Men's Fitness Online

Whether you’ve seen it online or heard it on the gym floor, a lot of the information surrounding stretching and mobility is rife with everything from half-truths to downright dangerous lies. Thankfully, seasoned exercise physiologist Glenn Phipps has penned an evidence-based book about the subject equally applicable to weekend warriors and full-time athletes. 

Titled Stretch Yourself Strong, this isn’t a book full of images of static stretches but a comprehensive guide to using stretching, mobility, and strength training together purposefully so you can prime your body for optimal performance. 

According to Phipps, many of us do stretching and mobility exercises for the sake of it or repeat these motions without progression—and that’s where we’re going wrong.

“Stretching shouldn’t be taken as a tick-the-box before exercise, but incorporated into a system that will improve everything from range of motion to quality of life and even longevity.”

In his world-first system, also available in an online course, Phipps explains that to escape the cycle of injury and pain, you need to get specific on what movement matters to you and avoid plateaus with progressive training. 

 The four phases of the Stretch Yourself Strong framework include: 

Phase 1: Improve your range of motion and get strong at your end range through stretching and isometric movements. 

Phase 2: Learn to use Range of Motion (ROM) with dynamic stretching, flows and isometrics through your full ROM. 

Phase 3: Make permanent tissue changes through eccentric strength training and quasi-isometrics (EQI). 

Phase 4: Explosive training that is sport-specific for injury prevention, sport-specific with ballistic stretching and explosive isometric exercises. 

Glenn has worked with UFC fighters, the SAS, Tough Mudder pros,  professional surfers and athletes of all stripes to lift their game to the next level. Most recently, he’s been approached by professional handballers. 

Informed by 20 years of research and backed by many scientific studies, Stretch Yourself Strong isn’t a quick fix. Instead, it’s designed to help you make permanent changes to your muscles – think resilient tendons to help with injury prevention, the ability to withstand force in three planes of motion, increasing your capacity to recover and building strength through complete sporting movements.

Head here for more info  https://www.stretchyourselfstrong.com/

The book is available at https://www.stretchyourselfstrong.com/stretch-yourself-strong-book or on  Amazon.