Don't Forget to Stretch!

LilKoko91
LilKoko91 Posts: 11 Member
edited November 14 in Fitness and Exercise
It is SO important to stretch before, and after a workout. Your muscles need a proper stretching exercise routine, not only will you prevent injury by helping your joints move to their full range of motion. Stretching also increases blood flow to the muscle, and prepares your body for the exercise you are about to do. STRETCH!

I was very sore after a few days of exercise and this video was great!

https://youtu.be/DDkmGap-BSQ

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    I have never stretched before exercise...?
  • Never stretched before exercise. I don't think it makes any difference. Yoga is nice to improve flexibility overall, though.
  • __TMac__
    __TMac__ Posts: 1,669 Member
    I have sciatica and chronic back pain. What I've found works best for me is to warm up until I break a light sweat, then targeted back and hamstring stretches, regular workout, cool down, and then full-body stretching. If I miss any of these steps, I'm hurty afterwards.
  • DonkeyHueco
    DonkeyHueco Posts: 9 Member
    Stretching actually decreases your mobility and flexibility for about 15 minutes. Stretch afterwards, warm-up before.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,992 Member
    Stretching isn't a necessity for good health. While one SHOULD try to be a flexible as they can for more range of motion, there's a fallacy that stretching prevents injuries. Injuries of any type usually happen from sudden movement, impact or over exertion of a muscle or joint. And those injuries end up being tears of some time to a ligament, tendon or even the muscle and stretching can't prevent that.
    As mentioned, you don't use stretching to warm up unless it's dynamic stretching and then static stretch later after a workout.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

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  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
    Eh. Being hyper mobile one of the worst things I can do is stretch. Most of my mobility work is actually stabilization work. The less I stretch the stronger and more stable my joints are.
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,208 Member
    actually no, you are not supposed to stretch your muscles before you have warmed them up...

    Muscles are almost 100 degrees F, which is quite warm. Most other mammals stretch whenever they feel the need, without doing a cardio warmup prior. Just saying. :+1:
  • Alisonswim46
    Alisonswim46 Posts: 208 Member
    Well I enjoy a short stretch session or foam rolling session before a workout. Just sitting on the floor for a few minutes to get out some kinks feels good. I really don't think there's a wrong or a right, just do what you need to do to feel ready to workout.
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,213 Member
    edited January 2017
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Stretching isn't a necessity for good health. While one SHOULD try to be a flexible as they can for more range of motion, there's a fallacy that stretching prevents injuries. Injuries of any type usually happen from sudden movement, impact or over exertion of a muscle or joint. And those injuries end up being tears of some time to a ligament, tendon or even the muscle and stretching can't prevent that.
    As mentioned, you don't use stretching to warm up unless it's dynamic stretching and then static stretch later after a workout.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

    Music to my ears. I hate stretching and I get injured way too often. Still did not want to believe that stretching could have prevented those injuries. Do you have a source by chance?

  • fitin50s2
    fitin50s2 Posts: 111 Member
    I actually love to stretch and have a personal goal to do a lot more of it this year. Love how I feel when I'm done.
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    Stretching was very important when I did gymnastics and ballet; we had to stretch before and during our workouts. Now, I do very few stretches, mostly what is part of the workout video itself. I have lost a lot of flexibility. I need to get some of it back! I'm thinking of adding a few minutes of extra stretching after some yoga once a week.
  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Dynamic stretching before...static stretching after.

    Yup, this is what I've read everywhere lately and it makes lots of sense to me.
  • beautifulwarrior18
    beautifulwarrior18 Posts: 914 Member
    I have to warm up and stretch before I exercise or I'll cramp in my ankles, hips, or shoulders (depending of what we're doing). I'm terrible about stretching afterward though.
  • jennypapage
    jennypapage Posts: 489 Member
    depends on the exercise and the intensity i guess, but before my runs all i do is walk for 5 minutes at a brisk pace. After my runs,i stretch my arms thoroughly,and i do a couple of leg stretches too, together with a 5 minute cooldown. I went from 0 to 10k this way and have had no injuries yet, so it works for me.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited January 2017
    I never stretch, but I do a warm up....cool down. (touch wood haven't ever had any injuries in my 4 years of consistent working out)
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    I use to stretch b4 workouts. Took too long and it didn't help (or hurt). So, it was (for me) just a waste of time.

    All I do is warmup doing a 3 set reverse pyramid below my target wt and then just go for it. Just fine doing only this.
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Dynamic stretching before...static stretching after.

    If you plan on stretching before/ after, agreed.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,992 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Stretching isn't a necessity for good health. While one SHOULD try to be a flexible as they can for more range of motion, there's a fallacy that stretching prevents injuries. Injuries of any type usually happen from sudden movement, impact or over exertion of a muscle or joint. And those injuries end up being tears of some time to a ligament, tendon or even the muscle and stretching can't prevent that.
    As mentioned, you don't use stretching to warm up unless it's dynamic stretching and then static stretch later after a workout.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

    Music to my ears. I hate stretching and I get injured way too often. Still did not want to believe that stretching could have prevented those injuries. Do you have a source by chance?
    You can pick just about any one from google. Type in "stretching doesn't prevent injuries" and there are lots of articles with actual studies to back it up.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,992 Member
    edited January 2017
    Stretching was very important when I did gymnastics and ballet; we had to stretch before and during our workouts. Now, I do very few stretches, mostly what is part of the workout video itself. I have lost a lot of flexibility. I need to get some of it back! I'm thinking of adding a few minutes of extra stretching after some yoga once a week.
    Well stretching was for flexibility to perform the exercises of gymnastics and ballet. My wife still dances (ballroom) and was able to do the splits in high school. She can't do them now, but I've asked her "Honey, when in your daily life do you apply doing a split?"

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

  • LilKoko91
    LilKoko91 Posts: 11 Member
    Thank you all for your comments and feedback. I hope this was helpful for some.

    I agree with many of you that stretching before or after a workout is based on the type of workout you do. I guess I should have implied that, but yes; if you're simply walking, lightly jogging, or strength-training, there really isn't a need to stretch before, but I think if you're about to walk into a boxing match, you should be warned up. I agree with you all on that one.

    I am in a Bootcamp class that consists mostly of cardio/tabata/hiit/and strength training. We don't stretch before the class begins, only after, and I think it's mostly to get our heartrates back to normal. There are many people in the class who don't stretch afterwards and that is mainly why I posted the video.

    Either way, working out is important and >>based on the type of exercise you do,<< stretching to warm up your body, cool it down, and to prevent a muscle cramp, before and/or after (your choice), is just as important to me.
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    LilKoko91 wrote: »
    Thank you all for your comments and feedback. I hope this was helpful for some.

    I agree with many of you that stretching before or after a workout is based on the type of workout you do. I guess I should have implied that, but yes; if you're simply walking, lightly jogging, or strength-training, there really isn't a need to stretch before, but I think if you're about to walk into a boxing match, you should be warned up. I agree with you all on that one.

    I am in a Bootcamp class that consists mostly of cardio/tabata/hiit/and strength training. We don't stretch before the class begins, only after, and I think it's mostly to get our heartrates back to normal. There are many people in the class who don't stretch afterwards and that is mainly why I posted the video.

    Either way, working out is important and >>based on the type of exercise you do,<< stretching to warm up your body, cool it down, and to prevent a muscle cramp, before and/or after (your choice), is just as important to me.

    I don't think anyone is/was disagreeing with you. It's just important to point out that there are two types of stretching (dynamic vs. static). Dynamic stretching prior to exercise, static stretching after.
  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,445 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Stretching was very important when I did gymnastics and ballet; we had to stretch before and during our workouts. Now, I do very few stretches, mostly what is part of the workout video itself. I have lost a lot of flexibility. I need to get some of it back! I'm thinking of adding a few minutes of extra stretching after some yoga once a week.
    Well stretching was for flexibility to perform the exercises of gymnastics and ballet. My wife still dances (ballroom) and was able to do the splits in high school. She can't do them now, but I've asked her "Honey, when in your daily life do you apply doing a split?"

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png


    Really? What if you're in a fight with a bad guy and your water cooler gets spilled all over the floor. And what if the bad guy decided to throw a bare electric cord into the water. Then what are you gonna do?

    Some people just don't think of these things. :D

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  • IzzyBooNZ1
    IzzyBooNZ1 Posts: 1,289 Member
    I do thai boxing classes. I used to static stretch before and found once in class my muscles would feel really tight. Now I just foam roll, then kick the bag a bit to warm up before class. I have a super hard time kicking with my right leg ( as in turning the hip over into the kick) so I am going to work on warming that side up a bit more. Think my glutes are a bit tight.
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,208 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    You can pick just about any one from google. Type in "stretching doesn't prevent injuries" and there are lots of articles with actual studies to back it up.

    The problem with those studies is they pick the stretches arbitrarily, at random. That's like randomly loosening strings on a guitar, and concluding that loosening strings should never be done before playing, because it sounds awful. Yes, random loosening should be avoided, but intentional loosening of overly tight strings can improve results. There are many cases of an overly tight muscle negatively affecting exercise form.. for example..

    - tight calves causing the feet to splay outward on squats

    - tight upper trapezius elevating the shoulders on rows

    - tight adductors causing the leg to drift inward (adduct) on lunges

    - tight peroneals contributing to overpronation when running

    Stretching those tight "strings" before exercising can make a noticeable improvement in form, which in turn can prevent injuries.

    Granted, the average person isn't skilled at self-diagnosing which muscles are negatively affecting their form, so it's a lot easier to tell them "don't stretch before exercise". But sometimes, static stretching before exercise is warranted. :+1:
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