Had an interesting experience the last couple of days. Have, as of Monday night, started Van Zandt's PNF stretching program concentrating on box splits only for the moment. Monday was deadlift day (doing 531) so I did deads followed by good mornings (done for the first time ever) and then the stretching. Tuesday the hams were quite sore (assuming from the good mornings as I was doing box splits not front or open splits). Wednesday the hams were brutal. Walking wasn't my best friend. Wednesday night I did bench night followed by more PNF box splits. The strange thing was, after the stretching and one 30 sec contraction my hams felt much, much better and today they feel great. Fully recovered. The question is, is this just me getting over DOMS in 2 days or do you guys think that the PNF stretching could have had a recuperative effect on my legs? Let me know what you think? Cheers. Btw, I don't lift that much weight. I'm on the 5 week of 531 so was deadlifting 120 for 5 and did good mornings with 60kgs for 5 sets of 10.
More likely that the stretching help helped increase the blood flow to the recovering areas. A majority of sport scientists are still on the fence about whether stretching actually helps recovery. It might just be your body getting used to the work out routine and getting better at adapting and recovering from it.
Yeah it was weird. Legs felt stronger after doing them too. Will see how I go over the next couple of weeks.
