What Happens When You Stretch?

Quotes
"When a muscle is stretched, some of its fibers lengthen, but other fibers may remain at rest. The current length of the entire muscle depends upon the number of stretched fibers"

"One of the reasons for holding a stretch for a prolonged period of time is that as you hold the muscle in a stretched position, the muscle spindle habituates (becomes accustomed to the new length) and reduces its signaling. Gradually, you can train your stretch receptors to allow greater lengthening of the muscles"

"Another reason for holding a stretch for a prolonged period of time is to allow this lengthening reaction to occur, thus helping the stretched muscles to relax. It is easier to stretch, or lengthen, a muscle when it is not trying to contract"

Relate and Review
After reading this article, I thought it was very interesting. In all of the sports that I have done, my coaches have always stressed the importance of stretching, before and after practice. One quote that really stood out to me was the one about why people will hold a stretch for a long period of time. People will do this because eventually, you can train the receptors "to allow greater lengthening of the muscles". For instance, I often do this in cheer. At the beginning of practice when we stretch, we have to go as far down as we can into the splits as hold it for up to five minutes. When I first began to do this, I was not able to go completely down, but the more I practiced and stretched, the farther I was able to get my splits.