Proper breathing control is important for a successful stretch. Proper breathing helps to relax the body, increase blood flow throughout the body, and helps to mechanically remove lactic acid and other by-products of exercise. When you inhale, the diaphragm presses downward squeezing the blood out of the internal organs and their associated blood vessels. As you exhale, the blood vessels flood with new blood. This is the respiratory pump. This is important during stretching because increased blood flow to the stretched muscles improves their elasticity, and increases the rate at which lactic acid is removed (this is more important when stretching during the warm down).
A stretch should be held for at least 20 seconds. This is to give the muscle fibres time to be stretched. When stretching you should not bounce, just hold the stretch still if it is a static stretch. Bouncing can cause micro trauma in the muscle, which must heal itself with scar tissue. The scar tissue tightens the muscle, making you less flexible and therefore more prone to pain. Stretches Neck stretches. Standing up straight, twist your neck to the left and hold, then to the left and hold. Then do the same to the front and back. This has stretched the muscles in your neck now you should rotate your neck but not fully 360 only 180 at one time.
Rotation of the shoulder. Firstly with the right arm rotate it about the shoulder joint, firstly 10 times forward then 10 times backward. Do the same for the left arm. Tri-cep stretches. Take one arm and hold it across your chest as seen in the picture but keep your arm straight. Do the same for the other arm. Now take one arm and put it behind your head, bent at the elbow, and hold with other hand at elbow as shown in the picture. Do the same for the other arm.
Rotation of hips. Hold your hands on your hips and rotate 20 seconds one way and then 20 seconds the other. Making sure that you rotate to the full extent of the hip joint. Lower back stretches. Lying down with your back on the floor, straighten one leg, while bending the knee of the other leg, and trying to bring the thigh of your bent leg as close as possible to your chest. Hold it there.
Then cross your bent leg over you’re straight leg and try to touch your knee to the floor (while trying to keep both shoulders on the ground). Repeat this same procedure with the other leg. Then, bend both knees and bring both thighs up against off your chest, keeping your back fully on the floor. Hold it there. Then, put both feet on the floor but keep the knees bent. While trying to keep both shoulders on the ground, roll your legs over to one side and try to get your knees to touch the floor beside you. Hold it there and then do the same but on the other side.
Groin and inner thigh stretches. Sit down with your back straight and bend your legs, putting the soles of your feet together. Try to get your heels as close to your groin as you can as is comfortable. Now push your knees to the floor as far as you can using your elbows (see picture). Keeping your knees where they are bend your chest over, trying to get it as close as you canto the floor. Hold it there. Quadriceps stretch Stand up straight and bend one knee and bring that foot as close as you can to your gluteus maximus. You should have the knee bent as straight as possible not bent to one side. Also you should hold your ankle and not your foot with your hand so not to put too much strain on your ankle. Hold it there. Now do the same for the other leg.
Hamstring stretch. While lying on the floor put on leg in the air and support it on a wall (see picture). Your leg should be high enough so you feel a pull on your hamstring but it should be comfortable. Hold it there. Now do the same for your other leg. Calf stretches. Put one leg in front of the other with both your feet pointing forward. Now push against a wall. You should feel a stretch on your gastrocnemius but if you don’t then move your back leg further away. Hold it there. Now do the same to your other leg.
Rotation of ankle. Standing straight lift one leg in the air and rotate your ankle joint both ways for 10 rotations either way. Do the same for the other ankle. Session outline 1 minute on each station. * Dumbbells: This will work on my biceps and triceps. This is specifically for the clearance shot from the back of my end to the other side of the court giving me time to recover, hence height is required in this shot so more power is needed for that as well as reaching the back. Also the block shot against the smash tends to be underarm since the opponent smashes to your feet. So this will help me with recovery shots that gain height and length requiring power again.
Squats: This will work on my quadriceps and abdominals and just like above will help me to return a smash from the opponent. Lateral press: This will work on my biceps and triceps, building up my level off power by using control to raise and lower the bar and building muscle fibre to strengthen them. Jogging/sprinting: This will mainly work on my leg muscles but will have a general affect on my body on the whole. This is jus to strengthen my leg power and endurance to keep going through a match or even tournament without tiring to quickly. In badminton a lot of the body movement is fast, hence sprinting to all the areas of the court. So 30 metre and 10 second sprints will be done and jogging for 1 minute at a reasonably quick pace.
Sit-ups: This will work on my abdominals. This is again for endurance more than anything else and flexibility. Weights on shoulder: This will work on my deltoids. This is for power and strength in my shoulders, which is the weakest area in my body due to long term problems that did at one stage have a lot of treatment done on it by physiotherapists. My shoulders tent to ache a lot once I’ve played a match and doesn’t help me for my next match say in a tournament. The only way for this to get better is to strengthen it. The pain will never go.