Soft Tissue Prep for Performance Part 2: Muscle Energy Techniques

Muscle Energy Techniques (METs) are a simple way to enhance nearly any stretch that you can think of.  The neurology at play is simple:  After a brief static contraction, a muscle is momentarily inhibited and fatigued.  The Contract Relax or Post Isometric Inhibition MET takes advantage of this neurologic phenomena by moving that inhibited muscle into a stretch during that phase.

These techniques are as gentle or as aggressive as you’d like them to be so they are appropriate at any point in your training/ recovery cycle.   Here are a couple examples for pectoralis and upper trapezius.

With a little thought, you can use this technique to enhance nearly any stretch that you can think of.  The idea is to contract a muscle to the point of mild fatigue before stretching it.  This doesn’t take much.  A 10-20% effort sustained for five seconds isometrically will do the job.  Then relax the muscle momentarily before stretching it.

Here are a couple low-res examples for piriformis, pec and psoas (complete with dulcet tones of eminem and crashing barbells)

How to apply:  Five sets will take you less than a minute and is enough return a shortened tissue to its normal length.  Remember, one set equals 5 seconds of static contraction followed by a five second static stretch.