Stretching before or after a workout: Only one of them is right
Even though most of us probably don't work on it enough, flexibility is vital to overall health, and it's especially important in connection to your exercise routine. While all stretching may seem the same, there are important distinctions about what stretching routines to perform at different points of your workout.
Working out already feels like an onerous task, and the thousands of opinions on the internet about how to exercise in the correct way aren't helping. You've probably heard tons of conflicting advice surrounding your workout routine, and when there's voices shouting in all directions around you it's far easier to just give up and push off the gym for another day.
One part of exercising I often hear disagreements on is stretching. Some people are vehemently opposed to the idea, saying that the practice is bunk and a waste of time. Others swear by it, believing that stretching is vitally important and helps ward off all kinds of injuries. Even for those in the pro-stretching camp, there are differing opinions on whether to stretch before or after your workout.
I'm here to dispel the confusion once and for all and explain how exactly stretching should fit into your exercise habits so that you can finally get back to what's really important -- actually working out.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22 2019, @12:55PM (1 child)
Heterosexual Niggers stretch your mom's vagina wide open.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22 2019, @01:53PM
Does that count as BEFORE or DURING?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by mrchew1982 on Tuesday October 22 2019, @01:10PM (4 children)
The writer of this article has no qualifications or work experience that would make her an expert in exercise or even health in general. Beware of confirmation bias, just because it sounds or feels right doesn't mean it's true.
(Score: 5, Informative) by fliptop on Tuesday October 22 2019, @01:26PM
That may be true, but several publications she researched are cited, including Harvard Medical School [harvard.edu], National Institute of Health [nih.gov] and Mayo Clinic [mayoclinic.org].
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday October 22 2019, @01:36PM
Test it yourself. It's not like it's a difficult experiment to run.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by barbara hudson on Tuesday October 22 2019, @05:43PM (1 child)
Would you take advice on an unrelated topic from a student of English whose sideline gig is writing filler articles and click bait notifications? Consider the source - cnet.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday October 22 2019, @11:33PM
but but but but they're the real news and everything else is fake news... I'm sure if she was writing about politics it would be gospel.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22 2019, @01:13PM (5 children)
Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru teached me everything I need to know about stretching.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22 2019, @01:31PM (3 children)
Klatuu Barada Nikto.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22 2019, @01:48PM (1 child)
Don't forget Siberian Khatru
(Score: 2, Funny) by pTamok on Tuesday October 22 2019, @06:33PM
Oh, yes!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22 2019, @06:06PM
Gort baringa
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22 2019, @08:12PM
It's one of the most hilarious anime adaptations of a manga around, although certain references are dated (the thinly veiled Schwartzeneggar, Silverman's Gym, etc are all homages to 70s-80s gym culture.)
Having said that: The exercises themselves are well researched, lots of anatomy details and explanations of why some exercises are good/bad, etc. Honestly it does for exercise what Shokugeki no Soma did for food (think over the top Iron Chef for a culinary arts vocational high school.)
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Hyperturtle on Tuesday October 22 2019, @01:20PM (8 children)
So where does that leave us, anywhow.
The spoiler in a one line answer: stretch after exercising. Read the article to learn some about why.
My additional comment is to stretch occasionally, but consistently, even if you don't exercise and never intend to exercise in a way that would make one ask the question we've answered.
It shouldn't be either do it after excercise or don't, since stretching itself can become a kind of exercise (think yoga, ballet, football players trying to stay limber, martial arts, etc... stretching is both feminine and masculine, even if some on either side of that won't admit pro football players often take ballet classes to learn how to stay limber...)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22 2019, @01:46PM (1 child)
yeah. I'd say it's criminal negligence to tell someone they don't need to stretch before jumping in freezing water. but whatever.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday October 23 2019, @06:43AM
Now I never wanted to jump in freezing water, but assuming that one day I should, for whatever reason, want to do that, I don't see why I should first tell someone they don't need to stretch. ;-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday October 22 2019, @01:53PM (2 children)
I've been having to do it at least eight or ten times a day lately. Been renovating a church into a house and full days of construction type work builds a hell of a lot of upper body muscle pretty damned quick if you're not used to it. That part's nice but the shiny, new muscle mass will be massively limited in its range of motion if you don't keep it stretched out.
It's also going to be swollen (beyond just adding bulk) for a little while, which sucks ass if we're talking hand/wrist/forearm muscle and you have RSI issues to begin with. Which is why I haven't been spending hardly any time coding SN stuff for a long time. By spending 5-10 minutes stretching the muscles and nerves from shoulder to fingers every time I step out to have a cigarette, I've just about got myself back to a state I can work from. So I should be able to start back up some time this winter after we get all moved in.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22 2019, @11:01PM (1 child)
I have chronic tendinosis and one thing that helps a ton is to splint, immobilize, and support when I'm not using those tendons. So if I were to spend all day hammering, I'd wear my thinner wrist splint to keep the tendons from having to absorb all the force themselves. The splints also help me maintain the correct ergonomic angles when typing and doing other activities. Note, you don't want full immobilization splints because then other joints and muscles in your arm and shoulder can wear out from compensating. If the thought of not being "manly" enough stops you, like it did to me, my doctor showed me "Strongmen" competitions because the first thing they do is splint and support all their joints before every rep because they know just how fragile they are.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday October 23 2019, @01:36PM
You can splint the wrist but you can't do much of anything about any muscles involved in your grip except stretch them out again.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 22 2019, @02:05PM
My kids' high school homework often includes questions like: which one of these is opinion?
Just because you have experience and logic to back up an opinion does not magically transform it into fact.
Something as "soft" as when to stretch is always going to carry a bit of opinion / personal preference / statistical uncertainty a long with it. Real life is far too messy to collect concrete infallible data for A/B comparisons, and "studies" of this nature are perpetually underfunded to collect sufficiently high N for the low quality of their experimental controls.
Finally, some behavior can transform the subjects to where: the group that stretches regularly before exercise benefits most from stretching before exercise, whereas the group that stretches regularly after exercise benefits most from stretching after... attempting to change a behavior to a "better" one can backfire and negate the benefits of the change, whether due to measurable explainable physiological phenomenon, or softer behavioral ones.
In the real world: do you even lift? Some exercise, with or without stretching, would benefit a large group of the population who are approaching risk of couch-sitting ulcers.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by Jay on Tuesday October 22 2019, @02:53PM
Digging into the article, it matches my experience pretty well.
Like most of us, I have an 8hr sit-down job. Before I work out, I absolutely need a bit of a warm-up stretch. I need to get some deep knee bends in. My hamstrings tugged on a little. My shoulders pulled in various directions and some of the stiffness shaken out. This light dynamic stretching makes all the difference. My pre-workout stretching is maybe 2 minutes, tops. Just enough to get things moving, and unfrozen from a day without enough moving around.
Post-workout, it really depends on whether or not I've blasted muscles to the point of seizing up and failing. There are times when I've worked hard but not to the point of failure. I don't really see (or feel) a benefit to stretching then. There are other times when I've got muscles just seized up and inoperable. Then some slow, deep stretching makes a world of difference, as I coax them to relax and unwind.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday October 22 2019, @11:35PM
Well, if I'm doing stifflegged deadlifts with dumbbells, "stretching" without any weights is kinda by definition exercise.
For weightlifting I'm not sure stretching prevents anything bad but it is kinda a test of range of motion if you've hurt yourself very slightly and would like to avoid worse in the near future when holding 100+ pounds of cast iron.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22 2019, @02:13PM
I can only say about running/jogging. It's repetitive motion exercise, and it tighten up your calf muscles, particularly for forefoot strikers. Stretching out the calf muscles afterward helps them recover. If you run again before the calf muscles have adequately recovered, you are more vulnerable to overstressing them and suffering achilles tendon injury.
As for "stretching" before, starting slow and building up heart rate seem plenty adequate for me.
Don't know about other types of workout.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday October 22 2019, @02:14PM (2 children)
The article suggests the same fallacy as almost every stretching plan or advice: That "one size fits all" when it comes to exercise instruction. It also relies, as most do, on a definition of stretching that implies one is pushing the muscles to their limits (reach down *as far as you possibly can*, stretch your arms out *as wide as you can make them*). It is possible to stretch muscles slightly, without putting all of them into full tension (although, by definition, a given muscle strand contracts to its full capability given their chemical balance - the fiber is either contracted or it is not...)
Walking or light jogging a little bit (without stressing yourself at all) for five minutes before stretching is a good idea. But if you have restricted motion already then maybe you want to do some light range-of-motion exercises before moving at all. And if one has an existing medical condition, it might be best to get advice about both what stretching and exercise one should attempt.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday October 22 2019, @02:35PM (1 child)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday October 22 2019, @07:31PM
You're right, it is true for the vast majority who will read the article.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Tuesday October 22 2019, @02:25PM (1 child)
We start by substituting 'static stretching' for 'stretching' early on, then we get:
"No matter what your middle-school gym teacher said, you actually shouldn't perform static stretching before you exercise, especially if your workout involves the lower body. The muscles aren't warmed up yet, and performing static stretching while you're still cold won't do anything in terms of injury prevention. "
Well that's sort of true, but it seems designed to make the headline of 'don't stretch prior to working out' which is nonsense, and dangerous nonsense.
You start with what's here called 'dynamic stretching' rather than 'static stretching' but you should still stretch first.
And last, as well.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday October 23 2019, @03:09AM
Second that. Short version - you should warm up before and stretch after.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by MrGuy on Tuesday October 22 2019, @03:29PM (5 children)
I’ll ignore for the moment the questions on the credentials of the article posted - others raised those. Let’s talk about the Buzzfeed style presentation.
Not only is the headline needlessly vague, but TFS doesn’t even contain the “answer” to the question until after the page break.
There is no reason to force everyone to click through. That’s why we have a “summary” in the first place. . A simple sentence near the top the article like “This author argues you should only stretch after your workout” actually, y’know, summarizes the article.
I know our editors are under appreciated overworked volunteers. But can I recommend having at least a single sentence summary above the fold belongs on a mental checklist before posting an article?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22 2019, @03:43PM (3 children)
Yeah, well, then you volunteer blah blah.
Writing concisely, clearly and to the point takes skill and mental energy.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Tuesday October 22 2019, @05:57PM
The day I have to stretch before or after an hour-long cycling trip I'll give away my bike.
The day I have to stretch before or after a 3-hour walk I'll become a couch potato.
Just do it. You won't die, and any soreness can be taken care of by a relaxing soak in the tub where you can practice thinking relaxing thoughts to get your blood pressure down after reading crap click bait written by English students as a side gig and forgive yourself for clicking on it.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by MrGuy on Tuesday October 22 2019, @08:41PM (1 child)
You misunderstand my point.
The submitter of an article will include what they want, and not every submitter is a good writer.
The editor for Soylent news is someone who’s job is tonREVIEW what the submitter sent, see if the article is sensible and meets our guidelines, and then posts it. By definition, they have the ability to edit the submitter’s post in any way they see fit (generally with a note making this clear).
IMO it’s the editor’s job to NOT post needless clickbait, when they can easily edit the post to make the article’s position clear. The editor is supposed to read (or at least skim) the article, so this doesn’t seem like an unreasonable request.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22 2019, @09:21PM
No, I understood you perfectly.
They have taken up the duty/privilege to edit the submissions, but not all of them have the skill/will to edit them down to sensible summaries.
It's a skill/talent/effort/time - gotta read it, grok the gist, and if worth posting, distill it down into a summary form.
Some editors at SN do real good - marty on SN internals, taky on tech news, jan on systemd :) but on others ... well ...
At least they are voluteering, eh? :) And if you think you can contribute to make it better, volunteer even if you can only spend small amount of your time.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by legont on Wednesday October 23 2019, @03:11AM
Yep. Click bait style is everywhere nowadays. It does not mean we should follow.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22 2019, @03:48PM
that was a bit of a stretch.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday October 22 2019, @03:56PM (1 child)
Put it in the fucking summary ya bastards!!
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Tuesday October 22 2019, @05:59PM
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Spook brat on Tuesday October 22 2019, @04:19PM (6 children)
So, in the U.S. Army they teach some basics of biomechanics so that Drill Sergeants don't injure trainees more than necessary when ordering them to exercise:
When your body is cold and relaxed, your joints are somewhat drained of synovial fluid (the juice that fills the bursal sacs separating bone from bone in your joints). Static stretches in this state cause excessive bone wear and damage to the bursal sacks (bursitis). Remedy: perform joint rotations (this author calls that "dynamic stretching") prior to any static stretches at the beginning of a workout. This both refills the bursal sacks AND gets blood flowing to muscles/joints/lungs/heart/etc in preparation for more serious exercise. Once a full set of joint rotations are complete, the risk of injury due to cold static stretching is dramatically reduced.
TL;DR version: Uncle Sam's advice is to stretch both before and after workout, but warm up prior to the first stretch. Good enough for Infantry, good enough for me.
Travel the galaxy! Meet fascinating life forms... And kill them [schlockmercenary.com]
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday October 22 2019, @07:34PM
Hoorah!
This sig for rent.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RamiK on Tuesday October 22 2019, @09:55PM (4 children)
That's just cherry picking the facts to excuse traditional body weight training regiments fallacies and compromises. Contemporary statistical analysis suggests all forms of stretching before resistance training leads to increased injury rates and that stretching following should be replaced with "wind-down" sets to let the blood flow reduce lactic acid build up and improve recovery.
Let me explain this another way: When I used to squat 3X5X160KG, I entered the gym, walked to the squat rack after switching shoes, and started doing 10reps sets with an empty 20KG barbell until I hit depth or at least didn't feel too much resistance. I then kept going up for 5reps 60kg, 90kg, 110kg, 135kg and finally started the work sets. Now, compare this to the average gym class that has the kids drop and give them 20reps pushups with half the class failing between the 8-12reps. That is, I warmed up. I was "stretched" within the range of the motion. And then I started working in the 80% region a few reps under failure only if I didn't run into trouble during the build up. This, while the gym teacher / Sargent has the boys and gals do a few rotations of the joints before dropping them cold into the same motion and, for many, at the same intensity.
Here's everything you need to know about the safety of bodyweight training methodologies, stretching included: https://startingstrength.com/article/strength_and_prevention_of_injuries [startingstrength.com]
So, no. Don't "stretch". Don't "warm up" by running. Do a proper build up in the relevant motion. Push against the wall in an angle before doing pushups. Build up a slow jog before starting to run and then take a few more minutes of walking after a long run. Use a low bar for a few leg supported chinups before doing the real thing. Rotating the joints is just what the trainers compromised on knowing soldiers can't help having to train for conditions that don't allow a real warm up.
compiling...
(Score: 2) by Spook brat on Wednesday October 23 2019, @02:22AM (3 children)
I think I see what you're saying, and you're right. If your goal is as stated in the article, "correctly squat 500, press 275, and deadlift 600 pounds", then you need to be much more careful. The statistics listed in your article are striking, and show that lifters certainly know how to keep themselves safe while participating in their sport.
That said, I think we're talking about different things with intense strength training vs calisthenics. Also, having done both, I'll state that there's a big difference between the stretches done in an Army PT formation and the training stretches done by gymnasts. Army stretches are more like Yoga, and serve some of the purpose you described, lightly working the muscles the soldiers are about to use. It's not perfect, and (as you say) it's based on a series of compromises to reach the goal of rapidly achieving combat readiness en-masse with a minimum of injuries. It's a far sight better than your school gym class asking you to drop for 20 at the beginning of period with no warm up, though.
You are correct that a focused, personally coached strength training regime would be more effective and have a lower injury rate. I'm sure that the highest performing units do just that, although I've never been in a ranger battalion or Delta team to tell you for sure. What I can tell you is that the Sergeants take a lot more care than they appear to in keeping their soldiers from injuring themselves with PT, even at Basic Training. A lot of research went into picking the compromises they make, and for what it is, it does the job.
Travel the galaxy! Meet fascinating life forms... And kill them [schlockmercenary.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by RamiK on Wednesday October 23 2019, @09:14PM (2 children)
Agreed. In gymnastics, ballistic, static and proprioceptive stretches aren't abused as warm up but are properly periodized with the micro-tears they induce being considered as an exercise on to itself. Young athletes aren't allowed to do certain movements at all for years. A progressive routine is done with RoM and the strength in that RoM being required before doing more RoM.
That's the thing though: They have the trainee full time for months on end and the research and programs are all done with that in mind. When they start off with a few joint rotations, it's for people who passed the requirements for basic training that already include a certain level of physical conditioning and that they know how much food and rest they're getting. That stuff doesn't just fit the general population or sport specific programs.
Overall, the stats don't lie. Sure, some of those yoga-like positions and joint rotations are probably mild enough not to be a problem and even be helpful. But it never ends with just that. There will always be the guy putting too much momentum into those hip stretches or the girl that likes to get her lumber just out of muscle RoM in the statics. They won't feel it doing it. But they'll lose form in the following exercise since their tendons and tissues won't resist as much and get injured there.
Look, everyone does a few joint rotations before a movement. I personally go from upward-facing dog to extended dog pose a couple of times in the morning before hitting the abs wheel for a few sets twice a week. But for general population with supervision I'd never recommend any of it. Just not worth it.
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(Score: 2) by Spook brat on Thursday October 24 2019, @04:20AM (1 child)
Well said, I gave you a +1. Not much to add, other than that people really need to learn about what they're doing when they take up exercise.
Oh, and listen to their body and not do things that really hurt them. I get super annoyed by the "pain is good" mantra a lot of people throw around. Yeah, exercise causes sore muscles, but some kinds of pain shouldn't get pushed through or ignored. And I'm preaching to the choir, probably ;)
Travel the galaxy! Meet fascinating life forms... And kill them [schlockmercenary.com]
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Thursday October 24 2019, @11:59AM
I have to admit I still tend to push too hard and still need to be reminded to take it easy :D
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22 2019, @05:11PM
quit trying to force us to visit the whore ass site you linked to find out what the story ends up saying. put that shit in the summary. you should only have to visit the site if you want more details. not to get the TLDR; version. many of these sites don't deserve any clicks. if we wanted to go to the NYT or some shit we wouldn't bother coming here.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday October 22 2019, @06:51PM
This is literally the first time I have ever heard somebody say you should stretch *after* a workout.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"