Everyday Systems: shovelglove: message 440 of 649

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--- In , Reinhard Engels 
<beautiful_idiot@y...> wrote:
> Anyone here stretch? 
...yes, sometimes :)

I don't notice any ill effects except an occasionally guilty 
conscience.
....without stretching your muscles, especially the postural ones 
versus the phasic ones.... An example of a phasic muscle is the 
Biceps brachii...Phasic muscles are the ones that you use 
occasionally for your "everyday movements", but postural ones are 

the ones which always are holding us up against gravity, and don't 
get a coffee break until we are dirt in the ground...like most of 
our neck muscles, the spinal erectors and the deep muscles of the 
hip and calf...
> 
> Am I missing anything? 
.... I would say, yes... not because you aren't feeling any ill 
effects (as of yet and cross your fingers it stays that way), but 
simply because static streches do very good things for your muscles 
and can only help your performance and longevity, and keep you less 
prone to muscle strains...And loose muscles are more comfortable... 
Wouldn't you prefer to feel nice and juicy, and have your full range 
of motion at your command, versus being semi tight and restricted 
all around your shoulder girdle? You can still be very strong, 
infact stronger, if you stretched because you would be reducing 
tonicity, and then you will reduce the likelihood of trigger points 
developing in the muscles...Myofacial triggerpoints can be studied 
in the work of Dr. Janet Travell, JFK's personal physician...
So if you have a trigger point, this will typically reduce the 
contractile strength of the muscle it is within.. that's because it 
keeps on staying contracted (sizewise these are just like the head 
of a nail or a pin) overwhelms the nervous system and limits the 
circulation of blood and the elimination of metabolic wastes within 
the tissue...Stuff like lactic acid just keeps building up... And 
remember that's what makes "Stiffs" stiff when they go into rigor 

mortis... You don't seem like you are in that stage so I wouldn't 
really freak out, but I do suggest to start doing some very basic 
warmups and cool down STATIC stretches... not ballistic because that 
will just illicit the tendon organs and muscle spindles to have 
a "strech reflex" and just tighten up more...gentle static stretches 

won't illicit a reflex reaction in the muscle...

Did farmers and hunters stretch?
.....Is this a rhetorical question? I don't really know how to 
answer it? LOL... I don't think Elmer Fudd did!

> Maybe the range of their natural movements (which, remember, we're 

imitating with shovelglove) is sufficient that dedicated stretching 
time isn't necessary?

Maybe it's only the artificial, constricted movements of 
weightlifters and other "specialist" exercisers that make stretching 

necessary.
.... I think it's all about intensity and load... If you were doing 
Shovelglove for more minutes a day it might effect you differently.
The more intense a workout is, whether that means heavy lifting, or 
just lengthy sessions, the more likely your muscles will shorten... 
This is how the muscle protects itself from injury... the more 
contracted it is, the less likely it is that someone might say get 
their arm ripped out of their socket.. it is programmed into the 
muscle fibers to react to an intense or fast strech, by shortening...
Example: You walk down the street and by accident while you are 
looking at some girl walking by, you hook your arm around a light 
pole.. What happens? Everything suddenly goes into flexion because 
of this self preservation reflex in the muscle.. If not, you might 
really pull your arm out of it's socket... get it? :)

> What I do do to cool down is a bit of shadowboxing. I don't know 
the first thing about boxing so I'm sure what I do is pretty 
laughable to the trained eye, and I doubt it accomplishes much in 
the way of stretching, but it's fun, and a great excuse to admire 
your shovelglove induced musculature if you do it in front of mirror 
(if a little autosexual).
.......LOLOLOLOL :) Please Reinhard, you have to make a movie of 
this for me!!!!! I promise not to laugh!!! LOL :)
A little narcissism is okay, but don't start leaning in to kiss 
yourself okay? :)

It also kills time while I wait for my charming victorian plumbing 
to get the shower water hot enough. 
....Come on! Don't you like a good bracing chill? LOL (meh neither 
do I!) Hey at least it's not medieval plumbing!

21 hooks to the head, 21 hooks to the body, 21 uppercuts, 
21 "sneaky stomach jabs," 
...Come on! No cheating... anyway if you really want to do some 
damage you should be aiming for the kidneys anyway...

14 straight rights, 14 straight lefts.
Reinhard
.... Okay, I've gotta call my bookie now....I predict your wife will 
take a dive in the third round..from laughing! :)
Love,
Deb
PS... My good friend Richard, a computer guy here in town (boy I 
sure know a lot of Richards these days) just dropped off a new 
optical mouse for me to replace my old one with the warn out "ball" 

If it is as good as I expect, maybe I will try to draw some of the 
static stretches I would recommend for all the pact of Blood who 
care to check them out.
I could put it in a file folder...
Meanwhile, here's a basic good one. Stand at about 90 degrees 
against a wall, and simply place your fully extended arm behind you 
and flush against the wall at shoulder height, as if you are making 
an upside down and backwards "L" shape or half a right side up 
"T" 
shape...then hold it for at least 20 to 30 seconds... Chances are, 
you will also feel it in your pecs, and even in the scalene neck 
muscles, but it is for stretching the biceps brachii...
Thanks for posting this Reinhard! I love to read your posts! They 
crack me up :)
Love,
Deb