Should you stretch and when?
Flexibility is one component of overall fitness and especially crucial concerning exercise and possible injury prevention.
There are disagreements on is stretching in general ranging from total opposition to stretching, believing that the practice is bunk and a waste of time, all the way through it being vitally important for injury prevention. Even for those in the pro-stretching camp, there are differing opinions on whether to stretch before or after your workout.
Should you stretch?
Stretching keeps your muscles and joints flexible so that they can perform a full range of motion. If your muscles and joints have limited mobility you are more likely to push them past their end-range and suffer a muscle strain, joint pain, and injury.
What type of stretching should you do?
Static stretching involves holding a stretching position for 30 seconds or more.
Dynamic stretching involves moving a joint through its range of motion, repeatedly taking the various muscles to their end of range, for example, swinging a leg back and forth.
Should you stretch before or after your workout?
A comprehensive review of studies found that static stretching before exercise resulted in decreases in strength, power, and explosive performance. The recommendation is an active warmup for 10 to 15 minutes that is related to the joints and muscles of the activity that is about to be performed. Get your heart rate up and your muscles warm.
Part of this active warmup should include dynamic stretching to improve range of motion and prepares your muscles for the exercise. Leg swings, lunges, shoulder circles, etc. are useful dynamic stretches.
Should you stretch after your workout?
Yes, and this is where static stretching might be of benefit and help you recover for your next bout of activity.
It won’t decrease post-exercise muscle soreness but will help improve blood flow to the limbs you stretch and help your nervous system calm down.
Even though warming up and cooling down may seem like a waste of time, it is an essential component of fitness and may decrease your risk of injury.