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DEL.ICIO.USWeight Loss and Fitness Mythbust #6: You Must Stretch Before You Exercise
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just like some other fitness myths, I have gotten into debates that stretching is not beneficial before stretching. It is not true that you need to stretch before beginning your exercise routine to prevent injury. As a matter of fact, recent studies have shown that stretching before exercise can actually lead to injury.
Think about it, if your muscles are not “warm” they are going to be less flexible. However you could be asking, “Kelly I thought that you are suppose to stretch to warm up?” I understand the dilemma, but what you have to understand is that stretching is not meant to warm up, nor does it warm up your muscles. Stretching is meant to improve flexibility and to help you recover (it can improve strength too, but that’s another topic). This means, you would stretch after your training session to decrease the tightness that you often feel and decrease the likelihood of injury.
If you feel that you need to warm-up (which I recommend), you should do a moderate intensity cardiovascular warm-up such as walking on a treadmill or riding a bike for at least 5-15 minutes. This kind of warm-up will actually increase blood flow to the muscles and connective tissues (i.e. ligaments and tendons). After you warm-up, then it’s okay to stretch. However, it is not necessary unless you are training for martial arts, dance (ballet), and gymnastics.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: General Fitness
Comments
By Mike K
July 24, 2006 12:27 PM | Link to this
I’d also add that if you are lifting weights, a warm-up set of very light weights might be a good idea. It isn’t necessary, but it seems to help me lift a bit more.
By Renee
July 24, 2006 01:52 PM | Link to this
I’ve always hated stretching before exercise. Mainly because I didn’t like to exercise and even that I’m growing to like it, stretching gives me too much time to chicken out. I don’t dive right in either, I let my heart rate gradually increase before I go full out doing cardio and I do about 5 mins of light cardio dancing before I do lifting. I’m going to point to this tidbit on my blog when I post about my hatred of stretching ;)
By Johnny K
August 1, 2006 10:42 AM | Link to this
… had a coach I assisted under (20 years ago) … said “watch a dog” … doesn’t stretch before (s)he chases car … stretches afterward … learn … coached 29 years on some level … no less injuries after stretching implemented than before … did it anyway to avoid confrontation and suit (should something happen … be blamed on not stretching) … refreshing to have more back-up for what I had always believed …
By Kelly Huggins
August 1, 2006 03:18 PM | Link to this
Hey Johnny K,
That is too funny!
Kelly