Top Endurance

Endurance sports are dynamic activities. Muscles contract concentrically and eccentrically, moving the joints of the body through specific motions. Most of the movements used in endurance activities do not require the full range of motion of the joints. Many athletes, especially as they increase their training volumes, find that some joint motions increase while others decrease because of changes in muscle flexibility. Aging has also been linked to decreases in muscle flexibility.

Traditionally, athletes have performed static stretching to improve muscle flexibility. Recent research has suggested that at least some of the work used to increase muscle flexibility should involve dynamic flexibility. Dynamic flexibility exercises are activities that use sport-specific movements to take the joints through a complete range of motion. These sport-specific movements are performed under control and are meant to increase the range of motion of the joints. Before training or competition, a runner who includes dynamic flexibility as part of the warm-up might perform dynamic stretching activities such as walking lunges (for the hip extensors) and walking diagonal lunges (for the abductors).