Some experts tell you that you should only stretch after a workout when your muscles are tired and your body warmed up. Static stretching before a workout, they insist, can actually lead to more injuries not less. And there is some evidence from the running world to prove this…
This is the exact opposite approach used in most traditional martial arts classes, where the instructor makes everyone stretch before a workout so that your muscles are loose.
Who’s right?
Well, it depends on the sport.
Are you going for a 5 km run, which probably won’t take you to the limits of your flexibility, or are you doing a sport like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu where getting completely pretzeled up against your will is just a normal part of the sport?
In combat sports it’s better to go to the limits of your range of motion under control and on your own terms in the warmup, before your opponent brings you to the edge of your flexibility suddenly in training or sparring.
But there’s a right and a wrong way to do it, and long, static stretches are probably NOT what you want to do right before class.
I go into this topic more in a video from second Youtube channel (Self Defense Tutorials) which I’ll embed below…
This podcast episode, along with all my others, are available on my Strenuous Life Podcast, which you can subscribe to with a few easy clicks! Choose your audio player below and click on it to open up The Strenuous Life Podcast and from there, you can click to subscribe, or simply search for this episode which is episode # 114.
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Alternately, you can click on the embedded audio player below to listen (however, you run the risk of missing future episodes by not subscribing – but if you’re a gambler then here you go!)
Thanks
Stephan
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