Pre-Workout Stretching now Bad?
11-07-08
In an article titled “Stretching: The Truth” from the NY Times:
If you’re like most of us, you were taught the importance of warm-up exercises back in grade school, and you’ve likely continued with pretty much the same routine ever since. Science, however, has moved on. Researchers now believe that some of the more entrenched elements of many athletes’ warm-up regimens are not only a waste of time but actually bad for you. The old presumption that holding a stretch for 20 to 30 seconds — known as static stretching — primes muscles for a workout is dead wrong. It actually weakens them.
Give the article a read, especially for those of us who do running. I haven’t been stretching before my runs for a while now and I have not seen any negative results by not stretching. I just do a light jog for about 3 minutes before getting into my run.
I’ve been hearing this for a bit now… but the instructors at my health club are still in the static stretch before aerobics mode. Me, I prefer to do my stretching after a workout. I think a moving warm-up is better before exercise than standing around stretching. I’ve certainly not seen any negative results when I don’t stretch prior to exercising.
I also perform my stretches after a run or workout. It seems to be the best time and I’ve noticed that the stretch is much further than if I did it beforehand. Plus it helps with me not getting sore as I tend to go straight to my desk after a workout/run (but only after a sufficient cooldown period).
Yes, stretching definitely goes better for me after a workout!
Good to know.
ACSM (I believe) did a meta-analysis some years ago that investigated injury rates among exercisers who stretched before a workout and those who did not. They found no differences between the two groups. With stretching being detrimental to strength performance, I’ve always had my clients stretch after a workout instead of before.