Ballistic movements in fitness. Flexibility Exercises
Ballistic training is commonly used by athletes to develop explosiveness and strength. By accelerating and releasing weight into free space, the athlete's body gains fast muscle fibers, which are directly responsible for growth and strength. Ballistic movements require the central nervous system to coordinate and produce the most force in the shortest amount of time.
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Jump squats
Squat jumps build strength, speed, and strength and improve your speed of strength development. High speed traffic will start your nervous system, will increase neural output and muscle recruitment. To perform a jump squat, start at correct position squat and jump vertically from the floor, returning to the starting position in a controlled manner. They can also be used at the beginning of a leg workout to improve performance.
Push Presses
The push press is similar to the military press, except that the movement starts at the feet. Start in a standing position with a barbell at the height of the collar bone supported in your hands. Do a quarter squat, dip quickly, then explode to full hip enlargement. As you begin to finish the leg, focus on pressing down on it like a shoulder press. Once the bar is past your forehead, fully lock the overhead bar. All joints from the floor to the wrists should be fully engaged and the weight locked over the head.
Kettlebell exercises
Kettlebell exercises build strength and endurance, improve cardio and enhance grip. Basic movements such as the swing, the snatch, and the clean and snatch engage the entire body immediately. Many traditional ballistic exercises can be performed with kettlebells in addition to special kettlebell movements such as swings.
Before incorporating ballistic movements into your workouts, it's best to build strength with closed chain movements. Improve your form and technique before moving on to more advanced positions or loading weights. Work with a trainer or experienced coach, to provide correct execution every exercise. If for any reason you experience any pain, stop exercising immediately and seek medical attention.
Stretching is one of the most underrated forms of fitness. Most often it is associated with simple exercises, such as “lean forward and touch your toes with your hands”, so its value is often underestimated, depriving yourself of the benefits of such a warm-up.
In the process of growth and aging in muscle tissue changes are taking place. Incorporating stretching into your regular workout schedule will ensure even muscle growth along the fibers and increase flexibility levels. This will give you the ability to move in any direction with ease and give you more energy to perform various actions.
In addition, stretching helps to achieve:
- Increase joint flexibility
- Improved circulation in muscles and joints targeted by stretching exercises
- Increased energy levels as increased blood flow brings in more oxygen and glycogen
- Improvements in motor coordination
- Increases in speed and strength
There are seven various types stretching exercises and, although some of them overlap and some are part of the standard training complex, so they are nothing new, but it's better to take a closer look at them and figure out what they do.
Active stretching
Leg swings to the side, a typical element of active stretching
In active stretching, you take a certain position and hold it only with the help of your own agonist muscles (primary movers). To hold the body in the desired position, the agonist muscle groups have to tighten, while the antagonist muscles begin to stretch. For example, a typical martial arts stance in the position side impact leg promotes stretching of the adductor muscles (adductors), increases the flexibility of the athlete's body and the height of the leg during impact.
The effect of active stretching is based on a physiological response called reciprocal inhibition. If any one muscle group is held in a tense position for a long period of time, then the muscle groups opposite it do not need to remain tense, so they relax and stretch. Most often, the position needs to be held for no longer than 30 seconds, and sometimes results can be achieved in less than 10-15 seconds.
Active stretching is widely used in yoga. Martial artists and ballet dancers also use it heavily. Techniques active stretching improve performance in most sports.
Passive stretching
An example of passive stretching is the well-known twine
Passive stretching is a form of stretching ideal for performing with a partner. In this case, it is necessary that the body remains completely passive, and all actions are performed with the application of an external force (with the help of a partner). If training is performed without a partner, body weight and gravity are used as an external force. For this reason, passive stretching is also called relaxed stretching.
An example of passive stretching is the well-known twine. By spreading your legs as wide as possible and releasing your body weight on them, you allow your feet to naturally slowly slide further to the sides. Studies have shown that passive stretching is ideal for muscle recovery after injury, as it is done gradually and requires some time for each position.
Static stretching
Static stretching is perhaps the most common type of stretching exercise. In this case, it is necessary to hold the body in positions that require tension, but do not cause discomfort, for about 10–20 seconds. This type of stretching is often used as part of a regular warm-up in various types sports, since during static stretching the body is not subjected to extreme loads. This has led to the misconception that stretching should be done during the warm-up to prevent sports injuries, and that stretching improves athletic performance.
In 2013, in three unrelated research projects This issue has been considered from different points of view. In the first study, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, it was found that the inclusion of static stretching in the warm-up complex reduces muscle performance and causes instability in their work, which can lead to an increase in injury rather than reducing it.
The second study published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research (Journal of research in the field of strength and general development) found that static stretching carried out as part of a warm-up leads to an immediate decrease in muscle performance. These findings were supported by a third study published in the same journal, which found that long-term positive effect of pre-workout static stretching was negligible at best.
Isometric stretching
An example of isometric stretching: “pushing the wall”
Isometric stretching is a type of stretching that involves the resistance of muscle groups caused by isometric contractions of the stretched muscles. Examples of isometric stretching: “pushing the wall” to warm up the calf muscles, bending forward with your foot on the bar and trying to reach your knee with your head, as well as stretching the biceps, resting your straight arm against the wall and applying force to it.
There is some evidence that isometric stretching performed over a long period of time contributes to the development of muscle hypertrophy (increase in volume). This is due to the fact that in this type of stretching, the resistance of muscle fibers is involved.
Dynamic stretching
In dynamic stretching, weak swings are used, with which the body and limbs make full complex movements. Since with dynamic stretching, the speed of the exercise increases gradually, and the range of motion remains within the comfort zone, this species stretching is most often recommended for use as a warm-up.
For golfers, boxers, martial artists and ballerinas, dynamic stretching is part of the standard intensive training complex. In 2011, the European Journal of Applied Physiology published the results of a study in which scientists found that dynamic stretching improves performance in sprinters and other hard-training athletes.
Program for dynamic stretching from the site darebee.com (Clickable picture)
Dynamic stretching training program
Another study published in 2012 in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine compared the benefits of dynamic versus static stretching for hard training athletes. It turned out that athletes who used only dynamic stretching in their warm-up showed better results than those who performed static stretching exercises. However, the greatest increase in the range of motion (ROM) was demonstrated by athletes who combined both types of stretching. This suggests that best results can be achieved by making a mixed warm-up complex.
Ballistic stretching
Ballistic stretching is a type of stretching that uses jumping and jerky movements. This form of stretching is strongly discouraged by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and is considered one of the most common causes of warm-up injuries.
Ballistic stretching exercises should not be started without an adequate warm-up, as they push your body out of your comfort zone. The use of ballistic stretching as a warm-up is unacceptable. Ballistic stretching after a good warm-up is widely used by martial artists, ballet dancers and gymnasts in order to increase the comfortable range of motion and increase the flexibility of the body.
Research on ballistic exercises shows that when performed after a core workout or as a stand-alone routine, they help increase range of motion and improve performance. Martial artists, gymnasts and dancers know this very well.
PNF stretching
PNF stretching (Proprioreceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) is a set of stretching techniques that help expand both active and passive range of motion and provide a significant increase in flexibility.
A study published in the journal Animal Science found that stretching (including PNF stretching) after a moderate-intensity workout helped promote growth. muscle mass resulting in an increase in muscle strength and size.
Concerning warm-up complexes, then PNF stretching is more suitable for them than other options, since it uses resistance to the applied force, after which the muscles relax, and then re-stretching occurs. This makes it possible to achieve an increase in the flexibility and strength of the joints through the stimulation of four separate, sometimes overlapping reactions: autogenic inhibition, reciprocal inhibition, stress relief, and the theory of pain blockers. All of this is explained in detail in a study on the benefits of PNF stretching published in the Journal of Human Kinetics.
When is stretching necessary?
If you use stretching to warm up before training, choose dynamic or PNF, all other types are performed after training, when the muscles are properly warmed up. Stretching can also be done in the form of an independent training complex, performed on a specially allocated day.
The bottom line is that stretching is definitely needed and will always help to achieve better results, but you should carefully choose when to do it and what kind of stretching to prefer. Nobody forbids you to do various stretching exercises, and not just stick to one particular type. But do not forget to consider possible undesirable consequences in order to maintain the health and elasticity of your muscles.
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What exercises can be called explosive?
From a methodological point of view, according to Schmidtbleicher, D. (1992). Training for power events, explosive muscle strength - the amount of force shown in a limited time. This value, in turn, is determined by the rate of force increase (SNS), i.e. the difference between initial and final force divided by time.
Example - at the beginning of the movement (static pressure), the athlete showed 800 N in the support (supported the weight of his body), 0.2 seconds after the start of pressure, the force was 1800 N. The rate of increase in force is (1800-800) / 0.2 = 5000 N / s .
If we take different time intervals (0.1, 0.2, 0.5 s, etc.), then we can identify different SNS (early and late) in different areas.
In addition, different movements require different modes of muscle contraction. SNS can be measured isometrically, concentrically, eccentrically, and plyometrically.
Therefore, it is important to know the applied side of the question - WHAT IS EXPLOSIVE EXERCISES FOR? Since the time available, the type of reduction, and also, of course, the working muscle groups, joint angles, load type and vector, etc. DIFFERENT in different movements.
So all the same, what exercises can be explosive?
The answer is any! According to Louis Simmons, any movement can be explosive: all you have to do is choose a certain load, and arbitrarily try to complete the movement as quickly as possible!
Different movements require different loads for maximum power output
In research, I've seen explosive isometric dorsiflexions. ankle joint(this is a sock on itself). Even if the object is stationary, and the muscle does not shorten (or even lengthen), there is a difference in forces, and there is time - so there is an EXPLOSION!
Also, even the slowest 1RM squat will be "explosive", it's just that the degree of this explosion will be small compared to more explosive movements. What?
1. Classic explosive moves
Explosive can be, for example, a regular squat with a barbell. It is enough to choose a load of 50-60% of 1 RM, and try to get up as quickly as possible.
The problem is that in the final phase of any classical movement, the vertical velocity is 0. That is, there is a deceleration phase that is not present in sports jumping, accelerations, etc. Moreover, if in 1 RM bench press this deceleration phase occurs in the last 23% of the movement, then at 80% of 1 RM this figure is 52% (more than half of the movement is braking). And even 45% of 1 RM gives 40-50% of inhibition, even if the athlete performs them as powerfully as possible.
A partial solution to the problem is the use of combined resistance (eg resistance bands). Firstly, they accelerate the eccentric, which causes a greater stretch-contraction reflex. Secondly, they increase the load as they move to the top point, forcing them to push harder and delay the braking phase. However, about 25% of the movement will still have a negative acceleration. 
2. Ballistic exercises
Movements such as jumping with a barbell / kettlebell / without weights are classified as ballistic, or inertial. In them, the weighted athlete accelerates up to the separation from the support, and then the movement occurs by inertia. In these movements, there is no deceleration phase (however, the joints are still decelerated to zero angular velocity so as not to be damaged). 
Numerous studies show the effectiveness of such exercises for the growth of both parameters such as power, SNS, and results in a vertical jump and other movements of this kind.
3. Weightlifting exercises
TA movements, in theory, can also be attributed to ballistic ones, because. have a phase of free flight of the barbell and the athlete. However, there is a difference, which is that after pushing the bar, the athlete begins to accelerate in the opposite direction (down), to fix the bar. 
This forces the athlete to brake a little earlier than the bar (they no longer move in space as a single system). This factor, as well as a slower speed than ballistic movements, puts TA movements at some disadvantage.
in different movements, the strength, power and time of the concentric phase will be different
4. Plyometric movements
Plyometric mode is a fast eccentric followed immediately by a fast concentric, with a minimal isometric phase in between. 
In fact, both the classic squat and the bench press can be called "plio", however, the speeds of the concentric (and especially the eccentric) are an order of magnitude lower.
Ballistic movements, especially those performed quickly and with adequate loads, already include more plio mode.
However, the real "plio" is movements performed with the weight of one's own body, or with a small weight, for example, jumping from a place, running, jumping, throwing projectiles, etc. 
Sharing a slow plyo (movement time over 250 ms) is vertical jumps from a place, metball throwing, and fast plio (100-250 ms) - running jumps, deep jumps, sprint.
Such movements are as specific as possible, since they imitate sports activity.
I think I gave you brief description explosive exercises. How can you divide the load by the amount of weight, speed of movement, specificity, as well as what is power, SNS, stiffness, and other terms, you will very soon be able to learn from
If you sports man or about to become one, pre-exercise stretching is an integral part of your regimen. There are many approaches to stretching, each existing technology has its advantages and disadvantages. When choosing a stretching technique, you need to take into account what effect you want to achieve. For a simple warm-up of the muscles, static stretching is enough. If your goal is to force the muscles to work to their fullest, you can try ballistic stretching. The most common and safest type of stretch is static, but the ballistic approach also has its advantages, which the site will talk about today.
What is ballistic stretching and how is it different from other types of stretching?
Ballistic stretching uses the momentum of a moving body or limb to extend the normal range of motion. Simply put, you stretch in jumps and jerky movements.
The main goal of ballistic stretching is to increase the range of motion, which is why this approach is popular among dancers, basketball players, and football players. Thanks to the increased range of motion, you can, for example, jump higher, strike with more force, which is useful when playing sports.
Ballistic stretching is different from other stretching techniques because it allows the muscles to move beyond their normal range of motion. Static and dynamic stretches are aimed solely at warming up the muscles, and not at using them to the maximum.
Examples of Ballistic Stretching Exercises for Self-Performance
Attention! Ballistic stretching is the least safe of all stretch types, so care must be taken when performing it. In case of pain, it is necessary to stop the lesson and check your condition. If the pain persists, it is best to see a doctor.
Exercise 1 - touch the socks
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and slowly bend over, touching your toes. However, do not linger in this position, but begin to “spring” in place, while touching your fingers.
Exercise 2 - swing your legs
Find a point of support that will not only help you maintain your balance, but will also provide enough room for you to fully swing your foot back and forth. Bend your leg and straighten it, slowly swinging back and forth. Gradually increase the amplitude of the swing with each repetition. After ten swings, switch to the other leg.
Exercise 3 - reaching for the fingers
Find an object on which you can put your feet, raising them in front of you. This table is perfect for this. While lying on the floor, raise your extended, straight leg in front of you, and now lift your body to reach and touch your fingertips. Repeat 10 times, then do the exercise with the other leg.
Exercise 4 - work like a windmill
This stretching exercise engages the muscles of the entire body. Just stand in a star position: feet shoulder-width apart, arms outstretched to the sides. Now bend over and touch your right toes with your left hand. Then turn around and touch with your fingers right hand toes of the left foot. Repeat the movements for several minutes.
If you are an athlete, ballistic stretching is a great way to expand your range of motion and achieve better results. True, such stretching can be dangerous, since it is accompanied by the risk of injury.
the site calls for caution when performing this kind of stretching, especially when performing the described exercise 1. Remember that it is very easy to overdo it with ballistic stretching and earn back problems or tear a muscle. Therefore, if you are new to this business, it is better to accustom your body to ballistic loads gradually and under the supervision of a qualified trainer.
