Motivation as a Strategy for Adherence to a Stretching Program for Basketball Players

The stretching programme was to be performed at least 3 days/week (after training) for 12 weeks. These were static, active stretches of the muscles of the lower back, psoas iliacus, quadriceps, adductors, gluteus, hamstrings, and sural triceps. The final stretching position was that which generated a sensation of moderate-intense tightness in the muscles, but without exceeding the pain threshold. For each muscle group, the stretch was held for 60 seconds, divided into 3 repetitions of 20 seconds. Between each repetition, we did not return to the initial position but sought a new barrier to the stretch which would provoke the sensations described above. The total time dedicated to stretching was approximately 15 minutes per session.