Flexibility—It isn’t just for girls anymore

A big part of avoiding injury is being flexible enough for whatever activity you’re going to engage in. As a powerlifter, your flexibility needs are going to be way less than that of a gymnast, but you still need some flexibility. If you can’t break parallel with less than four plates, you’ve got some serious tightness issues that are going to land you in the dog house one day or another. For those of you with back pain, tight hip flexors can pull your pelvis out of alignment, causing a serious amount of back pain.

Having enough flexibility in your chosen activity will help you stay injury free and that again is why the dynamic warm up is important. It will increase your flexibility for the task at hand, helping to prevent injury while also not diminishing muscle tension like static stretches do (this is bad for weight lifting; muscle tension is part of how you lift heavy things).

Static stretching should only be used if you are symptomatic. For instance, if you’re having back pain and find your psoas is as tight as all hell, you need to static stretch it regularly to decrease the muscle tension, easing the pull on your lower back and relieving your pain.