should you stretch after doing exercise? i thnk i recall someone saying you shouldnt, as when you exercise you gets micro-tears in your muscles, and when you stretch that muscle after exercise you worsen the micro-tears and risk injury. was wondering if you knew anything about that.
When to Stretch is a nice topic. Answering your question, after exercise is ideal.
Why? Your body and muscles are warmed up! Especially after weight training/running. What do your muscles do when you run or lift weights? The fibres contract and shorten! you need to lengthen those bad boys if you wish to maintain or improve your bodies range of motion and have nice strong long flexible muscle fibres.
And stretching post exercise has been shown to aid recovery.
Stretching while a muscle is cold is not ideal and not recommended by professionals as the stretching will have a slight risk of a strain or muscle fibre tear.
So if you shouldnt stretch before exercise, what should you do? RANGE OF MOTION WARM UP!
Eg, your doing a chest training session, do a high range of reps witha very low weight at first, under control and start very slow. Build the pace up over a few mins and work upto the working speed and weight.
Do the same for running. Start with a walk, light jog and build the pace up to your usual running pace (which should vary!
)
Strech slowly and hold each stretch for at least 30 seconds (static stretching).
Dynamic stretching is a bit more for advanced athletes and i wouldnt recommend it.
BOOM! Train hard
Last edited by Kilrtom at 3/14/2012 5:07:35 PMManager of the Bahamas National Team!