when to stretch??? (Read 1830 times)

Stretching is a really generic term. I know I feel better when I run if I do a little stretching before hand - get the kinks out of the legs, esp. if I had a long drive to the trailhead. BUT I'm talking things on the order of shoulder shrugs, ankle rotations, a little bit for calves / hams, etc - things that are as much warmup as they are stretch. Maybe on the order of a minute or two. My PT provided some stretches that worked wonders for me for some hip and foot/ankle issues I was having. Eventually, I managed to overstretch, then those stretches were causing me problems. So I stopped those stretches for a bit, problem went away. Then this fall, original niggles came back, resumed those stretches, niggles went away. It's about knowing what your body needs. I'm not sure I've ever used any of the standard running stretches, other than maybe calves. Yea, I can see how they'd lead to injury. For warmdown, I'll generall walk a bit and some sideways drills and maybe some side leg lifts.

I never stretch. Warming up gently and cooling down for at least 20-30 minutes before and after is all that I need. When I didn't warmup and cooldown, I was always having problems with injuries. When I stretched, it was even worse. I notice that my muscles feel stiff if I skimp on the WU and CD routine. Be very careful with stretching. I have a yogini friend and she believes runners and many people in yoga classes overstretch. She says the stretch must be so gentle that it should feel like you're not stretching at all. Just a mild move in a direction. It takes years to get as flexible as her.

I've had periods when I would stretch, periods when I don't. If I do, it's always after exercise though. I never saw a corelation between stretching and injury (or lack of). However, when I do stretch well after exercise, I seem to recover quicker and am less prone of being sore the rest of the day or next day. I always stretch my ITB to avoid it becoming painful. The ITB responds very well to stretching. - R

I did a trial run of not stretching yesterday, and my l legs feel horrible today. Well, it was worth a try. To each their own.

According to your log you haven't run since January 19th. I suspect that might be why your legs feel horrible, not because you didn't stretch. Besides, one run won't produce enough data to tell you anything. I tried it for an entire year before I made my decision. Tom

Hello! My name is Sarah and I don't stretch. I thought I was the only one so you can imagine my relief to find that so many others are just like me. From here on out, I refuse to feel guilty about not stretching! Now that I've got that out, I think I'll finally be able to sleep at night

Now I think I need a beer...excuse me please...and I apologize for my computer's many issues...

I'd say that it's between stretching and whether or not it's good to take days off from running as the 2 most controversial topics I've seen on running forums. These are the two I've seen discussed over and over, with strong opinions on both sides. This leads me to believe that it works for some and not for others. The lessen here is to learn what works for you and what doesn't rather than baseing your decisions on what everyone else does.

We have a winner.

That's why these logs are so cool...for all to be able to see, and possibly help people asking questions and giving suggestions. I would also say the legs felt bad through lack of running, not from "not" stretching. Tim

Maybe Obie hasn't logged any runs since? it doesn't necessarily mean runs didn't happen I better keep my logs up to date... Anyway, I'm also a newbie and last night I came in and I was a bit sore, so I stretched. Right now I am doing a combination of cool down and a bit of stretching, if I feel tight somewhere. I believe that if I hadn't done it I would be sore today. I didn't stretch for nearly as long as other people are saying they do or used to do, 15 mins sounds like a long time, IMHO Thanks all for this thread, great to read the different points of view!