IN CONCLUSION
As a traceur, your ITB is tight as hell. foam roll the shit out of it.
It (theoretically) takes 6 seconds of stretching to maintain flexibility (6 REAL seconds of ACTUAL stretching) but longer to develop flexibility.
PNF is what you want to be looking at. google it. it rocks.
Also:
Just sit infront of the TV, or put some music on, get into a stretch, and jsut relax, don't think "Ok now I must stretch", get into the habit of whenever you sit down to watch/listen to something, just stretch while you do it!
I disagree with this. Odds are the habit will not form. If it does, you will probably not be doing enough of some stretches and too much of others. Plus, you need to warm up for stretching, too, which is a fairly important point so i'm gonna write it again but in bold.
you need to warm up for stretching. Just like strength training, you are asking the muscle to do something new, and whether its jump higher or reach further doing it cold will at best lead to inferior results, at worst cause injury (ever stretched to hard? easier to do cold).
I say make a point to, every day or at leasst 4 times a week, take time out and stretch what needs to be stretched. for most of you that would be ITB/glutes (as chippa said) hammies and hip flexors, as well as aductors and calf muscles (gastrocnemius and soleus LOOK AT ME I KNOW LONG TECHNICAL WORDS. upperbody stretches also but that's an issue for a non knee specific thread.
Please note that I am not slamming the habit forming idea, but this has worked for me and still is. I probably stretch 5 times a week (these are stretch specific sessions, I also stretch after training).
COOL STORY
