What Happens When You Stretch?

1) "Hence when you stretch, the muscle fiber is pulled out to its full length sarcomere by sarcomere, and then the connective tissue takes up the remaining slack."

- This quote explains what happens when stretching -- how the muscle lengthens fully to accommodate what is being asked of the body. There are many sarcomeres, and a full stretch occurs when all of the sarcomeres are fully extended. 

2) "Some sources suggest that with extensive training, the stretch reflex of certain muscles can be controlled so that their is little or no reflex contraction in response to a sudden stretch."

- Some think that if people train enough, they can control which muscles stretch and which ones contract. The less contraction, the more stretch possible. It is not easy to achieve; as the sources say only the top of the top athletes achieve it.   -- but it is very rewarding once achieved.

3) "When stretching, it is easier to stretch a muscle that is relaxed than to stretch a muscle that is contracting. By taking advantage of the situations when reciprocal inhibition does occur, you can get a more effective stretch..."

- To increase the ease of stretching, it is very important to be relaxed , so contracting muscles are not opposing. Contracting certain muscles while trying to stretch others is very contradictory when trying to elongate the muscle. 

Relate & Review

This reading was about what happens when you stretch. It's important to try to control the muscle contraction when trying to stretch =, so the sarcomeres can fully extend and stretch out as much as possible; and also to improve the ease of stretching muscles. Gymnasts and dancers seem to be about to control when the muscle contractions occur, which totally changes the game when the sports are both very focused on extension of limbs. As a former gymnast and dancer, it is easy to recognize how helpful it is the be able to control sudden muscle contractions.