Greek parable known as the Sorites Paradox, which talks about the effect one small action can have when repeated enough times. The paradox goes as follows: Can one coin make a person rich? If you give a person a pile of ten coins, you wouldn’t claim that he or she is rich. But what if you add another? And another? And another? At some point, you will have to admit that no one can be rich unless one coin can make him or her so. 

You can say the same thing about doing the little things, like dynamic stretching.

Can one tiny high intensity dynamic stretching session transform your life?

No.

But what if you attacked your dynamic stretching sequence with intention and intensity day after day?

You would increase your range of motion, increase your ability to put force in the ground, improve your sprinting “skills”, and cultivate your self-confidence to overcome any challenge that life shows you. 

The secret to getting legendary results that last is to never stop making improvements. It’s remarkable what you can build if you just don’t stop. … The small things don’t add up, they compound. That’s Powerful.

Let’s get Better Today,

Chase

There are dozens of different dynamic stretching exercises and sequences done on fields and gyms across the World. 

Below you can see what we use, but remember the main point of this article is to emphasize the intensity needed to get the proper benefits of the dynamic stretch. 

High Knee Pull

High Knee March

Hip Cranks

Straight Leg Bounds

A Skips

B Skips

High Knee Butt Kickers

Big Skips

Let's get better today,

Chase

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