![]() ![]() Last word: Stretching is not a ‘pillar’ of fitness. ![]() Cramp first aid: at least one undeniable stretching benefit.Reason #5: Stretching to enhance performance.Ackshually, stretching can cause injuries.Reason #4: Stretching to recover from injury.Reason #3: Stretching to prevent injury.Reason #2: Stretching to prevent soreness (or speed recovery from it).Reason #1: Stretching as a warm up (which can actually backfire).5 Main Reasons Athletes Stretch… All Flawed - Stretching science shows that it doesn’t do most of what we hope it does.The unstretchables: some muscles are biomechanically impossible to stretch.This isn’t just about static stretching! Types of stretching.It falls especially flat where expectations are highest: it isn’t an effective therapy for back pain. Regardless of efficacy, stretching is inefficient, “proper” technique is controversial at best, and many key muscles are actually biomechanically impossible to stretch in any case - like most of the quadriceps group (which runners never believe without diagrams).įinally, despite the fact that it feels so good, stretching does not seem to constitute any kind of a treatment for common kinds of aches and pains. In fact, it can cause injury, and impair performance! Not seriously, but still. No other significant benefit to stretching has ever been proven, not using any method, no matter how allegedly “advanced.” Almost everything people expect from it simply doesn’t work: stretch doesn’t warm anyone up, prevent soreness or injury, contribute meaninfully to rehab, or enhance peformance. But flexibility is an overrated goal, and also easily achieved with other kinds of exercise that are much more beneficial for fitness in other ways (e.g. It does feel good, of course, and it will increase flexibility - mainly by increasing sensory tolerance rather than actually changing tissue. Stretching does not deserve its popularity and should not be considered a pillar of fitness. Warning: you may not enjoy stretching quite so much once you realize how many myths there are about its benefits. 3 This free online book - yes, it’s a short book, about 35,000 words - is a readable review of the key arguments and concepts and some of the most interesting evidence, actively maintained since the mid-2000s. I am hardly the only person to notice that stretching may not be all it’s cracked up to be, 2 and there’s plenty of science on this. ![]() I still get just as sore, whether I stretch or not. I play sports the same way with or without it. I am just as stiff and inflexible and full of “knots” as I have ever been. I do it because it feels nice, but I don’t believe the habit is doing much more for me than a daily back scratch. I stretch almost every day - hamstrings, lumbar erector spinae, and especially the deep gluteals are my favourites. Stretching is a waste of time for most people… unless you just enjoy it, of course. 1 Most stretching is simply a waste of time, its reputation completely undeserved. It’s also easily achieved with other kinds of exercise that are more beneficial for fitness in other ways: strengthening can also improve flexibility. Stretching’s primary goal - flexibility - does not have any clear value to anyone, not even most elite athletes, let alone the average fitness nut. In fact, stretching is not an important part of fitness and wellness. And yet they still do it, counting on the benefits.Ĭan all these people be barking up the wrong tree? Yes. For many others, athletes and couch potatoes alike, stretching is also a bit of a drag: a duty that weighs on the conscience, one more thing to make time for. It’s simple, it feels good, and we believe - or hope - that it prevents and treats injuries. Stretching is a pleasant ritual for many people, myself included. ![]()
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