ExRx.net

Hi, just curious about opinions on stretching. Some people believe in the rubber band theory where a muscle should not be stretched before exercise so as to produce more speed and power. Would like to hear some opinions about this.

I'll ho with Staley on this one, although there are differing opinions. Get the blood flowing with a short, 5-10 min , low to moderate intensity cardio type of thing, then do some stretching. I might even do some bar only exerises before the stretch. Then I like to stretch during and after the exercises.
Tim

I only stretch after. It is a fact that stretching decreases the ability of the muscles to contract. I only do warm up sets to warm up.

I do some dynamic stretching as part of my warmup before exercising until I find it easy to get full range of motion. Usually this takes the form of broomstick shoulder dislocates and overhead squats. Some people have noticed a benefit in static stretching of atagonistic muscles prior to lifting. The best time for static stretching is after a workout while your muscles are warm.

I usually do about 15-20 minutes of static stretching at the end of my workouts. Also, I like to stretch my calves between sets of calf raises.

I do 5 - 10 minutes of Foam Rolling (soft tissue work). I static stretch my hip flexors & IT Band pre work out, 95% of the time anyway. I also static stretch my upper traps pre work out, most of the time. And I always do up to 5-10 minutes of dynamic stretching, pre work out :-)

I'm a 'desk jockey', therefore, I need to static stretch these muscles constantly, sometimes i stretch my hip flexors between exercises. I also do some dynamic movements for my calfs and ankles between exercises, sometimes anyway.

I have 2 warm up routines that i alternate between - to suit my upper body and lower body days. Hence some stretching I say is "most of the time". I also train in 4 week cycles, again, hence the "some times stretch this or that". My warm up, including foam rolling probably takes 15 minutes depending on how stiff or balled up things are.

Post work out, I knock back a shake and curl up in ball for a while (on my leg days anyway) :-)

Highly recommend dynamic warm ups. And, if i wasn't battling with imbalances, i wouldn't static stretch at all pre work out.

KPj

I warm up by getting my muscles warm and then I do dynamic flexibility exercises like reverse lunge twist, hand walks, knee hugs lunge elbow to instep, leg kicks, side lunge, arm swings, torso twist arm swings, etc. there are too many to name, but dynamic flexibility exercises after warming up with a little cardio to get your heart and legs/arms moving is the best way to go. Pick about 5-6 different dynamic flexibility exercises.

Avoid doing static stretching before any activity, workout, weightraining session because it will harm you. This means that you will be lifting weights lighter than what you can actually lift; therefore, you will not gain much and you could lose muscle. Save static stretching for the end of a workout or weightraining session.