Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1351516
Muscles that are tight are inefficient as a muscle's job is to contract. If the muscle is already in a shortened position, this will decrease the amount of possible room for contraction and the available force for contraction. A muscle is strongest and most efficient at the middle of its available range. Muscles that are too long also suffer from not being able to efficiently contract because they are at the other end of their efficiency bell curve. All that is to say that stretching tight muscles can be a really useful way of balancing the length of muscles, so that when you perform exercise or work skills, you are using your muscles in an efficient and even way. Which muscles need stretching? Pain or feelings of tension can be a good indicator of which muscles need stretching. Having an outside pair of trained eyes can also be incredibly helpful! Physical therapists, among other musculoskeletal trained professionals, can evaluate your movement patterns as you work and determine which muscles are weak and which muscles are tight. This outside perspective can give you more guidance on where your muscle imbalances may lie and more insight into how you should be stretching. Example stretching schedule: *~5 Min to Call Time* Upper trapezius stretch (1.5 min) Doorway stretch (1.5 min) Scalene stretch (1.5 min) *Lunch Break* Piriformis stretch (1.5 min) Hamstring stretch (1.5 min) Quad stretch (1.5 min) *End of Day* Doorway stretch (1.5 min) Side stretch (1.5 min) Trunk Rotation stretch (1.5 min) The main takeaway here is that stretching can be done quickly with little setup and equipment and can help set you up for injury prevention success. How should stretching be performed? General guidelines for static stretching is to hold a stretch for roughly 30 seconds. Performing a stretch 1-3 times with a short (<10s) rest break is an effective way to lengthen your muscles. When is the best time to stretch? Most people don't have a clear understanding of when they should be stretching, and there is no "best" schedule. As motion picture industry professionals, you likely don't have a well-defined schedule—but do have little break time. Ideally, stretching should be performed before performing exercise or physical activity and after/between performing repetitive tasks. STRENGTHENING AND ERGONOMICS Strength vs. Endurance When we refer to strength, we want to make the distinction between strength and endurance. Strength is the ability of your muscles to generate force of contraction. Endurance is the ability of the muscles to maintain a contraction over time or repeatedly. Although many of your jobs do require you to be able to lift heavy objects, due to the nature of work that you perform in the industry, the muscle properties of endurance are more valuable to you for injury prevention purposes. Oftentimes, the jobs being performed in this profession require you to hold static positions for long periods of time, thus utilizing this property of endurance. Injury Prevention Generally speaking, injuries develop when deep stabilizer muscles have insufficient endurance and superficial movement muscles must compensate. This relationship leads to postural imbalances, muscle pain, and joint movement problems. Increasing your capacity to hold these positions by increasing the endurance of your stability musculature will help reduce the risk of injury. What is the best way? When training for strength vs. endurance, the difference really comes down to how much weight you are moving and how many times. Strength: High Weight Low Reps (3 sets of 6-8 reps) Long Recovery Time (>3 min) Endurance: Low Weight High Reps (3 sets of 10-15 reps) Short Recovery Time (<2 min) What is the best schedule? For all intents and purposes, you should think of yourself as an athlete when performing jobs that require repeated skilled movements for long periods of time. When athletes train, they perform: leg/core day, push day, pull day. Taking the time to exercise doesn't have to take long and can be as simple as tying a resistance band to a sturdy handrail and performing some rows during a break. Rows with elastic bands. Photo: Jack Hanrahan