WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.839 Don't be afraid of stretching because people 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:08.279 have really strong feelings, opinions, but also 00:00:08.279 --> 00:00:11.779 feelings. They might love stretching. They might... 00:00:11.980 --> 00:00:15.960 hate it. There's not enough evidence to say you 00:00:15.960 --> 00:00:18.920 must do it. It's definitely going to make you 00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:22.399 stronger. Nor is there any evidence to say that 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:26.679 not stretching will make you weaker. So don't 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:29.620 be afraid of it. If you or your athlete want 00:00:29.620 --> 00:00:35.030 to stretch, go for it. Hi, Alisa. It's my pleasure 00:00:35.030 --> 00:00:37.369 to have you on Evidence Strong Show. If you could 00:00:37.369 --> 00:00:39.229 briefly introduce yourself, that would be awesome. 00:00:39.450 --> 00:00:44.369 Sure. So I'm a lecturer and a researcher at Auckland 00:00:44.369 --> 00:00:47.490 University of Technology. I'm also a powerlifting 00:00:47.490 --> 00:00:51.429 coach. athlete and referee. And I like to think 00:00:51.429 --> 00:00:56.049 of myself as a strength enthusiast. So, you know, 00:00:56.049 --> 00:00:59.990 my life, my hobbies, my work, everything tends 00:00:59.990 --> 00:01:03.109 to revolve around strength in some capacity. 00:01:03.409 --> 00:01:05.650 That's perfect. That's what we like here on the 00:01:05.650 --> 00:01:09.109 show. And we'll be talking today about two studies 00:01:09.109 --> 00:01:12.250 you've run with New Zealand powerlifters, one 00:01:12.250 --> 00:01:15.670 with females and one with males. We'll talk about 00:01:15.670 --> 00:01:17.650 them together because they are a little bit... 00:01:17.739 --> 00:01:20.879 similar. And I will let you introduce the study. 00:01:20.980 --> 00:01:24.099 So what was the goal of the study? So both of 00:01:24.099 --> 00:01:27.780 these studies were a part of my PhD. And the 00:01:27.780 --> 00:01:31.040 big question that I had going into my PhD was, 00:01:31.260 --> 00:01:34.719 what is the relationship between strength and 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:37.840 flexibility? So, you know, that was fueled by 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:40.760 a lot of the conflicting internet opinions that 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:44.000 I was seeing. Everybody has feelings and opinions 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.739 about stretching and flexibility. And that led 00:01:46.739 --> 00:01:49.680 me to do a lot of reading and in that reading 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:53.799 I found some evidence that powerlifters maybe 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:57.980 had less range of motion than other people and 00:01:57.980 --> 00:02:01.500 I also kind of saw a bit of a link between that 00:02:01.500 --> 00:02:05.900 reduced or less range of motion and some injury 00:02:05.900 --> 00:02:09.740 risk. evidence, you know, suggesting that the 00:02:09.740 --> 00:02:12.379 places where there was less range of motion are 00:02:12.379 --> 00:02:15.919 also places where powerlifters were often injured. 00:02:16.180 --> 00:02:19.620 And so the aim of these studies was just to get 00:02:19.620 --> 00:02:24.680 a snapshot. What is the range of motion in powerlifters, 00:02:24.819 --> 00:02:27.280 both female and male? Because there was at that 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:30.259 point no evidence in females whatsoever. And 00:02:30.259 --> 00:02:34.469 I wanted to compare it to people who lift weights 00:02:34.469 --> 00:02:37.650 also because the previous research had compared 00:02:37.650 --> 00:02:42.330 to sedentary individuals. So yeah, to find out 00:02:42.330 --> 00:02:45.150 what the range of motion was in powerlifters, 00:02:45.330 --> 00:02:48.949 compare that to non -powerlifting resistance 00:02:48.949 --> 00:02:52.930 trained people and to see if maybe we could link 00:02:52.930 --> 00:02:55.669 range of motion with strength performance. That 00:02:55.669 --> 00:02:59.189 sounds amazing. So let's dig in and let's hear 00:02:59.189 --> 00:03:02.939 from you how you set up the study. Originally, 00:03:02.939 --> 00:03:06.300 this would have been one. massive study with 00:03:06.300 --> 00:03:09.039 four groups. And what we've just done is we've 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:12.099 broken it into two. So there are four groups, 00:03:12.340 --> 00:03:14.639 two powerlifting groups, and the powerlifting 00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:18.080 groups were people with a national qualifying 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:21.240 total. So I had 12 women, 12 men, all of them 00:03:21.240 --> 00:03:23.979 had a national New Zealand powerlifting qualifying 00:03:23.979 --> 00:03:27.000 total. And then this is where the differences 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:30.240 start. The two groups of resistance trained individuals, 00:03:30.500 --> 00:03:34.560 the females just had to say they train. We didn't 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:37.020 do any strength measurements with them. But the 00:03:37.020 --> 00:03:40.259 males were actually what we would say is well 00:03:40.259 --> 00:03:42.879 -trained, meaning that they could squat one and 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:44.979 a half times their body weight and bench their 00:03:44.979 --> 00:03:47.659 body weight. And we actually did 1RM testing 00:03:47.659 --> 00:03:51.560 of squat and bench with the men as well. The 00:03:51.560 --> 00:03:54.000 differences were strictly because we had trouble 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:57.240 recruiting. I couldn't find enough females to 00:03:57.240 --> 00:04:00.319 come in and do the testing as it was. And so 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:03.639 I just kind of took away bits until I could get 00:04:03.639 --> 00:04:06.800 enough women to have something. Awesome. So you 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:10.560 had athletes and you had trained individuals 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:13.900 as a comparison groups. And now how did you set 00:04:13.900 --> 00:04:16.720 up the testing and what did you measure? So for 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:20.939 the testing, we had the men came in twice. one 00:04:20.939 --> 00:04:24.040 of their sessions was 1RM testing, but the females 00:04:24.040 --> 00:04:26.540 came in for a single session, and that session 00:04:26.540 --> 00:04:31.920 was range of motion. testing. So I used goniometry, 00:04:32.279 --> 00:04:34.860 you know, which is the manual kind of measure 00:04:34.860 --> 00:04:37.939 of range of motion. So you can get the degrees 00:04:37.939 --> 00:04:41.579 of motion at individual joints. But yeah, we 00:04:41.579 --> 00:04:44.279 did range of motion with everyone and it was 00:04:44.279 --> 00:04:46.519 active range of motion. So they were in charge 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:49.420 of moving their limb through as much range as 00:04:49.420 --> 00:04:52.699 they could and hold that position. And then I 00:04:52.699 --> 00:04:55.399 just measured them and captured those ranges. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:58.889 We didn't mention it. So you had 12. females 00:04:58.889 --> 00:05:02.889 powerlifters and 12 male powerlifters how did 00:05:02.889 --> 00:05:05.569 you match the numbers with their controls yes 00:05:05.569 --> 00:05:09.790 so also 12 in each recreationally trained group 00:05:09.790 --> 00:05:12.939 and they're all age matched So I had, yeah. All 00:05:12.939 --> 00:05:14.980 right. So you measured range of motion, anything 00:05:14.980 --> 00:05:19.120 else? You had some results in terms of maximal 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:22.199 strength effort. So how did you go about getting 00:05:22.199 --> 00:05:25.420 this data? So the other part that we did with 00:05:25.420 --> 00:05:29.779 the male group is we looked at, we got velocity 00:05:29.779 --> 00:05:33.839 recordings from submaximal squat and bench repetitions. 00:05:34.019 --> 00:05:37.019 So how did you measure the performance then? 00:05:37.220 --> 00:05:41.439 Okay. So we did 1RM testing. squat and bench 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:44.759 press. And we used those two lifts and calculated 00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:48.379 a Wilkes score, just like a two lift Wilkes score 00:05:48.379 --> 00:05:52.959 body weight coefficient. So we also found their 00:05:52.959 --> 00:05:56.480 competition data and took their competition data. 00:05:56.970 --> 00:06:00.370 And we ran linear regressions with it. So what 00:06:00.370 --> 00:06:03.009 is the relationship between range of motion at 00:06:03.009 --> 00:06:07.269 each of these joints and the performance of these 00:06:07.269 --> 00:06:11.430 men, both in the study with the 1RM data and 00:06:11.430 --> 00:06:14.209 then for the powerlifters specifically with their 00:06:14.209 --> 00:06:17.680 actual competition data? And what we found was 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:21.560 that there was a relationship between shoulder 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:25.819 extension and hip flexion in male powerlifters 00:06:25.819 --> 00:06:28.620 and their performance. Less range of motion, 00:06:28.699 --> 00:06:31.720 better performance in those two specific ranges. 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:35.899 All right. Interesting. So it seems that it's 00:06:35.899 --> 00:06:38.560 an adaptation to the sport, do you think? Maybe. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:42.600 I mean, if we look at the kind of global results. 00:06:43.420 --> 00:06:46.980 it gets more interesting. Because while we did 00:06:46.980 --> 00:06:50.600 find that, we found that men had, male powerlifters 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:53.800 had less range of motion in several ranges compared 00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:56.779 to recreationally trained men. And those guys 00:06:56.779 --> 00:06:59.439 were, some of them were martial artists, some 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:01.560 of them were weightlifters. You know, they had 00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:04.160 a range of sports, but the powerlifters had less 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:07.439 ranges in a variety of movements, we'll say. 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:09.779 Whereas the females, there was no difference. 00:07:09.980 --> 00:07:13.189 So female powerlifters had very... similar range 00:07:13.189 --> 00:07:16.509 of motion to recreationally trained female which 00:07:16.509 --> 00:07:19.529 you know then you have to think well why could 00:07:19.529 --> 00:07:22.730 that possibly be and one of the things we thought 00:07:22.730 --> 00:07:26.790 well what about level of performance as a whole? 00:07:26.930 --> 00:07:30.550 Are stronger people different than weaker people? 00:07:30.750 --> 00:07:35.009 Or is it a sex difference? Or is it actually 00:07:35.009 --> 00:07:38.709 more about training age, like the duration of 00:07:38.709 --> 00:07:42.050 time that you've spent specifically powerlifting? 00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:45.639 Because we see all of the time that powerlifters 00:07:45.639 --> 00:07:48.360 have less range of motion in a bench press than 00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:51.000 someone else might, right? We arch. We do things 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:53.699 like sumo deadlifts. We might hit just squat 00:07:53.699 --> 00:07:57.079 depth. So is it actually that kind of specificity 00:07:57.079 --> 00:08:00.279 of training that's causing it? And so in the 00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:04.170 papers themselves, I stick with men. male versus 00:08:04.170 --> 00:08:07.550 males, females versus females. But in my actual 00:08:07.550 --> 00:08:10.889 thesis, I looked at male powerlifters compared 00:08:10.889 --> 00:08:14.750 to female powerlifters. And the competitive level, 00:08:14.829 --> 00:08:17.850 like the Wilkes scores, were actually very similar. 00:08:18.089 --> 00:08:20.329 So what was the difference between females and 00:08:20.329 --> 00:08:24.610 males? Okay, so between female and male powerlifters, 00:08:24.790 --> 00:08:29.509 females did have more range of motion in almost 00:08:29.509 --> 00:08:32.149 all of the ranges that were measured, something 00:08:32.149 --> 00:08:35.590 like seven. out of 28 of them, they had significantly 00:08:35.590 --> 00:08:39.429 more range of motion. And actually what we noticed 00:08:39.429 --> 00:08:43.049 there was that looking at the differences between 00:08:43.049 --> 00:08:46.789 the females and the males, the strength level 00:08:46.789 --> 00:08:50.950 or yeah, the strength level was very similar. 00:08:51.090 --> 00:08:55.269 So we looked at the Wilkes scores and they were 00:08:55.269 --> 00:08:58.269 not significantly different, but huge difference 00:08:58.269 --> 00:09:03.009 was in training age. So the training age of our 00:09:03.009 --> 00:09:07.200 male powerlifters was roughly eight. years compared 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:10.899 to four on average for the females interesting 00:09:10.899 --> 00:09:14.000 you know in weightlifting when we look at the 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:17.519 data for olympians for example it seems like 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:21.759 females get there faster too they need less years 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:24.639 to to medal the olympics in comparison to men 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:27.740 it can be their competitiveness it can be you 00:09:27.740 --> 00:09:29.960 know how competitive the female competition versus 00:09:29.960 --> 00:09:32.740 male competition is or it may be physiological 00:09:32.740 --> 00:09:37.090 aspects to it females have less muscle mass than 00:09:37.090 --> 00:09:39.769 males. So maybe they need less time to develop 00:09:39.769 --> 00:09:43.070 this muscle mass that is required to lift the 00:09:43.070 --> 00:09:45.850 biggest weights. What do you think is influencing 00:09:45.850 --> 00:09:48.389 it in powerlifting? You know, I think it's very 00:09:48.389 --> 00:09:52.909 similar. I think with powerlifting, the female 00:09:52.909 --> 00:09:56.649 component has been growing a lot recently, but 00:09:56.649 --> 00:10:00.649 it's definitely new. You know, the unequipped 00:10:00.779 --> 00:10:03.820 version of powerlifting is newer than equipped. 00:10:04.100 --> 00:10:06.740 And then the addition of more and more female 00:10:06.740 --> 00:10:10.159 athletes is slowly increasing. And you can see 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:13.279 like a dramatic raise in the level of performance. 00:10:13.659 --> 00:10:16.320 And so I think it is probably that previously 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:21.039 females didn't have to be quite as strong to 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:25.320 do very well and have those higher scoring lifts. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:28.799 I mean, that's just speculation, but it makes 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:32.659 a lot of sense. looking at how much the world 00:10:32.659 --> 00:10:36.299 records have increased recently. That's interesting. 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:40.320 Do you have any ideas why females have bigger 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:43.740 ranges of motion than males? Any speculations? 00:10:44.100 --> 00:10:47.960 So that then comes down to, I think it really 00:10:47.960 --> 00:10:52.659 could be training age. I think that the amount 00:10:52.659 --> 00:10:56.480 of time spent very specifically trying to be 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:59.919 strong in a small range of motion is probably 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:02.840 what is causing it. I think if we could, you 00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:05.980 know, wait four years and then test those female 00:11:05.980 --> 00:11:08.879 powerlifters again, we would probably see that 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:11.399 they have less range of motion if they've carried 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:15.679 on with their specific training because the general 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:20.600 range of motion. research also seems to be leaning 00:11:20.600 --> 00:11:23.539 in that direction. It started off with there's 00:11:23.539 --> 00:11:26.460 differences between men and women. And now the 00:11:26.460 --> 00:11:29.419 more recent kind of reviews in that area have 00:11:29.419 --> 00:11:31.720 said, actually, we think what you do matters 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:34.240 more than if you're a man or a woman. And so 00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:36.799 what you're doing all of the time is going to 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:38.889 determine what your range of motion is. Which 00:11:38.889 --> 00:11:41.470 makes a lot of sense. Well, this is huge because 00:11:41.470 --> 00:11:44.389 we just assumed, as we measured, that females 00:11:44.389 --> 00:11:48.210 have inherently more range of motion. But now 00:11:48.210 --> 00:11:51.429 we're looking into, okay, how long they have 00:11:51.429 --> 00:11:54.309 been training compared to males. Because if they 00:11:54.309 --> 00:11:57.070 are training half the time in a specific range 00:11:57.070 --> 00:11:59.070 of motion, reduced range of motion for their 00:11:59.070 --> 00:12:02.669 sport, maybe that's what influences that they 00:12:02.669 --> 00:12:06.009 have more or less. I guess the other thing that 00:12:06.009 --> 00:12:09.240 we looked at was the... stronger compared to 00:12:09.240 --> 00:12:11.700 weaker lifters. And that was with the combined 00:12:11.700 --> 00:12:15.720 male and female power lifters. And we did see 00:12:15.720 --> 00:12:19.940 like a similar, I'll say a trend kind of, because 00:12:19.940 --> 00:12:23.299 a couple of ranges were less in the weaker or 00:12:23.299 --> 00:12:26.820 were less in the stronger group. So shoulder 00:12:26.820 --> 00:12:29.759 extension and knee flexion for people who were 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:33.600 stronger had less of those ranges. So I guess 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:37.559 for me, when I put it all together in my... head 00:12:37.559 --> 00:12:40.539 because it is a lot, you know, what I wonder 00:12:40.539 --> 00:12:44.440 is if it is actually just that time spent specifically 00:12:44.440 --> 00:12:47.820 powerlifting causes a slow kind of reduction 00:12:47.820 --> 00:12:51.600 in range of motion. And then is time specifically 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:55.159 powerlifting actually what would predict powerlifting 00:12:55.159 --> 00:12:58.440 performance instead of the range of motion, right? 00:12:58.580 --> 00:13:00.960 Because with a cross -sectional study, you can't, 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:02.980 there's no cause and effect here. We just know 00:13:02.980 --> 00:13:05.049 that there is a relationship. Yeah, that's a 00:13:05.049 --> 00:13:08.289 very interesting question. Now, is it bad? If 00:13:08.289 --> 00:13:11.850 it is true that powerlifters who train longer 00:13:11.850 --> 00:13:15.669 and are stronger as well, they are also less 00:13:15.669 --> 00:13:19.370 flexible. Is it a good thing as adaptation we 00:13:19.370 --> 00:13:23.129 wanted? Or is it a bit risky? It may increase 00:13:23.129 --> 00:13:26.429 injury risk and so on. I mean, impossible to 00:13:26.429 --> 00:13:30.789 know at this point. But my thoughts on it are, 00:13:30.970 --> 00:13:33.710 I mean, we've seen lately a lot of research. 00:13:33.769 --> 00:13:39.769 looking at long -term stretching. So not acute 00:13:39.769 --> 00:13:42.750 before training stretching, but long -term independent 00:13:42.750 --> 00:13:45.990 of training stretching and how that can actually 00:13:45.990 --> 00:13:49.730 increase strength and hypertrophy. So I would 00:13:49.730 --> 00:13:52.629 say that it's probably something that happened 00:13:52.629 --> 00:13:55.590 just because of the way people trained, but not 00:13:55.590 --> 00:13:59.200 that we would want to seek. those lesser ranges 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:02.720 of motion. All right. So should we try to prevent 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:07.200 it? Should athletes be paying attention to keeping 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:09.600 their flexibility as they progress through the 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:13.240 sport? I think it's very important to have enough 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:17.360 range of motion to do your sport. So people think 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:19.440 about powerlifting and they think you don't need 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:22.419 a lot of range of motion. And that can be true, 00:14:22.500 --> 00:14:26.139 but you do need very specific ranges. And so, 00:14:26.139 --> 00:14:27.940 you know, if you look at the bottom position 00:14:27.940 --> 00:14:30.840 of your lifts, your body makes these very specific 00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:33.220 shapes. And I think it's important that you can 00:14:33.220 --> 00:14:36.190 achieve those. shape without having to compensate 00:14:36.190 --> 00:14:39.509 in any way because compensations could potentially 00:14:39.509 --> 00:14:42.750 lead to injury risk but outside of that having 00:14:42.750 --> 00:14:46.940 more range than is necessary doesn't I can't 00:14:46.940 --> 00:14:50.399 see any reason why you would need that. All right, 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:53.539 very interesting. How do you see stretching or 00:14:53.539 --> 00:14:57.519 flexibility work fit into this equation? So for 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:00.980 me, when I have athletes who struggle to make 00:15:00.980 --> 00:15:04.779 shapes, is how I like to call it, I tend to try 00:15:04.779 --> 00:15:08.340 and use their accessories. So something like 00:15:08.340 --> 00:15:11.659 even just like a dumbbell chest rest, and I'll 00:15:11.659 --> 00:15:15.320 say... Full range, right? Like do not stop that 00:15:15.320 --> 00:15:17.419 above your chest. Make sure that you go through 00:15:17.419 --> 00:15:19.779 the full range that you can. And then you're 00:15:19.779 --> 00:15:21.519 having, you're doing stretching, right? Like 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:24.179 that is a loaded stretch, which is quite effective. 00:15:24.419 --> 00:15:28.320 Peck flies, similarly, something like. The hamstring 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:32.779 work that we do anyway, RDLs specifically, seem 00:15:32.779 --> 00:15:36.600 to be a great way to do some loaded stretching 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:40.500 and build strength. And interestingly, the one 00:15:40.500 --> 00:15:44.940 opposing, I guess, finding with the power lifters 00:15:44.940 --> 00:15:48.500 compared to both recreationally trained and sedentary 00:15:48.500 --> 00:15:51.750 men is that hamstring... Length seems for hamstring 00:15:51.750 --> 00:15:54.350 flexibility, I guess, seems to be greater in 00:15:54.350 --> 00:15:57.490 powerlifters. And while we don't know the exact 00:15:57.490 --> 00:16:00.350 training of the group, like there's a good chance 00:16:00.350 --> 00:16:04.029 that's because RDLs are so valued and deadlifts 00:16:04.029 --> 00:16:06.710 in general train the hamstrings in long muscle 00:16:06.710 --> 00:16:10.070 lengths. So why not do both at the same time? 00:16:10.090 --> 00:16:13.590 Get stronger, maintain, if not increase your 00:16:13.590 --> 00:16:17.090 flexibility. Good investment. Yeah. And it's 00:16:17.090 --> 00:16:19.509 a huge thing right now. Long length muscle training. 00:16:19.529 --> 00:16:23.350 training, great for hypertrophy. So great investment. 00:16:24.990 --> 00:16:27.350 I'm convinced. I'm actually considering, should 00:16:27.350 --> 00:16:30.250 I add it to my training? Training through, I 00:16:30.250 --> 00:16:34.250 mean. Range resistance training is stretching. 00:16:34.470 --> 00:16:36.769 Half of us do it anyways. We just don't call 00:16:36.769 --> 00:16:40.190 it that. Okay. So let's try to sum it up and 00:16:40.190 --> 00:16:43.710 come up with some advice for coaches. So how 00:16:43.710 --> 00:16:46.450 they should apply the outcomes of your study 00:16:46.450 --> 00:16:49.129 with their athletes. Okay. I think my biggest 00:16:49.129 --> 00:16:52.429 takeaway from all of this, you know, the whole 00:16:52.429 --> 00:16:56.450 PhD experience in combination with my own experience 00:16:56.450 --> 00:17:00.919 was like. Don't be afraid of stretching because 00:17:00.919 --> 00:17:05.559 people have really strong feelings, opinions, 00:17:05.640 --> 00:17:08.980 but also feelings. They might love stretching. 00:17:09.079 --> 00:17:12.700 They might hate it. There's not enough evidence 00:17:12.700 --> 00:17:16.440 to say you must do it. It's definitely going 00:17:16.440 --> 00:17:19.599 to make you stronger. Nor is there any evidence 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:23.200 to say that not stretching will make you weaker. 00:17:23.420 --> 00:17:28.079 But there is plenty of evidence to support. stretching 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:32.259 in some way. So don't be afraid of it. If you 00:17:32.259 --> 00:17:36.079 or your athlete want to stretch, go for it. If 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:39.599 someone potentially needs to stretch to achieve 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:43.779 shapes, then do it in a smart way. And if someone 00:17:43.779 --> 00:17:46.500 really hates stretching, then hide it, you know? 00:17:47.469 --> 00:17:50.390 So some people are going to be really flexible 00:17:50.390 --> 00:17:52.029 regardless, and you're not going to have to worry 00:17:52.029 --> 00:17:54.329 about it. But some people you might need to be 00:17:54.329 --> 00:17:55.970 like, oh, you know what? We're going to do this 00:17:55.970 --> 00:17:59.109 long length training, long muscle length training, 00:17:59.329 --> 00:18:01.829 because it's really great for hypertrophy. And 00:18:01.829 --> 00:18:04.069 really what you're going to get from them is 00:18:04.069 --> 00:18:06.769 probably that, but also some increased range 00:18:06.769 --> 00:18:09.410 of motion. Sounds good. Sounds good. Okay. Two 00:18:09.410 --> 00:18:12.410 last short questions to finish the first one 00:18:12.410 --> 00:18:14.289 is what is your favorite lift? You know, it's 00:18:14.289 --> 00:18:17.220 the squat right now. I'm a little bit even sad 00:18:17.220 --> 00:18:19.299 to say that out loud because I'm a deadlifter 00:18:19.299 --> 00:18:23.940 at heart, but I've really long legs and arms. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:28.160 I'm mostly made of limbs. And so deadlift should 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:31.660 be my lift, but it's squat at the moment. All 00:18:31.660 --> 00:18:35.460 right. And last question, where people can find 00:18:35.460 --> 00:18:38.589 you if they want to look? up what you're doing 00:18:38.589 --> 00:18:40.769 or follow your research or ask a question, where 00:18:40.769 --> 00:18:43.849 should they go? Asking questions, probably Instagram 00:18:43.849 --> 00:18:47.450 is the best way. If anyone is interested in my 00:18:47.450 --> 00:18:51.480 research, I'm on ResearchGate. You can ask to 00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:54.400 see publications that way. If someone doesn't 00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:57.480 have access, I can happily give them access to 00:18:57.480 --> 00:19:01.339 anything that I've done via ResearchGate. I think 00:19:01.339 --> 00:19:04.019 that answered it. Thank you so much for today. 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:06.359 It was a pleasure. It was great to chat. Thanks 00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:07.759 for having me. No worries.