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Reasons Not to Stretch

well.blogs.nytimes.com

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Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#61

Post by Expez »

jboggan wrote: post #43

'"Now, you listen to some of these so-called sports-medicine experts today--shit! It's just shtick. It's just something else to sell. Warming up," he scoffed, adjusting a red ascot fitted neatly into his jumpsuit, "warming up is the biggest bunch of horseshit I've ever heard in my life. Fifteen minutes to warm up! Does a lion warm up when he's hungry? 'Uh-oh, here comes an antelope. Better warm up.' No! He just goes…

This is a horrible metaphor. The lion would undoubtedly perform at a higher level if he warmed up properly prior to going out on a hunt. There are, however, tons of other reasons lions haven't evolved to 'warm up' before going hunting.

Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#62

Post by Expez »

helper wrote: post #37

I used to think stretching was stupid. Then I got old. Now I find that stretching reduces soreness the next day after a run. Certainly others have had the same experience?

Stretching does not reduce soreness, it increses it. Soreness is due to microtears in the muscle fibers caused by exercise. Stretching can also cause microtears.

The only way avoid getting sore is to increase your load progressively, or stay at a load you're accustomed to.

Being flexible might help with soreness in a sense that the soreness is less noticable: for example if you have very tight hamstrings, and they are sore, any movement is likely to make that soreness noticable. If, however, you are quite flexibly you might have to stretch your hamstrings, by bending at the waist, before you actually notice that you are indeed a bit sore after yesterday's workout.

Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#63

Post by josscrowcroft »

Meh. I really doubt this is aimed at this kind of crowd, who tend to sit (and/or slouch) behind a screen all day.

Running through a stretch routine every morning for the past 6 months has been an incredible changer in the way I work... I'm more conscious of my posture, have more vitality, and sleep better.

Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#64

Post by LaGrange »

jacques_chester wrote: post #46
ajays wrote: post #30

The title is misleading, to say the least. I occasionally suffer from lower back pain. From experience, tight hamstrings seem to be the cause. If I regularly stretch my hamstrings, I am without back problems. If I stop stretching, then, after a few months, I'll suddenly develop severe back pain. It's happened 3 times already, so I'm seeing a pattern. So I guess my point is: stretching can help in other areas; it just…

The basic point made is that pre -exercise stretching decreases power and may decrease stability. Sports scientists have been finding this in a number of studies for some time. Post -exercise stretching, or regular therapeutic stretching, is not what they're talking about.

Which is what the GP meant: the title is misleading. Which is more important than you might think, because later those titles end up inside the folk knowledge.

Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#65

Post by rschmitty »

jessriedel wrote: post #38
VeejayRampay wrote: post #5

Title is misleading. The article's main focus is on pre-workout stretching. I run several times a week, sometimes up to 20km at once and post-run stretching is most definitely a must-have.

Have a cite? This article indeed concentrates on pre-exercise stretching, but I've heard similar things about post-exercise.

Definitely need studies now to prove post stretching provides benefit, otherwise it seems like just another Holiday Inn statement

You could have talked to Olympians XX years ago about their pre-whatever-sport and heard them say stretching beforehand is a must-have

Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#66

Post by b1daly »

jacques_chester wrote: post #45
b1daly wrote: post #40

I wonder how much of this effect (muscles weaker after stretching) is because stretching tires the muscles, as it will certainly require energy to execute a static for a minute or so. If the effect is similar to other forms of muscle use, it would be unsurprising. If it weakens muscles in a unique way, that seems more interesting. I stretch quite a bit because my muscles get tighter over the time, in particular from…

It wouldn't be due to simple muscular tiredness. Studies on weight training show that local muscular fatigue can largely dissipate within minutes. I'd place my money on a CNS phenomenon.

Central nervous system? As a guess would you say such an effect might not be that bad beyond the immediate lowering of strength? Not a long term effect?

Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#67

Post by xd »

I'm basing this on my own experiences from running and military training; stretching before exercise is pointless .. but stretching after very vigorous exercise does help a lot with reducing cramp and the stiff feeling you get after waking up.

However I've also found that if I exercise at around the same level most days I can cut out stretching completely. And when I start to wind the amount of exercise down, I can feel when my muscles need stretching again.

Re: Reasons Not to Stretch

#68

Post by scott_s »

cynicalkane wrote: post #14
guylhem wrote: 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.

The article presents studies which contradict that exact claim.
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