Dispelling Myths of Fitness (Part 2)

In part 1, I introduced you to a few common myths that are generally accepted as the truth in the fitness world. In part 2, I'm looking to help everybody get their learn on once again.

Myth: If a muscle feels tight you should always stretch it.

You probably are thinking that this is insane, but trust me on this one. A great example is the hamstrings. Constantly I see people stretching their hamstrings, when in reality the majority of people should NEVER stretch them (at least statically). The idea behind stretching is to lengthen the muscle, but the majority of peoples hamstrings are already lengthened. That "tightness" is the the tension that the hamstrings are under due to the pelvis being anteriorly tilted. When the pelvis is anteriorly tilted there will be hip flexor stiffness, low back stiffness(possibly even low back pain, and if there isn't LBP then there willl eventually be), and lengthened abdominals. The fix? Strengthen the hamstrings and abdominals. Stretch the hip flexors (low back not recommended). This will change your pelvic positioning and put your muscles in a more balanced state and in the process getting you stronger and decreasing the chance of injury.

If anterior pelvic tilt is wrong, then I don't wanna be right

Myth: Calve raises will increase your vertical jump.

Calve raises have the potential to increase the cross-sectional area (muscle size) of your calves, which in turn leads to the possibility of greater force generation. But, calve raises don't utilize the SSC(stretch shortening cycle), which is gonna help you if you wanna sky like Shannon Brown.

Just filthy

The type of lifts/exercises that you do in order to increase your vert should implement a quick eccentric (lowering) phase followed by no ammortization (pause at bottom) phase, and an explosive concentric contraction. Countermovemnt jumps, jump squats, speed squats, box jumps, depth jumps, and single leg variations of the previous mentioned exercises are what you should be doing.