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Reasons Not to Stretch

well.blogs.nytimes.com

11–20 of 93 posts

Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#11
post #10
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did they floss?

Well... has flossing been shown to be useful for human health? ETA: quick Google, found one meta-study. Results: "Trials were of poor quality and conclusions must be viewed as unreliable. The review showed that people who brush and floss regularly have less gum bleeding compared to toothbrushing alone. There was weak, very unreliable evidence of a possible small reduction in plaque. There was no information on other…

Flossing supposedly helps fight gum disease, halitosis (by removing some of the gunk stuck between the teeth that toothbrushes can't get at) and other mouth afflictions.

How much of that "research" and "science" is actually funded by Colgate, Johnson and Johnson and the like I don't know though...

Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#12
> But even more interesting, they also reported that they felt less stable and more unbalanced after the stretching than when they didn’t stretch.

I find it somewhat suspect that the study doesn't say they in any way tested the athletes stability or balance, just that they took them at their word. It sounds suspiciously like it might even be the Dunning-Kruger effect in action.

Another thing which is suspect is that these studies are done on very short time-frames. It's quite common that things that are beneficial in the long-term result in short term problems. I'd be very interested to see some multi-month or even multi-year studies, especially studies working with more dynamic metrics (for example, taking populations of sports teams and comparing win/loss numbers.)

In general I think stretching is important in a variety of ways for physical activity, and these studies are all focusing in on some very narrow artificial activities I don't personally do very often. I guess this validates that I don't stretch before getting on my bicycle, but it doesn't really speak to stretching before dancing or anything other than strength tests that hit very specific muscles for a short period.

Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#13
post #10
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did they floss?

Well... has flossing been shown to be useful for human health? ETA: quick Google, found one meta-study. Results: "Trials were of poor quality and conclusions must be viewed as unreliable. The review showed that people who brush and floss regularly have less gum bleeding compared to toothbrushing alone. There was weak, very unreliable evidence of a possible small reduction in plaque. There was no information on other…

Can't speak for the rest of the world, but at least 99% of India doesn't floss. Just sayin' :-)

Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#14
post #2

It is nothing new, it was suspected for a while by many studies. Personally I do not practice stretching. It initially started as an experiment - as in "if I don't stretch I should get hurt ?", "ok I want to test this and see precisely how much!", ie to try to evaluate the marginal value of stretching. So far I have yet to see a negative consequence of not stretching (ie increased risk of injury, even if anecdotal ex…

Many exercises are simply not safe if your muscles are tight or you lack the flexibility to do them properly. Swimming, weight lifting, most sports come immediately to mind.

Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#15
post #2

It is nothing new, it was suspected for a while by many studies. Personally I do not practice stretching. It initially started as an experiment - as in "if I don't stretch I should get hurt ?", "ok I want to test this and see precisely how much!", ie to try to evaluate the marginal value of stretching. So far I have yet to see a negative consequence of not stretching (ie increased risk of injury, even if anecdotal ex…

What about stretching in between?

Like you, I abandoned pre-workout and post workout stretching without any ill effect.

I often stretch in between though, and have found it can be effective in relieving chronically tight muscles. For example, I had a 'permanently' tight hamstring that I fixed with 30 seconds of targeted stretching per day for about a month.

I use it for either imbalances, or for soreness from weight-lifting. However, I'm less certain of the usefulness of what I'm doing compared to my hamstring fix.

Those stretches were provided by a physiotherapist, and worked very well. My previous hamstring stretches had achieved nothing. The ones he gave me were generally dynamic stretches.

Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#16
post #9
post #7

Did our ancestors stretch before hunting? I doubt it.

Did they floss?

I suspect our diet has changed considerably since our ancestors' time. So all the extra sugars and processed food we shovel in our mouths is bound to affect our oral health in ways that might necessitate additional cleaning measures (e.g. flossing).

Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#17
Like a couple people have said, this is nothing new--it's an affirmation at most. But what also is missing is that it is completely reliant on the individual. Warmups are RELATIVE to YOU, the athlete.

I played 3 varsity sports--soccer, swimming, and track--throughout my 4 years of high school but made sure that I did a dynamic stretch of MY OWN before getting into any stretching/exercise with the rest of my team. I stayed healthy throughout high school. When I got to college, I decided to play ultimate frisbee and made the A team. I became lazy and started stretching with the team--the coach had us do a relatively rigorous dynamic stretch. I wasn't a fan but went along with it (again, I was lazy). About 5 weeks in, I pulled my hamstring badly and it took me about 6-8 weeks to fully recover. I don't want to jump to the conclusion that not doing an individual dynamic stretch was THE reason for my injury, but it definitely was a large contributing factor. From the time I came back until now, I make sure to do my own dynamic stretch before getting into any exercise, light or intense--it works.

WHY?

The whole point of stretching is really to get your muscles moving and to be comfortable. Only I can decide when I feel I am ready to go...and only you can decide when you are. So do what you feel is best for you first, then immerse yourself in activities that your peers or team is doing. And I promise, this will not be held against you as doing something that the team is not. Hell, I was the captain of my swimming and soccer teams for my junior and senior years. If you're helping yourself, you're ultimately helping the team--especially in this context.

Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#19
What weights were they lifting? 'Moderately trained men' means nothing to me, also how did they train before?

Some fit guy that is moderately trained and usually jogs every other day, then is tasked with doing squats for the first time. Yeah.

Maybe someone has access to this data, otherwise point is moot.

Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#20
post #15
post #2

It is nothing new, it was suspected for a while by many studies. Personally I do not practice stretching. It initially started as an experiment - as in "if I don't stretch I should get hurt ?", "ok I want to test this and see precisely how much!", ie to try to evaluate the marginal value of stretching. So far I have yet to see a negative consequence of not stretching (ie increased risk of injury, even if anecdotal ex…

What about stretching in between? Like you, I abandoned pre-workout and post workout stretching without any ill effect. I often stretch in between though, and have found it can be effective in relieving chronically tight muscles. For example, I had a 'permanently' tight hamstring that I fixed with 30 seconds of targeted stretching per day for about a month. I use it for either imbalances, or for soreness from weight-…

I can't comment on stretching but I've found foam rolling (or other such myofascial release) to be the greatest thing ever for relieving tight muscles. Have you tried that?
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