Doggcrap and forced extreme stretching: who's doing it?

[AutoKal47]

Hey guys,

i started incorporating some of the DC techniques in my wo lately,
meaning I just took what I like about that program (not splitting days/bodyparts like described),
what works for me and tweaked my wo routines, specifically the rest-pause thing:
on my heaviest exercises (usually two for every muscle group), on the last set, completely exhausted
I rest-pause, regrab the weights and go for as many reps I can, pause again, push again,
with this last one being 1 assisted or 1 full and 1 assisted.

Plus I started to do the extreme forced stretching and holy sh#t!!!

The rest-pause thing made me increase weights like no tomorrow, I'm hitting PRs every other wo
and the stretching *really* changed the way my muscles look, especially the big ones,
chest more than anything (I was already doing some extreme stretching style flys before but
now really going for the DC protocol on that), my quads and my back and also abs..
And this is just in TWO weeks! crazy..

Really is one of the most noticeable changes in the last three years and DOMS?! I don't even wanna
talk about that, again years passed since I felt such an intense pain after my wo and the next day,
is just awesome.

Aside from the rest-pause which I can see more common,
I'm curious about the forced stretching, is anyone else doing this too?
Because for me has been a "ohhhh moment" and I've been training for more than 10 years..

 

[mattrag]

It probably was the most accepted thing in his book by ALL those in the art of physical culture lol.

 

[AutoKal47]

lol didn't know that well it delivers results big big time

 

[Tomahawk88]

Yeah even when I am not doing DC I tend to do the extreme stretching. Will have to find a place for them in my current routine.

 

[mattrag]

lol didn't know that well it delivers results big big time

Hehe, oh yes it is great!

And you can do it all the time. Well not ALL the time, a week off from all stretching is recommended so that the connective tissue can actually grow back. Keep that in mind my friend

 

[Sourdough]

someone mind filling me in on what makes up "extreme stretching"??? ive heard of this method for years... done some stretching and flexing between sets for some time and it seems to help... but what exactly is this???

 

[mattrag]

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/252/extremestretches66fo5.jpg/

This Jpeg basically shows you how to do it.

You are basically stretching the muscles after working it under tension. Supposedly it allows the muscle to get even more stressed due to being stretched and ripped. Expanding the Fascia so the muscles can grow bigger.

Lots of ppl use it. Also, helps lengthen the muscle, or perceived muscle so you can use be stronger through the whole ROM.

 

[Tomahawk88]

someone mind filling me in on what makes up "extreme stretching"??? ive heard of this method for years... done some stretching and flexing between sets for some time and it seems to help... but what exactly is this???

Couldnt find a video that shows the stretches. Anyone else find one?

 

[AutoKal47]

If you look on youtube for forced stretching or extreme stretching, or doggcrap stretching you will find them all
Different forms for different muscle groups.

As for when, you should do it right away you're done training a given muscle group, not on your day off,
it makes a hell of a difference. If you train two muscle groups a day (just an example) do it when you switch from
one group to another (that's also the advice you hear on HTR - Animal Hellraiser Training)

 

[mattrag]

If you look on youtube for forced stretching or extreme stretching, or doggcrap stretching you will find them all
Different forms for different muscle groups.

As for when, you should do it right away you're done training a given muscle group, not on your day off,
it makes a hell of a difference. If you train two muscle groups a day (just an example) do it when you switch from
one group to another (that's also the advice you hear on HTR - Animal Hellraiser Training)

Is the htr the new bb dot com workout? The one where your partner adds resistance to the lifts too?
And yes I always did it after my last set. During bulk I did FST7 then static stretching. Always.

 

[AutoKal47]

Ja, that's it (the HTR i mean)
Funny thing is the way he describe the training, completely destroying a given muscle group, that' lol normal for me..
I just do it without the spotter. I watched all the vids and I'm not really fond of it, you rely on your partner way too much,
you can achieve the same exact stress level on your own imho, and even better

Yeah this stretching techniques are really great. Good to know about the week break tho', I didn't know that

 

[mattrag]

Ja, that's it (the HTR i mean)
Funny thing is the way he describe the training, completely destroying a given muscle group, that' lol normal for me..
I just do it without the spotter. I watched all the vids and I'm not really fond of it, you rely on your partner way too much,
you can achieve the same exact stress level on your own imho, and even better

Yeah this stretching techniques are really great. Good to know about the week break tho', I didn't know that

It's what I heard some do. But I feel you're never gonna stop lol

Isometric holds would get you the same results without a partner. That's what I'd do lol.

 

[AutoKal47]

Yep, I love isometric, I started incorporating it in my wo long time ago,
I remember the first time still, on traps, freaking great the feeling you get
especially in smaller muscles

 

[bla55]

Love the stretches, been doing them for a while now.

But I've changed them slightly on a few stretches.

biceps for instance; I do them on a preacher curl bench and just over-extend them with a reasonably decent weight.
triceps I put 2 ropes on one of those pulley machines, one on each side, and then hold them behind my back. Great extension there.
chest I do on a pec fly machine at one of the furthest settings, almost as if I were doing a back exercise on those.

 

[AutoKal47]

Oh i do plenty of "spin off" with the stretches, when you know your body you know how to get stimulation
which is all that matters

 

[Torobestia]

Do it. Love it. My one problem with dc is that last time I hit the glut ham raise with 45lb added for 11 reps. How the hell am I supposed to do it with 55lbs? Lol

 

[mattrag]

Oh i do plenty of "spin off" with the stretches, when you know your body you know how to get stimulation
which is all that matters

Yup, man though you take training to the NEXT LEVEL hahah. I wish I could train like that. That feeling of full mind/muscle failure... I love it. Feeling completely destroyed after working out... I guess some of us just love it..? I donno I always train like that and most of my other training friends say i'm insane... they only train hard because they have to, versus me... who trains that way because I WANT to. Recently, though I found that by reducing volume I am able to keep leaner... sad my poor recovering abilities. lol

 

[aceroni]

Good article.. I actually was starting to do that, but i had managed to forget the past week, so I don't know much about it at all!
All i can say is ive tried a few intense stretches right after a set or inbetween sets when you have a reaallll deep pump. Ive only done it for chest lats and quads but i can say i love the feeling

 

[AutoKal47]

Yup, man though you take training to the NEXT LEVEL hahah. I wish I could train like that. That feeling of full mind/muscle failure... I love it. Feeling completely destroyed after working out... I guess some of us just love it..? I donno I always train like that and most of my other training friends say i'm insane... they only train hard because they have to, versus me... who trains that way because I WANT to. Recently, though I found that by reducing volume I am able to keep leaner... sad my poor recovering abilities. lol

lol my g/f always say "jeez everyday it looks like you're going to war... and when you're done, you LOOK like you've been to war"
It's crazy how a good wo (meaning I can barely stand on my own after it, literally) make the rest of the day crazy good for me
Lately then (e-bol run?) I'm hitting *real* hard, going up with weights like no tomorrow, PRs yesterday on chest wo, flat bech and today
on deadlift. I actually broke my previous on this one by freakin' 10lbs first try today, did two full reps, slow and steady w/no pause..(i almost passed out tho' lol)
Needless to say the excitement gave me strength to go up with stiff leg dead as well and the rest of the wo.. and I'm officially off stims completely since I closed the Lit-Up/E-bol/Rec log (on Pumpbol right now, pumps are *off-da-hook*, the first dose was on leg day last Thursday and I still have DOMS today @_@
Oh wo addiciton I can only imagine how would I be if I used PHs, goddamn I'd probably take a bite off a plate as a pre-wo ahahah

PS: I got myself that bottle of Slin Sane, planning on popping it up after the incoming AI sponsored log (swole)

All i can say is ive tried a few intense stretches right after a set or inbetween sets when you have a reaallll deep pump. Ive only done it for chest lats and quads but i can say i love the feeling

Yeah quad and chest are imho the two groups that benefit the most from this technique, also abs
Back is hard to stretch with the same intensity, shoulders might pop out lol

 

[aceroni]

@autokal. What I like to do for my lats is inbetween sets of pullups, or inbetween sets of rows, grab a vertical sort of bar (side of the power rack) with both hands and put my feet in front of me pretty close together and just lean back. keepin my head in line w/ my biceps, i get an AMAZING stretch of the lats, try it out!

 

[AutoKal47]

@autokal. What I like to do for my lats is inbetween sets of pullups, or inbetween sets of rows, grab a vertical sort of bar (side of the power rack) with both hands and put my feet in front of me pretty close together and just lean back. keepin my head in line w/ my biceps, i get an AMAZING stretch of the lats, try it out!

Will do thanks man

 

[Doss]

Great thread. For skeptics or muscle-nerds, check this out:

Antonio J, Gonyea WJ.

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Dallas 75235-9039.

This study examined the role of longitudinal fiber splitting in enlarged anterior latissimus dorsi (ALD) muscle of adult quail. Muscle hypertrophy was induced using a model of progressive stretch overload (PSO) (5). After 16 and 28 d of PSO, muscle mass in the stretched ALD muscle increased significantly (P < 0.05) 188% and 294%, respectively, when compared with the intra-animal control muscle. Muscle length increased significantly (P < 0.05) in the stretched ALD muscle vs the intra-animal control by approximately 77% for both groups. Fiber number, which was assessed using direct counts after nitric acid digestion, did not change in the 16-d group; however, the 28-d stretched ALD muscle exhibited a 30% increase (P < 0.05) in fiber number vs the intra-animal control muscle. Furthermore, the frequency of splitting (i.e., branching) fibers was less than 0.3% in all muscles examined except the 28-d stretched ALD muscle. The 28-d stretched ALD muscle had 5.25% of its muscle fibers exhibiting split profiles. These results demonstrate that PSO produces effects unlike chronic stretch overload in that longitudinal fiber splitting may contribute significantly to an increase in fiber number.

PMID: 7968431 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

I'm definitely going to start doing this.

 

[Sourdough]

Great thread. For skeptics or muscle-nerds, check this out:

Antonio J, Gonyea WJ.

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Dallas 75235-9039.

This study examined the role of longitudinal fiber splitting in enlarged anterior latissimus dorsi (ALD) muscle of adult quail. Muscle hypertrophy was induced using a model of progressive stretch overload (PSO) (5). After 16 and 28 d of PSO, muscle mass in the stretched ALD muscle increased significantly (P < 0.05) 188% and 294%, respectively, when compared with the intra-animal control muscle. Muscle length increased significantly (P < 0.05) in the stretched ALD muscle vs the intra-animal control by approximately 77% for both groups. Fiber number, which was assessed using direct counts after nitric acid digestion, did not change in the 16-d group; however, the 28-d stretched ALD muscle exhibited a 30% increase (P < 0.05) in fiber number vs the intra-animal control muscle. Furthermore, the frequency of splitting (i.e., branching) fibers was less than 0.3% in all muscles examined except the 28-d stretched ALD muscle. The 28-d stretched ALD muscle had 5.25% of its muscle fibers exhibiting split profiles. These results demonstrate that PSO produces effects unlike chronic stretch overload in that longitudinal fiber splitting may contribute significantly to an increase in fiber number.

PMID: 7968431 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

I'm definitely going to start doing this.

That its awesome! Extreme stretching studies! Love it bro, thanks for sharing... Tonight is back, guess I'll be hanging like a monkey for a while n pulling on all the equipment to stretch out my bis

 

[Tomahawk88]

I tried to do the stretches today, but ended up laying on the ground instead while resting. Will have to atleast write myself a note to try and remind myself.

 

[AutoKal47]

I don't know guys about regular stretching, but the kind I was referring to is done with weights
and it's painful as f#ck.. not something that could turn into resting easily

 

[Tomahawk88]

I don't know guys about regular stretching, but the kind I was referring to is done with weights
and it's painful as f#ck.. not something that could turn into resting easily

Haha I know what you mean by extreme stretching.

For anyone looking for the stretches we are talking about this seems to be a nice guide. http://theswole.com/training/dc-stretches/

 

[AutoKal47]

Ja, that's it, I do the biceps and the lats stretch differently tho'
for the biceps I grab the barbell (on the rack) backward and lean on it
shoulders slightly over the axis, and for the lats I hang like that yes,
but also lay prone on incline bench and hold a barbell (w/weights)
I also do - and highly advice - to do the stretching for traps,
that's how I started doing extreme stretching even before knowing
the DC protocol.
Sit at the edge on a flat bench, grab the bb as you were doing shrugs and
move your shoulder as in you were going to pose for traps, then let lose
I use *a lot* of weight for this one, like 120lbs approx

Hold it like that until you cry. This last part is important

 

[McCoy1989]

After reading this thread I stretched between sets on my chest day today and I can say that I saw a noticeable difference in my pump and I also felt like more of my pecs were being worked. Probably gonna have some sore boobies tomorrow. I wish I had started this a while ago and will no doubt incorporate this into every workout I can.

 

[Torobestia]

I actually notice an extreme decrease in DOMS if I do extreme stretches vs if I don't. Just the other week, I didn't do a back stretch, and the next couple of days I had such a sore upper back. And a few or more months back, I forgot a tricep stretch and I felt like I had just lifted my first pair of weights in a long time.

 

[McCoy1989]

I would think that stretching would increase muscle fiber involvement which would also increase the overall mass worked. I guess we'll see if my stretching reduces or promotes soreness. I'm not sore as of right now but I guess we'll see tomorrow. I'm gonna be stoked if my stretching between sets I reduces how sore I am. I guess this all makes sense if you think about it...

 

[AutoKal47]

The forced stretching done correctly (a matter of tension/weight as well as form I suppose)
will stretch the fascia, that's what is gonna hurt the next day

 

[chedapalooza]

Hehe, oh yes it is great!

And you can do it all the time. Well not ALL the time, a week off from all stretching is recommended so that the connective tissue can actually grow back. Keep that in mind my friend

When do u take the week off? Gonna do a dc variation in January , don't want to "overstretch"