Stretching before Exercises Reduces Strength and Results

Stretching ManStretching before exercises is a ritual which athletes have been following for many years now. Surprisingly enough, it turns out that stretching is not as beneficial as we think. Several recent studies showed that pre-exercise stretching takes away 15-30 minutes of muscle strength and explosive muscle activity in such exercises as jumps.

Half-amplitude exercises which work on large muscle groups make a better warm-up, since the movements in those exercises are similar to those of your sport type. For example, bodybuilders should do complex exercises with light weights for warm-up, such as squats and bench-press. Tennis players can do low-intensity exercises with the tennis racquet before hitting the court. Runners, swimmers, cyclists, and skiers should start moving at low intensity before working at full power.

Stretching is important for building strength, increasing amplitude of movements, and improving athletic performance; but make sure to do stretching after the muscles have been warmed-up- after the workout! Many experts argue that stretching prevents injuries and speeds up recovery, yet there is no evidence to support those arguments.

One of the studies on this topic was published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research.

Source of the image: agewise.co.nz.

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Posted by GenXXL Staff on Apr 4th, 2009 and filed under Industry Chatter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site

5 Responses for “Stretching before Exercises Reduces Strength and Results”

  1. Muscle Builder says:
    April 18, 2009 at 11:00 pm

    Stretching is very important phase of your training! Stretching is NOT warm up and they do NOT replace each other! You should do your stretching first, and after it you can do your warm up sets. Stretching makes your muscle more flexible and really helps to prevent injuries. It also makes the blood circulation in your muscles more effective.

    Reply
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    April 28, 2009 at 10:50 am

    [...] to get your blood rushing and heart working rapidly. After this cardio section is done, do some stretching on the floor and 8-10 reps of pelvic lifts or seated hamstring [...]

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  3. Free Weights as Compared to Machines | Workout says:
    May 25, 2009 at 12:33 am

    [...] weights are hardly any more dangerous if you observe basic rules and don’t skip warming-up and stretching. To have a bystander is also a good way to ensure your [...]

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