Should you stretch before sports or exercise?
If you’re like most people, you perform some stretches before working out, as you’ve been taught to do probably as far back as elementary school. Stretching is supposed to prepare your muscles for more strenuous exercise, and to help prevent post-workout soreness or injury. But multiple studies have concluded that not only does stretching offer no benefit, it is detrimental to your performance.
A 2003 study in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness revealed a reduction ranging from 3.2% to 15.4% in explosive force and jumping performance for those who stretched before the tests.
The Department of Kinesiology of Louisiana State University published research in 2008 that demonstrated significantly slower 20- and 40-meter sprint times for college athletes that followed a pre-run static stretching protocol.
A 2009 study of elite youth soccer players found that a dynamic warm-up enhanced sprint and jump performance compared to a warm-up consisting solely of static stretching.
A 1999 study in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine concluded that pre-exercise stretching does not reduce the risk of local muscle injury.
A 2000 study of 1,538 army recruits found no reduction in injuries for those who stretched before exercise, compared to those who did not.
A 2004 study published in Sport Medicine stated that stretching has no beneficial effect on injury prevention in sports such as jogging, cycling and swimming.
In “To stretch or not to stretch: the role of stretching in injury prevention and performance” (2010), the authors found that “a single bout of stretching acutely impairs muscle strength,” and “a general consensus is that stretching in addition to warm-up does not affect the incidence of overuse injuries.”
Instead of static stretching exercises, experts recommend a brief, gradual warmup to increase blood flow and body heat. “Dynamic” stretching, or stretching muscles while moving, does not suffer any of the negative effects found in the studies above.
