Stretching...is this a do or don't??

But you can use PVC pipe- baseball bat, LAX ball, Baseball Wine bottle-

if you are brave enough

Having the sense of humor of a 12 year old boy sucks, sometimes. Giggity.

LOL thank you for picking that one up- and no- it doesn't suck wink wink nudge nudge.... I'm a 16 year old little boy trapped in a 30 year old woman's body- talk about weird.

When I was a sixteen year old boy, I would've given an arm and leg to be trapped in a 30 year old woman's body.


LUCKY!

Sports Medicine site that talks about the benefits of dynamic stretching and has some basic routines. Ideally you will want to do routines to the specific muscle groups you will be using. I do a general all body routine after 10 minutes on the treadmill and then do some specific dynamic stretches for what body parts i'm going to work that day.

After my workout i will do a cool down, then some static stretching. I usually do not have time to hit the torture tool...errr foam roller till it gets near time to hit the rack.

http://www.therapeuticassociates.com/education/sports-medicine/

They also have info on static stretching and foam rolling with examples.

I stretch all the time and practically live on my foam roller. Honestly I don't think it's one of those things for which there is a hard and fast rule... do what feels good to you!

I Love/Hate my Foam roller; Foam is Sooooo misleading:laugh: but I do a warm up light stretch, then stretch after. The foam roller really helps with my legs after running and I have fusion at L5-S1 and it is a great help there too

They should be called torture rollers lol!

I warmup and do some dynamic stretches, but i do static stretch hip flexors, after injury to hip flexor I've found this to be best, i workout then stretch properly, and use the foam roller.

mine has my name on it on one end- and says THE DESTROYER on the other.

Mine makes me cry. sad panda face. well not cry- but it's shameful. I need to roll more.

When I was a sixteen year old boy, I would've given an arm and leg to be trapped in a 30 year old woman's body.


LUCKY!

Chuckle.

I'm wildly misunderstood- but the dirty teen in me likes it for sure.. everyone in my office- not so much.

I love the naming of it :-) I'm not a fan of powerplates, but I've really noticed a difference with stretching on one, but i don't like working out with it.

I stretch all the time and practically live on my foam roller. Honestly I don't think it's one of those things for which there is a hard and fast rule... do what feels good to you!

I Love/Hate my Foam roller; Foam is Sooooo misleading:laugh: but I do a warm up light stretch, then stretch after. The foam roller really helps with my legs after running and I have fusion at L5-S1 and it is a great help there too

They should be called torture rollers lol!

I warmup and do some dynamic stretches, but i do static stretch hip flexors, after injury to hip flexor I've found this to be best, i workout then stretch properly, and use the foam roller.

mine has my name on it on one end- and says THE DESTROYER on the other.

Mine makes me cry. sad panda face. well not cry- but it's shameful. I need to roll more.

When I was a sixteen year old boy, I would've given an arm and leg to be trapped in a 30 year old woman's body.


LUCKY!

Chuckle.

I'm wildly misunderstood- but the dirty teen in me likes it for sure.. everyone in my office- not so much.

THE DESTROYER! Love It!

It's pointless to compare high school athletes who have no tight muscles to adults with desk jobs who frequently do have tight muscles. Static stretching IS sometimes appropriate before exercise, and this page explains when & how:

To stretch or not to stretch before exercise?
http://www.freewebs.com/fitbest/stretching.htm

What's a cold muscle? Body temperature is about 100 degrees. That's pretty darn warm!

Sorry, static stretching is still not advised. Even your link indicates warming up.

Who's comparing HS athletes to adults with desk jobs. It is indicating trainers at all levels don't advise static stretching prior to exercise.

You said your trainer in high school didn't have you static stretch prior to competition. The OP, on the other hand, is a 32 year old non-athlete who is about 20 lbs overweight, and, stastically speaking, probably has a relatively sedenatary lifestyle with lots of sitting. That often tightens certain muscles, which can negatively affect exercise form. Which is why many trainers at all levels recommend doing static corrective stretches prior to exercise, including NASM (National Acadamy of Sports Medicine).

To see for yourself how effective it can be, try the "Overhead squat assessment" at my link on an out-of-shape, sedentary person that you know. Then have them stretch their overactive muscles for 30 seconds, and repeat the test. Usually there is an instant improvement in form.

The problem with the "studies" on stretching is they stretch randomly-chosen muscles, not overactive muscles. That's like randomly loosing guitar strings and concluding that loosening strings before playing should never be done.

Stretching won't change your appearance, but there are plenty of exercises that can't be performed correctly with restricted range of motion. You don't want to stretch cold muscles, and there is plenty of research documenting reduced strength when stretching before lifting which is due to the decreased stability of a mobile joint versus a fixed one, but on the other hand... if you don't have the proper range of motion (from a relatively fixed joint) to perform an exercise, you won't get the full benefit out of it. Stretching after exercise can help prevent injury and maintain range of motion. It can also help with recovery (i.e. everyones favorite... foam rolling) But to answer your question... it won't directly affect your appearance.

Very important after working out, helps prevent injury! I didn't stretch properly and i paid the price!

Actually not scientifically founded to prevent injury.

Overall Results of the 361 Studies. Stretching was not significantly associated with a reduction in total injuries (odds ratio = 0.93). Similar findings were seen in the subgroup analyses. Thacker and colleagues concluded that “there was insufficient evidence to endorse or discontinue routine stretching before or after exercise to prevent injury among competitive or recreational athletes.” The reviewers stated that further research, especially in the form of well-conducted randomized and controlled trials, was urgently needed to determine stretching’s proper role in sports.

http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/does-stretching-reduce-injury-risk-0

If one wants to stretch for flexibility, that's good. Pulls and muscle injuries happen because of the condition/strength of the muscle.

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

It's pointless to compare high school athletes who have no tight muscles to adults with desk jobs who frequently do have tight muscles. Static stretching IS sometimes appropriate before exercise, and this page explains when & how:

To stretch or not to stretch before exercise?
http://www.freewebs.com/fitbest/stretching.htm

What's a cold muscle? Body temperature is about 100 degrees. That's pretty darn warm!

Tight muscles are due to lack of flexibility regardless if someone is an athlete or not. Like exercise, to gain more flexibility, you have to work at it. But you don't do that at a beginning of a workout.
Just about every flexibility test will show you that a person is much more flexible after exercise than before.

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

It's pointless to compare high school athletes who have no tight muscles to adults with desk jobs who frequently do have tight muscles. Static stretching IS sometimes appropriate before exercise, and this page explains when & how:

To stretch or not to stretch before exercise?
http://www.freewebs.com/fitbest/stretching.htm

What's a cold muscle? Body temperature is about 100 degrees. That's pretty darn warm!

Sorry, static stretching is still not advised. Even your link indicates warming up.

Who's comparing HS athletes to adults with desk jobs. It is indicating trainers at all levels don't advise static stretching prior to exercise.

You said your trainer in high school didn't have you static stretch prior to competition. The OP, on the other hand, is a 32 year old non-athlete who is about 20 lbs overweight, and, stastically speaking, probably has a relatively sedenatary lifestyle with lots of sitting. That often tightens certain muscles, which can negatively affect exercise form. Which is why many trainers at all levels recommend doing static corrective stretches prior to exercise, including NASM (National Acadamy of Sports Medicine).

To see for yourself how effective it can be, try the "Overhead squat assessment" at my link on an out-of-shape, sedentary person that you know. Then have them stretch their overactive muscles for 30 seconds, and repeat the test. Usually there is an instant improvement in form.

The problem with the "studies" on stretching is they stretch randomly-chosen muscles, not overactive muscles. That's like randomly loosing guitar strings and concluding that loosening strings before playing should never be done.

I stated:

From High School through College, and beyond I've never had a strength and conditioning trainer put us through static stretches prior to competition. Dynamic Stretches/Plyos.

That's a little more than saying "this one time.....in high school."

You should dynamically stretch before and after. You can static stretch after - no static stretching before.

My physio told me to stretch "at distance" of my workout. NEVER right before.

In the morning if I workout later in the day or after my workout. NEVER right before. Best thing to do before a workout is a warmup: If I'm running, I'll do a 5 min brisk walk. If I'm lifting weights I'll do 5 min on the elliptical.

I have faith in the guy and what he is saying, so that's what I am doing!

Warm up (jumping jacks, stairs, whatever, slow jog)
Exercise (lift/cardio)
Static stretching (gentle, slow, stretches - no bouncing)

^^^ This. The "warmup" is known as dynamic stretching. Train, then Static Stretch (this is what everyone knows as the reach and hold for x amount of seconds).

^^this!