Stretching...NY Times article du jour (Read 512 times)

You say tom-aye-to, I say to-mah-to. Some say stretch, some say...dont stretch the way you've been taught. NY Times Article And here are sampling of some of the gazillion RA threads on the same dynamic stretching topic: http://www.runningahead.com/forums/topic/bd27e0b7cdd84d8e82e60f40ff5292e1/0 http://www.runningahead.com/forums/topic/aabb4a101fb14f7cbe2a7412b5befe63/0 http://www.runningahead.com/forums/post/1d8912fab1444da5bbdf64270df3d148#focus

... The article you mention seems to prove it is the stretching that causes the injurie.

To be clear, the article states that strength is affected -after- static stretching, so it is not a great idea -before- activities. Everything I've seen indicates that static stretching is still fine to help improve range of motion if performed after a workout so long as you are also careful to perform strengthening exercises that work across your whole range of motion, as well. Short summary of current mainstream thinking for ideal workout: 1) Short warm up to get blood flowing and loosen muscles. 2) Dynamic stretching to 'wake up' the muscle fibers that will be used in the activities you are about to partake in. 3) Short cool down so as to prevent blood and/or lactic acid build up in your legs. 4) Static stretching to help improve range of motion only to the extent required by the sport you are participating in. Then strength train twice a week with exercises that work your muscles through the full range of motion. Man, who has time for all that.

Thank God I'm not one of those rabbits.