High Level Training: Tightness
What it is, what it isn't, and most importantly: how can we make you better.
Something that almost no one has great grip on in youth athletics: Tightness.
Every time something is tight the two main outcomes are :
SMASH the panic button
or do NOTHING.
Good news: good coaches don’t let their players take either of these routes.
Every problem has a solution, lets show you them.
This article not only helps with health of you players, but the underlying principles apply to helping them discover new levels of body awareness and upgrading their athleticism as often as we can.
Here We Go.
Many times in my career I have felt not so great on certain days. Maybe it's the day after a start or a day that I didn't sleep super well, or just some days in the post surgery period where my elbow just felt bad because that is just how it goes.
As most people would assume, my first instinct was to stretch whatever “tightness” I had in my body so that I could feel better. Too many times I gave this method my best shot and too many times it just didn't work.
I would just wear it for the day and go out there giving it my best with the mindset of “well ya just can’t feel great every day, lets go give it what we’ve got”, and while this mindset is true, there are definitely more steps to take before you have to pack it in for the day. Stretching is not a terrible place to start in my opinion, but there are many other methods to try that can help you feel better quickly.
About 2-3 months after my elbow reconstruction, my throwing arm was still feeling “tight”, and no matter what I did for it, it never truly loosened up fully. For a while, I chalked it up to the post surgery effects on the body and just kept going in for treatment whenever my trainer deemed necessary. This cycle kept going for a while, until one day we accidentally stumbled upon something during one of my earliest lifting sessions post Tommy John.
The first day I did actual bicep curls during a workout, my elbow felt significantly better. The immediate impact of the bicep curl wasn’t what surprised me, generally everything we did to help my perceived “tightness” helped immediately and then the tension would eventually come back whether it be in a matter of minutes or the next day. But this time, it was different.
The next day I walked into the training room and told my trainer of my newfound comfort in my elbow, and that my symptoms were not totally gone, but were in fact diminished significantly from the day before, and I wasn't sure why. I told him I was not sure exactly why things were better and I handed him my workout sheet from the day before. He looked through the sheet and immediately knew where the progress came from.
“Of course,” he said, “I can't believe we never thought of this, of course it's a neuromuscular control issue rather than the muscles being tight.” I just sat there and kinda nodded along like I understood everything he said at the time, but it quickly made sense.
Why would my elbow be tight and why would I feel tension in my elbow months after surgery and before I even began a “return to play” throwing program? I hadn't done anything. However, one thing I realized in rehab was that the mind is always in control, and will often tell the body what it can/cannot do regardless of what you want.
Over the next couple of weeks, I would do light banded bicep curls almost daily as part of my rehab and continued to lift other days. Not shockingly, my elbow made quick progress. We had figured it out.
While often we think joints feel tight because of a lack of flexibility (even though I had full range of motion), it's often because the Central Nervous System won’t allow you to move a joint because it feels vulnerable in a certain position. The elbow joint was not fully stable because it was weak from months of not being used, and my Central Nervous System wouldn't let me be comfortable at full extension because the joint needed more strength and stability for my CNS to be comfortable.
Why is this important to non-rehab people? Well, it is because I quickly realized that tightness was often created in this way and that it didn't just apply to my elbow in the post TJ period, but applied to almost all of my joints and muscles all the time.
Tight lats? Do some lat stretches and if that doesn't work, I will mix in some active contractions of the lat. Child's pose works great, as do dead hangs. Actively flex and release the muscle a few times and more often than not, my tightness was alleviated from the muscular “activation” rather than the initial stretch.
Tight shoulder? Corner pec stretch and mix in 5 to 10 quick contractions. Kettlebell Arm Bar for 15 seconds. LINK
Tight back? Max tension plank, 10 reps for a second or so each. Possibly mix in a spinal bridge. Maybe do some crawls. LINK
Tight Hips? Lateral lunge iso holds, split squat holds, goblet squat holds with a small pulse at the bottom. Or these
Tight elbow? J-Band bicep curls and tricep extensions real quick before you throw.
The fixes go on and on. The vast majority of my tightness/immobility would come from a lack of strength rather than flexibility.
Are there plenty of times where stretching is needed? Yes. However, for myself, the vast majority of the time my issues came from the muscle activation/strength side, maybe your issues are similar.
Next time you go to the field, or to train and you don't feel great, mix in some stability work instead of your typical stretches. Start with a little and see how it feels, it probably won't hurt.
thanks all for that.
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John Creel