Go to the previous, next chapter.

References on Stretching

• Working Toward the Splits: (next chapter)
  
• How to Stretch: (previous chapter)

I don't know if these are all good, but I am aware of the
following books and videotapes about stretching:

Stretch and Strengthen, by Judy Alter
   Softcover, Houghton Mifflin Company (Publishers) 1986, 241 pages
   $12.95 (US), ISBN: 0-395-52808-9
      (also by Judy Alter: Surviving Exercise,
       Softcover, Houghton Mifflin 1983, 127 pages, ISBN: 0-395-50073-7)
Sport Stretch, by Michael J. Alter
   Softcover, Leisure Press (Publisher) 1990, 168 pages
   $15.95 (US), ISBN: 0-88011-381-2
      Leisure Press is a division of Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc.
      in Champaign, IL and may be reached by phone at 1-800-747-4457
Science of Stretching, by Michael J. Alter
   Clothcover, Leisure Press (Publisher) 1988, 256 pages
   $35.00 (US), ISBN: 0-97322-090-0
Stretching, by Bob Anderson (Illustrated by Jean Anderson)
   Softcover, Random House (Publisher) $9.95 (US), ISBN: 0-394-73874-8
Stretching For All Sports, by John E. Beaulieu
   Athletic Press 1980, Pasadena, CA
The Muscle Book, by W. Paul Blakey
   Softcover, Bibliotek Books (Publishers) 1992, 48 pages
   $10.99 (US), ISBN: 1 873017 00 6
Health & Fitness Excellence: The Scientific Action Plan,
   by Robert K. Cooper, Ph.D.
   Softcover, Houghton Mifflin Company (Publishers) 1989, 541 pages
   $12.95 (US), ISBN 0-395-54453-X
Stretching for Athletics, by Pat Croce (2nd edition)
   Softcover, Leisure Press (Publisher) 1984, 128 pages
   $11.95 (US), ISBN: 0-88011-119-4
Jean Frenette's Complete Guide to Stretching, by Jean Frenette
   Softcover, $10.95 (US), ISBN: 0-86568-145-7
      (also by Jean Frenette, Beyond Kicking: A Complete Guide to
       Kicking and Stretching, $12.95 (US), ISBN: 0-86568-154-6)
Mobility Training for the Martial Arts, by Tony Gummerson
   Softcover, A&C Black (Publishers) 1990, 96 pages
   $15.95 (US), ISBN: 0 7136 3264 X
SynerStretch For Total Body Flexibility, from Health For Life
   Softcover, 1984, 29 pages, $11.95 (US), ISBN: 0-944831-05-2
      (A videotape which is an updated version of this same course
       is also available for $39.95 (US))
      HFL can be reached by phone at 1-800-874-5339
Staying Supple: The Bountiful Pleasures of Stretching, by John Jerome
   Softcover, Bantam Books 1987, 151 pages, ISBN: 0-553-34429-3
Stretching Scientifically : a Guide to Flexibility Training, by Tom Kurz
   3rd edition, completely revised
   Softcover, Stadion (Publisher) 1994, 147 pages
   $18.95 (US), ISBN: 0-940149-30-3
      (also by Tom Kurz: Science of Sports Training,
       $26.95-Softcover, $39.95-Hardcover)
      (A Videotape entitled Tom Kurz' Secrets of Stretching       is also available from Stadion for $49.95 (US)).
      Stadion can be reached by phone at 1-800-873-7117
Beyond Splits (Volume I and Volume II), by Marco Lala
   Videotapes available from Marco Lala Karate Academy,
   P.O. Box 979, Yonkers, NY USA 10704
   the tapes are $39.95 each (Vol.I and Vol.II are separate tapes)
Facilitated Stretching: PNF Stretching Made Easy, by Robert E. McAtee
   Softcover, Human Kinetics Publishers 1993, 96 pages
   $16.00 (US), ISBN: 0-87322-420-5
The Woman's Stretching Book, by Susan L. Peterson
   Softcover, Leisure Press (Publisher) 1983, 112 pages
   $11.95 (US), ISBN: 0-88011-095-3
The Health For Life Training Advisor, edited by Andrew T. Shields
   Softcover, Health for Life 1990, 320 pages
   $29.95 (US), ISBN: 0-944831-22-2
Stretch!, by Ann Smith
   Acropolis Books 1979
The Book About Stretching, by Dr. Sven-A Solveborn, M.D.
   Japan Publications, 1985
Stretching the Quick and Easy Way, by Sternad & Bozdech
   Softcover, $9.95 (US), ISBN: 0-8069-8434-1
Complete Stretching, by Maxine Tobias and John Patrick Sullivan
   Softcover, Knopf (Publisher), $17.95 (US), ISBN: 0-679-73831-2
      (also by Maxine Tobias: Stretch and Relax)

• Recommendations
• Additional Comments

Recommendations

• Additional Comments: (next section)
  
• References on Stretching: (beginning of chapter)

My best recommendations are for Sport Stretch and
Stretching Scientifically, followed by Health & Fitness
Excellence, SynerStretch, or Stretch and Strengthen.
Mobility Training for the Martial Arts also has quite a bit of
valuable information and stretches. The Health for Life Training
Advisor has a lot of information about stretching and muscle
physiology, but it is not strictly about stretching and contains a
ton of other information about all aspects of athletic training
and performance (which I find to be invaluable). If you really want to
delve into all the technical aspects of stretching, including
physiology, neurophysiology, and functional anatomy, then you must get
Science of Stretching. If you want to know more about PNF
stretching, then Facilitated Stretching is the book to get.
If you are looking for active stretches, your local library probably
has quite a few books and/or videotapes of yoga exercises. If you
want to know more about muscle anatomy and physiology but don't have
a lot of technical interest or background in those two fields,
The Muscle Book is highly recommended.

Many of the other books don't have as much detail about stretching and
what happens to your muscles during a particular stretch, they just
present (and illustrate) a variety of different exercises. Also, most of
the stretches presented in these books are to be performed alone.
Sport Stretch, SynerStretch (both the videotape and the
book), and Mobility Training for the Martial Arts present
stretches that you can perform with the assistance of a partner.

In general, Health For Life (also known as HFL) and
Human Kinetics Publishers have a tremendously wide variety of
technical, no-nonsense, exercise related books and videotapes. I would
highly recommend contacting both organizations and asking for their
free catalogs:

Human Kinetics Publishers1607 North Market Street
P.O. Box 5076
Champaign, IL USA 61825-5076
1-800-747-4457 (US)
1-800-465-7301 (Canada)

Health For Life8033 Sunset Blvd., Suite 483
Los Angeles, CA USA 90046
1-800-874-5339

Additional Comments

• Recommendations: (previous section)
  
• References on Stretching: (beginning of chapter)

Here is a little more information about some of the references (I
haven't actually read or seen all of them so I can't comment on all of
them):

Sport Stretch

This book has a very thorough section on all the details about how
stretching works and what different stretching methods to use. It also
contains over 300 illustrated stretches as well as various stretching
programs for 26 different sports and recreational activities. Each
stretching program takes about 20 minutes and illustrates the 12
best stretches for that activity. In my humble opinion, this is the most
complete book I was able to find on the subject of stretching (however,
Science of Stretching, by the same author, is even more
comprehensive). Some of you may prefer Kurz' book to this one, however,
since it is more devoted to increasing flexibility.

Science of Stretching

This book explains the scientific basis of stretching and discusses
physiology, neurophysiology, mechanics, and psychology as they all
relate to stretching. The book makes thorough use of illustrations,
charts, diagrams, and figures, and discusses each of its topics in
great detail. It then presents guidelines for developing a flexibility
program, including over 200 stretching exercises and warm-up drills.
I suppose you could think of this book as a "graduate-level version"
of Sport Stretch.

Stretching Scientifically

This is an excellent book that goes into excruciating detail on just
about everything you want to know about stretching. It also contains a
variety of stretches and stretching programs and is geared towards
achieving maximal flexibility in the shortest possible amount of time.
The only problem I found in this book is that some of the discussion
gets very technical without giving the reader (in my opinion) sufficient
background to fully understand what is being said. I believe that
Sport Stretch does a better job of explaining things in a more
comprehensible (easily understood) fashion.

Facilitated Stretching

Most of the reading material that is devoted to PNF stretching is highly
technical. This book attempts to break that trend. It tries to explain
the history and principles of PNF without getting too technical, and shows
how to perform PNF techniques that are appropriate for healthy people
(complete with illustrations and easy-to-follow instructions). This book
also contains a chapter which discusses the role of PNF techniques during
injury rehabilitation. According to the publisher:

The stretches in Facilitated Stretching are known as CRAC
(contract-relax, antagonist-contract) stretches. CRAC stretches are
the safest PNF stretches because there is no passive movement -- the
athlete performs all of the stretching. Facilitated Stretchingcontains 29 CRAC stretches, which address most of the major muscle
groups: 18 are single-muscle stretches, and 11 use the spiral-diagonal
patterns that are the heart of PNF stretching. Once readers have learned
these stretching techniques, they will be able to design additional
stretches for almost any muscle or muscle group. The book also features
many self-stretching techniques that athletes can use to maintain their
gains in range of motion.

SynerStretch

This is a "course" from HFL which claims that you can achieve "total
body flexibility in just 8 minutes a day." It explains and presents two
excellent stretching routines: one for increasing flexibility and one
for maintaining flexibility. It was the only work that I found which
discusses the importance of performing certain stretches in a particular
order. It is important to note that there is a significant difference
between the printed and videotape versions of this course (aside from
price): The printed version has a much more thorough discussion of
theory, exercise selection, and exercise order; whereas the stretching
routines presented in the videotape are better explained, and more "up
to date".

Stretch and Strengthen

This is very good, but the author makes a few mistakes in some
places (in particular, she seems to equate the stretch reflex,
reciprocal inhibition, and PNF with one another). The book is
devoted to static stretching and to performing strengthening
exercises of the muscles stretched. Each exercise explains what
to do, what not to do, and why. There is also a separate section
for diagnosing and correcting some problems that you may encounter
during a particular stretch.

Health & Fitness Excellence

Simply put, this is one of the best books available on overall health
and fitness. It has two chapters devoted to flexibility training that
explain and provide several static and PNF stretches (although it refers
to the PNF stretches as tighten-relax stretches). This is nota "fad" book! It uses sound, proven, scientific principles and research
(explained in simple terms) to present programs for: reducing stress,
strength and flexibility training, nutritional wellness, body fat control,
postural vitality, rejuvenation and living environments design, and
mind and life unity. I highly recommend this book.

The Muscle Book

The author, Paul Blakey, is a practicing Osteopath, and former
international ballet dancer. He has written and illustrated this
book to help everyone who needs to know more about their own muscles,
and how to look after them. The book clearly identifies the major
surface muscles of the human body, and shows how they work. For
each muscle there is straightforward information about first aid
by massage, and an indication of particular dangers to watch for.
All students of physique, and in particular dancers and gymnasts
should find this book useful. Mr. Blakey also has an upcoming book
entitled Stretching Without Pain which is expected to be
available in October of 1994. For more information about both books,
contact Twin Eagles Educational and Healing Institute at (604) 885-7503.
You can also reach the author by e-mail at `TEEHI@sunshine.net'or via fax at (604) 885-6064.

Mobility Training for the Martial Arts

This book is also quite good and quite comprehensive, but not
as good (in my personal opinion) as Sport Stretch or
Stretching Scientifically.

Staying Supple

This book is a little old but is wonderfully written (although it could
be organized a bit better). It contains information at just about every
level of detail about stretching, increasing and maintaining suppleness,
and preventing the loss of suppleness. There is also a glossary of terms
and concepts near the end of the book.

Stretching

A lot of people like this one. It presents a wide variety of
stretches and stretching routines and does a good job of explaining
each one. It does not go into too much detail about stretching other
than just to present the various stretches and routines.

Go to the previous, next chapter.