Static stretching can weaken your workout

If you’re like most of us, you were taught the importance of warm-up exercises back in grade school, and you’ve likely continued with pretty much the same routine ever since. Science, however, has moved on. Researchers now believe that some of the more entrenched elements of many athletes’ warm-up regimens are not only a waste of time but actually bad for you. The old presumption that holding a stretch for 20 to 30 seconds — known as static stretching — primes muscles for a workout is dead wrong. It actually weakens them. In a recent study conducted at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, athletes generated less force from their leg muscles after static stretching than they did after not stretching at all. Other studies have found that this stretching decreases muscle strength by as much as 30 percent. Also, stretching one leg’s muscles can reduce strength in the other leg as well, probably because the central nervous system rebels against the movements.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sp...in&oref=slogin

I've been reading about this elsewhere, I will make an effort to compile different sources of information on this soon.

What you should take away from it is that static stretching (holding your knee to your chest for 20-30 seconds, for example) before a workout is bad. Dynamic stretching (jogging around the gym or using the elliptical for 5 minutes) is better.

The problem with this article is that it is too vague.

Stretching is by far a very useful technique to prevent cramping in your muscles. That's what needs to be kept in mind. If you pull a muscle from not stretching before and after a workout, or even get a cramp can dampen your workout regimine, and if you pull a muscle or strain it a week to a few weeks can be lost until you can get back to 100% of your workout.

Researchers now believe that some of the more entrenched elements of many athletes’ warm-up regimens are not only a waste of time but actually bad for you.

I would completely disagree with this. There have been NUMEROUS times where I had not stretched before working out our playing basketball and noticebally pulled a damn hamstring, strained a damn calf muscle, or even just getting a cramp somewhere, which could have been easily prevented from stretching.

Static stretching should be done AFTER working out, but not BEFORE. Dynamic stretching should be done before.

Mm, that's a personal argument for each person. Everyone responds to both stretching techniques differently. Atleast from what I can tell.. Atleast that's what they taught us in weightlifting.

It almost seems to counter common sense, but everything I have read in the past half a year has supported this.


This article on the topic cites its sources: http://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/scni43a4.htm

Research has shown that static stretching can be detrimental to performance and does not necessarily lead to decreases in injury.

Well when you stretch it to the point where it is past being clumped together, the normal explosiveness that your muscles contain is lost because your fibers are unlinked and don't perform the same. I think there is a point where most people that are active can tell where their muscles get to that point, in which you would then be over-doing it.

I see your points though that you are posting. I've got some reading up to do.