What is Ballistic Stretching – Is It Dangerous?

New exercise techniques have been coming up in today’s times. With understanding the importance of exercising people love experimenting with their workout methods these days. Ballistic stretching is mostly done by most athletes, but it is also becoming popular among other individuals. It is like a warm-up exercise that helps your body to stretch and bounce back.

In ballistic exercise, it helps your body to move muscles further and faster. It is also used to increase muscle power and enhance the flexibility of your body. Many a time it is confusing and also compared with static stretching. So are these both the same? And can ballistic stretching be done by anyone? Is it even safe? You might be having all these questions and the good part is we will discuss all these in our article today. So let us understand more about ballistic stretching.

What is Ballistic Stretching

Ballistic stretching is an intense stretching exercise that involves your body bouncing back by pushing your body more than its normal stance. It stretches muscles (R) in a particular area faster and much further. The repetitive bouncing movement is used to stretch and flex a particular group of muscles beyond the normal range.

Ballistic stretching exercises are a series of activities that activates the lengthening of muscles which is later followed by shortening the muscle by these exercise movements. For athletes and many fitness experts, ballistic stretching may help them with their motion, which can boost their performance.

Also, read – 8 Best Back Stretchers- Reviews and Buying Guidance

What are the Dangers of Ballistic Stretching

Ballistic stretching can be beneficial if done properly or may cause risk to a person of muscle injuries. It is actually not recommended to the common individual who wants to work on their flexibility as there is a higher risk for them of straining and injuries.

Other dangers of ballistic stretching are, if you do the exercise without properly warming up it may cause your muscles to tear in the tendons or joints of connective tissue muscles. It can also cause joint dislocation, instability and if the ligaments are stretched forcefully can cause subluxation.

If there is a small muscle tear it can even affect your flexibility and reduce movements. Research shows that hamstring weakness and joint injuries are caused by ballistic stretches. There can be an imbalance (R) in tissues of the quadriceps due to stretching it for longer durations.

Compared to static stretching, post-workout reduces the soreness of muscles and even increases the flexibility of your hamstring than ballistic stretching (R), described by research. Our muscles have sensors and they signal our body when too stretched. That is the reason why muscles bounce back when stretched more than required. To prevent the muscles from injuries the sensors send signals to the body. Instead, you can go for static stretching before doing any exercise for warm-up, and they both are different types of stretching too. That is why ballistic stretching is not recommended for average individuals.

Also read – 10 Stretches For Tailbone Pain – Get Rid Of The Coccyx Discomfort!

Difference Between Ballistic and Static Stretching

Static stretching is what stretching means, when you stretch your body muscles before doing exercises for a few seconds and it does not bounce back like ballistic stretching when you release your muscles is static stretching. It is done to improve your range of motion and can be done by anyone while ballistic stretching is recommended to be done by athletes or ballet dancers.

The main difference between them is, in ballistic stretching, the muscles are forcefully activated to bounce and stretch further than their limit which may cause serious injuries to non-athletes when done without any supervision. Where in static stretching there is no need for force as muscle only stretches within its limit instead of holding for a longer duration. It can be done easily by anyone and also benefits as a warm-up.

Also read – Best Stretching Exercise For Your Body

When Should You Do Ballistic Stretching

Ballistic stretching is a high-intensity exercise that requires speed and great momentum of muscles to be in motion as it can help to increase the range of motions.

It is recommended to be done by ballet dancers, athletes, martial artists, football players, boxers, and basketball players only prior to when they have to perform some high-intensity activity that requires their body to be stretched further which can be beneficial for their performance. For example, an athlete may use it to jump higher or a boxer to kick or punch with added force.

As you see ballistic stretching is only beneficial when you have to perform certain high-intensity activities and not during any normal workout routine. It is generally not done by an average person as your body is not fit for it and may cause muscle injury and weakness further, it is only done by athletes.

Also read – Best Stretches To Do Before Bedtime

Conclusion

Using your muscles to stretch beyond their normal range can cause more problems than benefits. Although warming up is ideal and beneficial for your overall body as they help by prepping your body before any workout, ballistic stretching is not recommended to be done by an average individual as it may cause harm to your body, tear, the strain on muscles, dislocation of joints because moving the muscles than your normal range is risky.

Hope this post has helped you to understand more about ballistic stretching, who can do it and if it is dangerous for average individuals. Thank you for reading.