Forums >General Running>To stretch or not to stretch?
Michelle
NY Times says the jury's still out. And here I thought it was universally accepted that stretching prevented injuries and helped performance. In fact, NYT says, distance runners are more efficient when they're stiff. What the hey? I just can't imagine ignoring stretching altogether, even if it's only a psychological benefit..
One day at a time
I thought this comment was interesting. The quote from the article is: "But distance runners do not benefit from being flexible, he found. The most efficient runners, those who exerted the least effort to maintain a pace, were the stiffest." This sort of implies that people who are less naturally flexible are more efficient runners. However, it doesn't really say if a given runner becomes less efficient as they become more flexible. Does that make sense? If they tested 100 people and found that the least flexible people are most efficient, this doesn't tell us whether those people were unflexible because they didn't stretch or because their baseline flexibility was very low.
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Vim
The Greatest of All Time
That is interesting. I know that my 15-year-old son, who is a very efficient long-distance runner, has always been unflexible. On his school physical fitness tests, he's always done well at all of them except the flexibility ones. Hmm, myabe there's hope for me, because I've never come close to being able to touch my toes!
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Funny, I used to fail those fitness tests in grade school because of stretching. I couldn't touch my toes. I finally got my body inline with the program and now can!
Marathon Maniac #3309
For many people stretching causes more injuries than it prevents.
Running has given me the courage to start, the determination to keep trying, and the childlike spirit to have fun along the way - Run often and run long, but never outrun your Joy of running!