To stretch or not to stretch? (Read 1276 times)

I have heard an opinion that stretching regularly forces myofibrils in your mucles to be the same size (by breaking the short ones), and this increases your muscle efficiency and power. So, to me stretching makes sense as reaching sertain level and keeping it there, vs constantly improving your flexability.

After reading a couple of RA threads on the subject (gotta love that search function that no one seems to use), I decided to give up stretching. I feel that I get LESS sore now than when I was stretching after my runs, even though I'm running longer distances.

I gave stretching up completely a few years ago after being plagued by numerous minor muscle pulls. Instead of stretching, I spend more time warming up and cooling down, and it's payed off big time. Since giving it up I've has zero muscle related injuries and no loss of flexibility. I work with a guy who coaches high school football and he mentioned that they no longer stretch before training or a game, but do warm up exercises instead. I've never seen an animal go through a stretching routine. If they stretch at all it's a quick one after they've been lying around. They never stretch before or after a physical activity. Stretching in my opinion is ancient technology and the only reason it's still around is that old habits and mindsets are hard to break. Tom

Respect your opinion but respectfully disagree with some of your opinions which is why this is a great debate. It does appear to be working for you though. The American College Of Sports Medicine continues to recommend it as did the sports medicine physician I recently met with. They do stay up to date with the research. My sports doc just came back from a major conference and we had this discussion. I do think we continue to learn. i.e. static stretching before activity prevents injuries. Not the case anymore and may increase risk. I do agree that sports teams are incorporating more dynamic movements in their warm ups before games and less static stretching, but I have contacts with the Packers, UWGB Phoenix and all these athletes do stretch after practice and other times of day. The Packers actually increased flexibility and core work with their new strength coach hired before 2006 season and Packers have been one of most injury free teams in NFL last 2 years. As far as stretching and performance. Most professional golfers work on flexibity hours and hours a weeks. There is no way they can turn and develop power without without a more flexible core, shoulders etc. Also, some research is out there that stretching a bit after exercise enhance recovery. As far as animals, most are pretty active, especially in wild and are not obese and sedentary like humans. I posit that stretching won't necessarily prevent injury during running but more so in everyday activity like mentioned before. It is a debate that will go on..............................

As far as stretching and performance. Most professional golfers work on flexibity hours and hours a weeks. There is no way they can turn and develop power without without a more flexible core, shoulders etc. Also, some research is out there that stretching a bit after exercise enhance recovery. \

I agree, the subject of stretching always creates a lively debate. I also agree that golfers require a lot of flexibility. They are using the full range of their muscles when they swing. Runners, at least distance runners, only use a fraction of their range which is why I don't believe that stretching or flexibility is important for a distance runner. Sprinters though may be more apt to benefit from increased flexibility, but I can't comment on that since I'm not a sprinter. Tom

One thing I think we can safely conclude at this point is that whatever impact stretching has it is tiny. I disagree. Maybe stretching won't prevent running injuries but in "real life" and how the body functions, it makes a difference One other thing, I have read that stretching immediately post-exercise is a bad idea. The body is hot and it is easy to stretch your way to a tear or other similar injury. Was the article backed by any real studies of the subject? Not that I recall. But it seemed reasonable (the fast road to mistaken beliefs) so I never ever do any stretching right after a workout of some sort. If you are to stretch, after exercise is absolutely the best time as far as safety and effectiveness. I know there are studies out there. Have not seen anything credible on disadvantages of stretching after exercise. I am just going by 13 years of hands on research in the "real world". We are all different, but from my experience stretching may or may not enhance running performance (depends on if you are marathoner vs. sprinter/hurdler but in many other sports and in "life's movements" it is beneficial and performance enhancing and your body will generally function better.

I'm of the opinion that static stretching is of little benefit at best, and downright dangerous at worst. I say that because most people simply do not know how to stretch. They do the touch your toes thing because that is what they were always told to do and end up stretching joints and their back instead of the hamstrings they were attempting to stretch. Or the pull your heel up to your but stretch, hoping to stretch their quads but end up stretching out their knees. I do very little stretching, and what stretching I do is dynamic stretching. Of course, stretching to address specific issues does have it's place, but for me, I find massage addresses those issues better than stretching. Victor

Not much of a stretcher here. Before a run I might do a couple of neck-rolls or I might not. I run at lunch and I need to get right to it. At night while watching television I do some core stuff on the ball but that's about it. This morning before getting out of bed to do my long run I did some stretching by pulling my knees up to my chest and holding for a bit a few times. This seems to 'warm-up' my lower back for the day.

No need to stretch before the majority of miles because most should be easy. If you are going to run a race or fast stuff stretch after the warmup. I always stretch after running however in the hot shower.