Edited by Dr. Giovanni Chetta
Resistance, understood as the ability to prolong a muscle activity over time, can involve a small muscle group and the use of local energy substrates (muscle resistance) or involve more muscle groups together with the cardiovascular-respiratory system (general resistance). "physical activity lasting more than 10 minutes usually always involves the cardio-respiratory system in an important way, thus constituting an" aerobic activity with consumption of muscle and hepatic glycogen and fat (unlike short-term, anaerobic activities, in which it is consumed muscle and liver glycogen and produced and produced lactic acid).Resistance depends on many factors including: muscle vascularization (diameter and number of capillaries), efficiency of the cardio-respiratory system (low heart rate at rest, trophy of heart muscles, volume of blood and red blood cells, ability to absorption and use of oxygen), content in the blood of oxygen, sugars and fatty acids in the optimal quantities, quantity of red muscle fibers, conditions of the musculo-fascial-articular system, capacity for self-relaxation, lifestyle (nutrition, stress, quality sleep, physical activity, etc.)
The term elasticity (or elastic deformation) indicates the ability of a body to deform under the action of a force and, when this force is released, to return in a short time to its original shape. you have one plastic or permanent deformation. Muscle naturally possesses remarkable elastic abilities. When it is stretched (eccentric phase of the movement) it stores elastic energy which it then returns, in the form of mechanical work, in the subsequent relaxation or contraction phase (concentric phase). In physiological conditions, the main anatomical structures responsible for this storage and restitution of elastic energy are the tendon, for about 70%, and a specific portion of the acto-myosin bridges of the sarcomere (called part S2) for the remaining 30%. Thanks to this restitution of elastic energy, the initial level of strength, speed and therefore power of the movement increases. The elastic properties also play a protective role, against the joint and periarticular structures, in case of sudden and sudden stresses. It is evident that muscle elasticity is strictly dependent on the viscosity of the connective layers that surround the various muscle portions as well as on the condition of the entire myofascial chain to which it belongs. Muscle adhesions and retractions can significantly reduce muscle elasticity.
A muscle that works persistently in shortening "withdraws" its connective portion and decreases the number of sarcomeres (contractile units of striated muscle tissue): retracted muscle. Conversely, a muscle that works in lengthening tends to stretch by increasing the connective portion and the number of sarcomeres.
In physical training programs, therefore, the same importance should be attributed to muscle lengthening or stretching as to increasing muscle strength and endurance. It should be noted that F. Mezieres (creator of the "innovative stretching of muscle chains), with good reason, has always maintained that to strengthen a muscle, the most important thing to do is to stretch the respective antagonist. In other words, muscle stretching allows maximum effectiveness of physical exercise resulting in better muscle strengthening associated with muscle elasticity or resilience.
The exercises of St.classic or district tretching they are based on a gradual relaxed tension, progressive and prolonged of the various muscular districts. It consists of two phases: a first phase in which a first level of elongation is reached which must be maintained for at least 20-30 seconds so as to excite the Golgi muscle-tendon organs, which, through the inverse myotatic spinal reflex, determine a relaxation muscle that allows further muscle stretching (second phase to be maintained for about 30 seconds).
The technique of stretching of the postural chains of Mezieres (global stretching) is based on the elongation of the entire myofascial chains. The length (and elasticity) of each single muscle is closely linked to that of all the muscles belonging to the same chain. Stretching only a part of the muscle chain can easily lead to the shortening of the remaining part of the chain which, in this way, avoids changing its total length. Thus, for example, by distractively stretching the posterior muscles of the lower limbs we risk shortening the muscles. of the back belonging to the same muscle chain. The lengthening of the entire muscle-fascial chains of the body therefore allows greater general effectiveness which, at the same time, requires learning and precise application
The technique is performed by maintaining specific postures for a few minutes (generally from 2 to a maximum of 20 minutes), taking care to actively eliminate all compensations, so as to allow the stable elongation (plastic or permanent deformation) of the "entire muscle chain affected; the entity of the permanent deformation is directly proportional to the traction force and to the traction time (and inversely proportional to the elasticity coefficient). Furthermore, this technique facilitates the strengthening of the muscles antagonist to the elongated ones both through the activation of the muscle-tendon organs of the Golgi (inverse myotatic spinal reflex) of the elongated muscles both for the necessary active use of the antagonist muscles in the elimination of postural compensations during the execution of the technique itself, and for the improved muscle and joint physiology obtained through the mechanical action at of the connective fascia.
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