Stretching to avoid injuries

[mika]

Having regular workouts/exercises are essential to keep our body fit and healthy. And we also know that doing sports is a good way to exercise as well.
And before doing any sports or workouts, it is very important to do stretching first. Some importance of stretching are: it prevents injury and loosen up your unused muscles, it will make your blood to start moving or flowing and it could improve the flexibility of your body.

 

[clan_NEt]

if u skip stretching, u will increase the risk of injury by a far margin. It's not worth tearing a muscle tissue for skipping a few minutes of stretching

 

[PWiD]

Uhhhh... I'm quite sure we're not exactly supposed to do any prolonged stretching before weight lifting.

 

[kr3w]

@PWiD keen to elaborate on why are we not to do much stretching?

 

[PWiD]

Gathering from my own memories. I'm quite sure extensive stretching before a workout does something to the stretch reflex of your muscles. This increases the likelihood for some people to have injuries. So it's better to do dynamic stretching and warming up with sub-maximal weights. Extensive and prolonged stretching should be placed after the workout instead.

 

[gosu_smurf]

Dynamic stretching incorporates movements that mimic a specific sport or exercise in an exaggerated yet controlled manner; often include during the warm-up or in preparation for a sports event.

more stretching information nuggets here:

http://gymkaki.com/threads/the-4-basic-types-of-stretch-techniques.1301/

 

[Trusylver]

@PWiD is correct but when looking at the effects of stretching you need to consider the type of stretching.

Dynamic Stretching should be done as part of a warmup, get the blood flowing in a gentle way and helps prevent injury.
Static Stretching should not be done before a sporting or lifting event that requires strength (including football and lifting) there is an increasing number of studies that show static stretching reduces maximum strength output following the stretching. This is modern thinking and some people will still continue to do statics pre event because they get their benefit not from the stretching but the psychological effect of following a routine they have always followed.
PNF stretching is usually best done when you would use statics.

 

[justified]

Usually I'll do a slow jog on the treadmill before doing dynamic stretches. I feel it's really effective in getting the body all warm up and blood flowing. Besides doing a slow jog, I may take the stairs up to my gym instead of taking the lift. A quick run up the stairs is also effective in warming up the body.

 

[luXy]

I have a friend who is an avid marathon runner. He don't really believe in stretching in itself. What he does is he will do slow runs as warm up for his muscles. He is about 44 years old now and is easily in the top 10% runners in his age group in terms of marathon timings. I guess to each his own. Try out and see what really works for yourself.

 

[mika]

I agree that kind or intensity of stretching varies. Some factors to consider or might affect are the kind of workout/exercise/sport and intensity of those.
I also usually just run some distance before playing table tennis and do some hand and hand stretching when doing a light workout.

 

[MellowGuy]

I've tried prolonged stretching before different types of performances and I must say they do have varying effects (of which some were detrimental to the performance). I think a balance of warmup and light stretching before any explosive or intense movements is where I found the most success.

 

[Germs]

I've always stretched before any kind of workout, its helped me to avoid any real injury's.

 

[kat74]

Well said and put, it gets the body and mind psychologically ready for the real deal.