Growing up as a dancer, I all the time thought that the extra versatile I used to be, the higher I might be. In an artwork kind that values how excessive your leg can go or how far backward you may bend, there was some fact to that. However most likely not sufficient fact to justify simply how a lot I used to be stretching: earlier than dance class, throughout lulls in rehearsal, after dance class, at house watching tv.
Sooner or later, I realized I shouldn’t be holding all these static stretches earlier than exercising or dancing. However my near-constant stretching continued—after the boutique health courses I took practically daily, after each run, typically extra at night time—at the same time as I principally stopped dancing and my health targets modified: Fairly than attempting to be the perfect dancer I may very well be, I used to be simply attempting to be a wholesome grownup who might do the actions I cherished (like operating and mountaineering) with out getting injured.
All that stretching wasn’t hurting something, however as somebody with no mobility points and many pure flexibility, it most likely wasn’t serving to a lot both. I don’t essentially blame myself for my stretching overkill: The post-workout stretch is so ubiquitous and so carefully tied to the exercise itself that it’s simple to suppose no session is full with out one—and that the extra, the merrier.
There’s no arguing that stretching is an important a part of a well-rounded exercise routine. However for lively, wholesome folks exercising a number of occasions per week, skipping a few of these post-workout stretches will most likely do…completely nothing. As a matter of reality, stretching simply two or thrice per week is sufficient to preserve muscle integrity and joint vary of movement, in accordance with the American School of Sports activities Medication (ACSM). And whether or not these periods occur after a exercise or another time in your day makes little to no distinction.
However stretching is just gaining popularity, not simply as a exercise add-on however as an exercise of its personal, with stretching studios and courses proliferating over the previous a number of years. A pair minutes of scrolling on health influencer Instagram may even have you ever suppose that the appropriate stretching routine is the important thing to curing all of your aches and pains or lastly “hacking” your restoration.
In actuality, stretching is essential, however not magical, and we solely want somewhat of it to reap its advantages. So why do we’ve a lot stretching guilt?
Why we stretch to start with
The aim of stretching is to assist our our bodies transfer higher. How, precisely, stretching does that is dependent upon what sort of stretching you’re doing, says Heather Milton, RCEP, CSCS, an train physiologist at NYU Langone’s Sports activities Efficiency Middle.
Dynamic stretches, like shoulder circles or leg swings, contain transferring by way of a joint’s vary of movement, she says. We sometimes do dynamic stretches as a part of a warmup previous to figuring out “so we’ve full vary of movement to maneuver after we’re doing that exercise,” Milton says. “[Stretching] prompts muscular tissues and helps lubricate the joints and improve our physique temperature, which permits us to try this exercise with extra ease.”
Static stretches are what most of us consider after we consider stretching: reaching down to the touch your toes to stretch your hamstrings or hanging out in a low lunge to stretch your hip flexors. “It’s pushing to a degree the place the muscle is on a stretch, which is often nearer to the top vary for that joint, and holding that place,” Milton says. “We’re telling the nerves that contract the muscle to calm down by holding that place for a extra extended time frame.”
Static stretching is extra about sustaining or growing long-term flexibility, whether or not our muscular tissues are tight because of a lot of repetitive train, from sitting for lengthy durations of time, or simply from getting older.
In easier phrases, stretching improves flexibility and mobility, which permits our our bodies to have entry to their full vary of movement. “After we don’t have that, we run into issues,” says train physiologist Tom Holland, CSCS, CISSN.
A type of issues may very well be compensatory accidents, the place one a part of your physique has to overcompensate for one more’s tightness or lack of mobility, in accordance with Holland. “That leads you to do your actions of every day dwelling and your train in a manner that’s not pure,” he says. “Your muscular tissues aren’t going to fireside the way in which they need to, and that’s the place we get damage—and never essentially within the place the place you’re tight.”
Stretching vs. warming up vs. cooling down
Stretching, warming up, and cooling down all play a task in optimizing our train routines and protecting us as injury-free as potential. However the three are sometimes conflated with each other, resulting in a number of the confusion many people have about after we ought to stretch—and why.
Working example: Present as much as any native 5K race, and also you’ll most likely see runners leaning up towards a tree to stretch their calves with the intention of “warming up.” However as Milton factors out, not solely do the static stretches which can be nonetheless so generally finished pre-exercise do not heat your physique in any respect (as a result of, by definition, you’re not transferring when you’re doing them). However research have proven1 that holding static stretches can quickly scale back our muscular tissues’ power and energy by 10 p.c or extra, and will even predispose us to damage when finished pre-workout.
An actually-effective warmup entails dynamic stretches geared towards the precise exercise you’re going to do, and delicate cardio like leaping jacks or butt kicks. “The aim of the warmup is to get the blood flowing and lift the core temperature,” Holland says. “It’s low-level cardio exercise that will get your physique prepared.”
Warming up is “principally transferring slowly from a rested state to an train state,” Milton says. “The cooldown is the reverse of that.”
For many people, it is the cooldown that is lengthy been synonymous with stretching when, actually, it’s all about “transferring from a extremely sympathetic lively state—when your physique is beneath the great stress of train and your sympathetic nervous system is turned on and your coronary heart price is up—towards a parasympathetic state—slowing down the center price and the respiratory price,” Milton says. “We need to transfer away from that sympathetic state on the finish of a exercise with a view to transfer towards restoration.”
May some static stretches be a part of that post-workout cooldown? Completely. However have they got to be? Probably not. Your cooldown might as an alternative be some respiratory workouts, a post-workout meditation, or a post-run stroll—no matter goes to downregulate your nervous system and show you how to transition out of train mode.
“Everybody tends to do quite a lot of one thing somewhat bit after we’re presupposed to perform a little bit rather a lot.” —Tom Holland, CSCS, CISSN
What stretching can—and might’t—do
That mentioned, it does make sense to get your stretching finished post-workout, contemplating it’s finest to stretch when your physique is already heat. Nevertheless it’s extra about effectivity than efficacy as a result of there’s no proof to recommend doing all of your stretches instantly following a exercise is any more practical than doing all of your stretches, say, later that day when you’re watching Love Island, says Gregory Rubin, DO, a sports activities medication doctor on the Hospital for Particular Surgical procedure at Naples Complete Well being.
“You’re not stopping any accidents by doing it proper after,” Dr. Rubin says. It’s not affecting your restoration, nor will it have an effect on whether or not you expertise delayed onset muscle soreness, and even should you get overuse accidents2 from actions like operating. “There’s no clear tie between stretching and athletic efficiency,” he says.
What stretching can do is assist forestall these accidents and ache factors that stem from overly tight muscular tissues or lack of mobility, akin to hamstring strains or decrease again ache. Simply don’t make the error of pondering stretching would be the repair to something that feels tight or painful, says Ari Kaplan, PT, DPT, a bodily therapist at ATI Bodily Remedy. Typically we’re tight as a result of our physique is attempting to guard itself in response to a different subject, one which doubtless can’t be mounted with stretching.
“Anytime we’ve one thing the place we stretch it and we’re not gaining movement or long-term aid, that always signifies that there’s one thing else happening,” he says, akin to a postural downside or an overactive muscle.
How a lot do you have to *actually* be stretching—and when?
Once I look again on why I used to stretch a lot, I understand I had the misperception that being extra versatile would one way or the other make me a more healthy, fitter individual total.
However in actuality, until your sport or exercise calls for some particular hypermobility (like ballet, gymnastics, or pitching for baseball), we actually solely want as a lot flexibility as helps our pure vary of movement. Whenever you push for mobility that goes additional than that, you may injure your self as a result of, at a sure level, “it’s not simply muscle flexibility which may be limiting you,” Milton says. “It’s joint mobility—and that’s okay.”
Being very versatile comes with its personal points, in spite of everything. “With mobility comes susceptibility to damage,” Holland says. “The extra cell a joint is, the better the chance of damage.” And sooner or later, the flexibleness of a muscle begins to compromise its power. “You may lengthen the muscle to the purpose that you could be truly lose some energy,” Dr. Rubin says. “You may tip the scales of your athletic efficiency.”
So how a lot—and when—do you have to actually be stretching? In terms of dynamic stretches, contemplate them a should as a part of your warmup each time you’re employed out or play a sport, Milton says.
For static stretches, so long as you don’t have any mobility points or accidents, incorporate them into your routine just a few occasions per week—whether or not that’s after a exercise or another time. (Simply be sure your physique isn’t chilly whenever you do them.) Holding stretches between 15 and 30 seconds is lots, in accordance3 to quite a few4 research5, and stretching all of your main muscle teams shouldn’t take you various minutes.
Stretch solely to the purpose of gentle discomfort, not ache. In the event you’re holding your breath, you’ve most likely gone too far, Milton says. Keep in mind: So long as you don’t have any important joint or muscle tightness, stretching can simply be about sustaining the mobility you have already got, she says.
“Everybody tends to do quite a lot of one thing somewhat bit after we’re presupposed to perform a little bit rather a lot,” Holland says. “It’s far more easy than folks make it out to be.”
