Stretching

[Vanessa Lee]

When do you stretch? Right after the workout or/and before? Or do you wait a while and then stretch?

I was always told to warm up but not stretch before the workout but to stretch immediately after it. Recently I was told to wait and not do it straight away.

Now I'm confused. Doing it after the workout seemed to make sense as you're all warmed up.

[John C Corona]

I stretch both - before and after. The before stretch is shorter than afterwards. My before stretch is kinda intermingled with the 'warm up' and includes stretching the neck, back, shoulders, hamstrings, quads, calves and some twists and some sampson stretches. My after stretch is more extensive as I stay in each stretch for almost a minute or two. I believe they say that stretching tires the muscle out a bit, which I think is true for the minute long stretches because it's like you are working it out.

[Steven Low]

dynamic stretching before... except hip flexors which you should do static. Moreso mobility (as opposed to flexibility) work and warming up the joints beforehand... getting the body warm.

Otherwise, static stretching afterwards. This is where you work on your flexibility especially if you're lacking. Do it when your muscles are still warm and pliable & fatigued.

[Christopher Foster]

Originally Posted by Steven Low

Otherwise, static stretching afterwards. This is where you work on your flexibility especially if you're lacking. Do it when your muscles are still warm and pliable & fatigued.

I concur. I also use my post workout stretching time to reflect on the workout and think about what I did well and what I could do better.

[Brian Lawyer]

Originally Posted by Steven Low

dynamic stretching before... except hip flexors which you should do static. Moreso mobility (as opposed to flexibility) work and warming up the joints beforehand... getting the body warm.

Otherwise, static stretching afterwards. This is where you work on your flexibility especially if you're lacking. Do it when your muscles are still warm and pliable & fatigued.

I agree with Steven except I have been moving more and more away from static stretching all together, even after workouts. I usually do AIS stretching after. I also do some hip flexors in between sets of squats sometimes. Not stretch and holds but maybe 5 reps of a 1 to 2 second hold on the hip flexor stretch. You never want to do static before or during a weightlifting workout. Except maybe like STeven said on hip flexors. Actually, I also do static stretching for wrist and ankles sometimes to get wrist loosened up for cleans and ankles loosened up for deep Olympic squats.

Here is an example of a dynamic stretch routine I would do before, http://www.coreperformance.com/knowl...r-warm-up.html. I don't exactly follow that one but I do incorporate a lot of those exercises along with some shoulder stuff.

[Vanessa Lee]

Thanks everyone! I will experiment a little seeing as it seems to be very different from person to person

Like the link, thanks Brian

[Jae Chung]

Originally Posted by Vanessa Lee

Thanks everyone! I will experiment a little seeing as it seems to be very different from person to person

Like the link, thanks Brian

Brian, just wanted to say I found the link very helpful as well, particularly the inverted ham stretch. Thanks a lot. And love the sig.

[Val Queiroga]

Looks like we all agree! Stretching before is not a crucial as the stretching afterwards. Stretching afterwards is going to allow the blood needed for muscle recovery to rush to the trained muscles.

Warming up prior to your workouts is a must and stick with dynamic stretching (I believe this was mentioned again) before workouts and static (stationary) stretching after workouts.

Most importantly do not bounce when you are engaged in static stretching, get in your postition and hold the stretch for at least 20-30 seconds.

[Brian Lawyer]

Originally Posted by Jae Chung

Brian, just wanted to say I found the link very helpful as well, particularly the inverted ham stretch. Thanks a lot. And love the sig.

Thanks! The inverted hamstring is a good stretch which I like to keep in my warmup routine. I always have some sort of lunge variation, if not two, included in my warmups. For example, backward lunges with a twist, Knee hug lunges elbow to instep, forward lunges but instead of a twist I reach high and over for a lat stretch, etc. I usually still keep some variation of a glute-bridge in my warmups. They look kind of silly, but because I have a desk job my hip flexors are real tight so glute-bridges is one way of opening them up prior to a workout. Backward lunges for some reason seem to hit the hip-flexors a little better than forward lunges.

[Mac Oneill]

I try to stretch 3-5 times a day. I do about 8 different stretches for 3 sets of about a 30 count and it only takes 15 minutes each time. If you make it a priority you'll quickly see your flexability increase dramatically. On workout days I'll warm up with a little basketball or something, hit my stretches, workout, and then stretch again after. I really enjoy pelvic tilts for my lower back and hips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe-N71CDCCg (wfs)

Thats a decent video of the pelvic tilt. It only shows the pelvis moving toward your chest. I rock it in both directions until I reach 30. Feels great!