STOP Stretching BEFORE Exercise…

Today I will talk about the main types of stretching, and how and when you should use each. You will learn up to date methods and the reasons for the change in previous approaches. This change was actually made at the elite level over 10 years ago! However I still see people touching their toes and stretching their quads before their warm up.

If you exercise regularly or have ever been involved in organised sport you will have probably heard or been told at some point that “it’s really important to stretch”. Well you heard correctly, it is! Why? Mainly because it helps condition your body and prevent injuries.

Preventing those injuries and keeping yourself going can be a difficult task but with this one change in your routine you can say goodbye to tight calves and pulled hamstrings for good.

Historically anyone who knew anything about exercise was told, by the experts, to stretch before they started. Hold the stretch for lets say, 30 seconds. The type of stretch was a ‘static’ stretch. Well, thanks to all the people who duly obliged, they (the scientists) then found out that this ‘static stretching before exercise did not reduce the risk of injury!

The research generally concluded that static stretching was ineffective in reducing the incidence of exercise-related injury. There is preliminary evidence, however, that static stretching may reduce musculotendinous injuries.

The best pre exercise method found to prevent the risk of injury was a brisk walk, light jogging or cycling. If you want to stretch BEFORE exercise, try some DYNAMIC stuff such as walking, running or skipping, high knees, heel flicks, side steps, arm swings and so on, all incorporated into your warm up.

What you really need to know is - you should only STATIC stretch AFTER your sessions (when your warm), hold each stretch for 2 minutes (this is known as a developmental stretch which develops the length of the muscle) per muscle group (it will take at least 20 min to complete a good stretch and should be done once or twice per week). This will prep you up for your next session so your muscles will be looser.

I hope you will benefit from reducing your risk of injury with this useful information.
Thanks for reading.