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Jungnaut

YOLO Kunce
To be honest I stretch because being nimble feels good, I like being flexible and I thought it reduces chance of injury.

But this study appears to suggest I am incorrect on the third reason - it does not prevent injury!

In fact, all stretching does is make your body used to and good at stretching. The muscle itself doesn't lengthen. So all this time I have been stretching and thought I was making the muscle nice and springy. Damn..

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15233597 - Stretching and injury prevention: an obscure relationship

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9368275 - Flexibility and its effects on sports injury and performance.

If stretching is not the answer, please discuss your protocol for injury prevention within the context of strength training and bodybuilding. DO IT.
 
Stretching has certainly helped me with quad problems. I was getting strains in my quads and groin regularly until I started doing a lot of stretching. But I've been lifting for a long time so my muscles are probably as tight and tough as an old buffalos.
 
For the reasons (and more) stated by Jung

I also firmly believe that stretching will not directly reduce the chance of injury, and in some cases are the major cause of injury.

A strong muscle is a flexible muscle and visa versa.
Only proper exercise will achieve this and NOTHING else, whoever tells you the opposite are fools.

A muscle must be placed into a stretched position under load to initiate the stretch reflex, this can only be achieved wight proper exercise and without the negative component of exercise along with repitition, pre stretch is not possible.

if a muscle is weak it will limit movement.
someone with this issue will need to perform body weight movements until that person regains mobility, unfortunately many body movements don't allow for full stretch to full contraction.

Squats for example the thigh will not receive full extension in a half squat, (conventional) one would need to perform a full squat (ATG), which was very popular ten years ago, if you didn't squat ATG you weren't squatting, but what was happening was people where squatting too Heavy and so low that knee injuries where created by the calve pressing against the hamstring.

if you want healthy joints strengthen the muscles to improve the ROM.

ALL other methods are a complete waste of time.
 
Obviously we don't want to confuse this with mobility work. A rumble roller session on the legs after squats works out tight knots almost as good as a busty remedial masseur.

This information is directed to the full on, 2-min hold static stretch. The only place you should really do these is in a yoga class. A couple of minutes cardio followed by warm up sets with maybe a smidgeon of dynamic stretches should be more than enough before you start going heavy. I tried that out today and felt fine and didn't get injured either.

Too much static stretching before the exercise causes injury because ironically you want tightness when performing most lifts. Imagine a double jointed hero trying to do an overhead squat? Much lol.
 
Obviously we don't want to confuse this with mobility work. A rumble roller session on the legs after squats works out tight knots almost as good as a busty remedial masseur.

This information is directed to the full on, 2-min hold static stretch. The only place you should really do these is in a yoga class. A couple of minutes cardio followed by warm up sets with maybe a smidgeon of dynamic stretches should be more than enough before you start going heavy. I tried that out today and felt fine and didn't get injured either.

Too much static stretching before the exercise causes injury because ironically you want tightness when performing most lifts. Imagine a double jointed hero trying to do an overhead squat? Much lol.
Tend to disagree a little ... as a desk jockey hammys, hips and glutes need a boat load of static stretching...
 
Tend to disagree a little ... as a desk jockey hammys, hips and glutes need a boat load of static stretching...

Yeh I find stretching has helped me alot, especially since the back surgery. Yoga and consistant stretching always make me feel better & I havent woken up with a sore back in 2 years..
 
Yeah, and I do a bunch of static stretches too, because it feels great plus as I mentioned before, I equate being flexible with quality of life!

However these clinical literatures is asking us to rethink the reasons why we (static) stretch, because if you are doing them solely as a way to preventing injuries then maybe its time to scrap that for something more effective.
 
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