Stretching and Exercise

Stretch Then Exercise or Vice Versa

Dutifully you warm up before
exercising—chances are your regimen includes stretching. What if we
told you that you’re doing it all wrong? That stretching as part of
your warm-up is not only yesterday’s news but may even be harmful.

If you’re still stretching before you
exercise then you’re out of step—no longer considered beneficial, it
may actually have a negative impact on performance.There’s a
whole new school of thought repudiating the old one that made
stretching a mandatory activity. The days of contorting yourself
pre-exercise into a pretzel are over as simpler forms of warm-up
emerge.“When looking at all the studies, there just isn’t any
evidence that stretching before exercise prevents injury,” says Dr. Ian
Shrier, an associate professor in the department of Family Medicine at
McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and a past president of the
Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine (www.casm-acms.org).

“Also, there is a lot of evidence suggesting that stretching impairs strength and power.”

According to Dr.Shrier, stretching before
exercise can reduce force and power by as much as five per cent. This
miniscule impairment may mean little to recreational athletes, but it’s
a definite concern for competitive ones.It’s important,
however, to distinguish between stretching before exercise and regular
stretching performed separate from your workout.Dr. Shrier emphasizes the benefits of regular stretching in his study papers.

Stretching actually increases force and power and should be routinely performed.

Just don’t make stretching part of your warm-up with the expectation it will prevent muscle soreness or injury.

“We
reviewed all of the high-quality studies (randomized trials) of effects
of stretching before exercise on muscle soreness after exercise and on
injury risk,” reports Professor Rob Herbert, senior lecturer at the
University of Sydney’s School of Physiotherapy in New South Wales,
Australia.

“We found clear evidence that stretching before
exercise does not reduce the levels of muscle soreness experienced
after exercise. The best available evidence (two large randomized
trials) also suggests stretching does not produce meaningful reductions
in injury risk. However these trials were conducted on army recruits
undergoing military training. It would be interesting to see if these
findings are replicated on recreational athletes.”

The best warm-ups are scaled-down versions of the sport or exercise you’ll be performing.

A
cyclist, for example, can pedal at a leisurely pace for a few
kilometers prior to a workout, and focus on enjoying the scenery.

Rather than concentrate on the duration of the warm-up, Dr. Shrier suggests people recognize its ultimate purpose.

“The
key is to exercise the muscles that will be used in the activity,” he
says, “but do so at a light intensity and slowly build up. If you are
going to sprint, start with walking, then jogging, then fast jogging.
If you are in karate, start with gentle movements and build up to more
intense movements within an easy range of motion before trying a
roundhouse kick during competition.”

Weightlifters can do partial reps at a reduced weight, which is an excellent way to activate muscle groups.

People instinctively know they need to get their blood flowing before
performing vigorous physical exercise. To what degree they warm-up will
be determined by the sport and intensity of their training.

Professor Herbert points to a study indicating that risk of injury in handball
may be reduced by performing a 20-minute warm-up consisting of running,
rapid changes of direction, and balance tasks.

“There is some (not much) evidence that it is possible to reduce both the muscle
soreness experienced after exercise, and risk of injury, with warm-up
exercise,” he notes.

“One study showed that the muscle soreness induced by backwards downhill walking (an experimental method of inducing soreness) could be reduced by prior forward walking at a
moderate pace for 10 minutes. At the moment we have only these studies
to go by. So we can’t make firm recommendations about the type of
warm-up exercise that is best. We can only say that these types of
warm-up have been shown to be effective.”

You’re Getting Warmer:

Given
the routine nature of most training, warm-ups should be used to
introduce a little variety into your workout. So next time you hit the
gym try any or all of the following before exercising: