In this video, movement and mobility expert Kelly Starrett talks about lengthening the muscle via proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, or PNF.
To illustrate, he has class participants get into the deadlift position, relax and re-tension.
“What are we doing here? Testing and retesting, showing that there’s actual change,” he says.
Next, it’s time to bring the hammer down on the posterior chain, Starrett says.
He asks everyone to lie on the floor and pull one knee to the chest, grab the ankle and pull back. After holding for a few seconds, they relax, and then it’s back to re-tensioning, picking up the “slack” of the stretched muscle and pulling back once more. After five such stretches, he asks participants to stand and find their deadlift positions once more.
“Does that feel different side to side?” he asks, rhetorically. “You’re not a linear human being, and only you know where you’re tight.”
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7min 43sec
Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 148 by Justin Judkins, published Dec. 1, 2010.