Soccer involves a lot of powerful and unique movements. Whether jumping for a header, changing direction or sudden sprints, the body is constantly moving in a way that is potentially damaging to muscles if the body has not been properly conditioned. This is why we take the time to warm up for SoccerFit.
An important part of the warm up is stretching. This is when we loosen stiff muscles and try to expose
them to movement. Recent studies have favoured dynamic stretching over static stretching as an effective preventative to injury for sports that involve powerful movements.Dynamic stretching involves movement whereas static stretching is standing still, typically, and leaning into stretches. For soccer some of the best dynamic stretches involve skipping (for calf muscles), ankle rotations, gentle changes of direction while jogging, swinging or kicking the legs from small arcs and gradually increasing, swinging legs sideways, walking lunges (hamstrings, hip flexors), running with high knees, running with butt kicks, and not to forget the rest of the body - arm circles, body rotations, neck circles ad so on.
Static stretches still have a place especially for relaxing the muscles. They should always be done when the body is warmed up. They are useful for the end of training or after a game. Some people prefer a mix of static and dynamic stretches before exercise. If it works for you...!The beauty of Dynamic Stretching is that it can be incorporated into the warm up phase, keeping constant movement of the body, without having to stop completely to stretch. Dynamic Stretching is the most effective "wake up" for muscles before more intensive exercise and soccer games.
(Picture SoccerFit Randwick - Ankle Circles)
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