how long does stretching "last"?

You should be stretching after what ever you are doing, not before. A warm up before would involve doing what ever it is you are doing but doing slower.

... and there's mounting evidence that stretching does not provide any direct benefit (before or after) to the activity you're doing.

I never stretch. (but I admit I never did it, even before I saw the studies)

Stretching is good to build/maintain flexibilty, tho.     I'd rather do yoga for that, tho.

not before????.............

now i am confused. i thought you ALWAYS stretched before.....

so what i am i supposed to be doing?

let's pretend i am running. you say, i run a bit, then stretch and then really run?

No, not before. It turns out that whole thinking is wrong. Just stretch after your workout. For you run, run easy for 10min at the start and easy for 10min at the end to cool down and then stretch a bit.

i knew there was a study way back in the 80's that said that mental prepardness was more important than stretching..............

but lately i have not been that "mentally prepared"... :-)

I actually usually don't do static stretching before I work out, since there have been some studies that indicate that it doesn't reduce your risk of injury and is detrimental to your performance.  If I'm being a good warmer-upper (which sometimes I am not always as diligent as I should be), I do a few minutes of slow jogging followed by some dynamic stretches (walking lunges, alternating toe touches, arm circles, unweighted squats) immediately before working out.

Warming up is really important for preventing stuff like muscle strains and other injuries -- it gets you nice and loose, and literally warms the body in preparation for the stressful workout you're going to do.  The warmup should generally immediately precede the rest of your workout -- you don't want to cool down again!

I usually do some static stretching exercises for about 10 minutes, immediately after I finish my workout and cool-down.  Otherwise, my muscles get painfully tight and sore. 

wow!!!...

so where did you learn that?

You can find studies to prove just about anything.  If those make you feel like you shouldn't be stretching, suite yourself but don't put it on others!

Stretching/Flexibility is a valuable part of performance for Triathlons and many other sports, and should be done to enhance performance and reduce the risk of injury.

Yes,  Stretching is more important after the workout than it is before, but there is nothing wrong with stretching before the workout also (as part of the warm up).

Swimming:  I rarely do any stretching for swimming.  I usually do a warm up routine (500M - 1500M) swim at a slower speed than for the rest of the workout.  I something similar but shorter as a cool down (200-500M).  Sometimes I do some dynamic stretches either before or after the swim depending on how my body/shoulders/back feel, but not always.

Running:  I do a .25 mile warm up walk (fast walk to get my HR up and swing my arms) prior to any run of any distance then do my first and last 1 mile slower than the rest of the event to complete my warm up and cool down.  I spend about 10-15 minutes stretching after EVERY run, particularly every muscle in my legs.

Biking:  I do the first 7 miles without pushing myself too hard, last 5 miles are the same way, no sprints or KOM's during these times.  I stretch in the evening after a bike ride for about 15 minutes.

Stetching:  once or twice a week I do a serious stretching session instead of a workout (1-1.5 hours) of either stretching, yoga, pilates, or something similar to provide a whole body stretching benefit.

I believe stretching is important.  If you can find ANYONE who believes that stretching doesnt' make there body feel better, increase there performance over time, and reduce the risk of injury then they are either not doing it correctly or not listening to the results.  You won't find professionals who don't stretch.

Michael

Holiday Inn Express!

2extreme.....

so back to the original question......all things considered..

once you stretch, how long does the "benefit" hang around?

as well, let's say i swim a mile and then go on a 4 mile run. is swimming "enough" of a warm up? or would you stretch before the run?

There are three basic types of stretching. Dynamic, static, and ballistic.

Dynamic stretching is things like arm windmills, high knees at an easy pace, butt kick strides, etc. Things that mimic the motions of the sport you are going to be doing. You start out with limited motion and increase the range of the motion as your muscle warms up. This is the type of stretching you should be doing before a workout.

Static stretching is the lean over and hold for x seconds. This should not be done before working out, as it poses a decently high injury risk. This should be done immediately after the cooldown portion of a workout, and use stretches designed to target the muscles used during the workout.

Ballistic stretching is the "bounce bounce" method of stretching. This is dangerous, and pretty much outmoded. The reason being, is tendons have something called the "stretch reflex" built into them. When the doc whacks your knee with the hammer and your leg twitches, that's the stretch reflex. It contracts the muscle when there is too much stretch tension detected. So, if you are still "lunging" out on a stretch and your tendon contracts, you stand a good chance of tearing something.

Studies go back and forth on whether or not it actually helps the activity itself, but I believe that it also helps in other ways. My ankles are flexible, so I rarely roll my ankle even when it twists sideways. I'm flexible overall, so I can get in a lower position for longer on the bike. My hamstrings do not limit the range of motion in my stride. My ankle flexibility also allows me a  proper swim kick. All of these contribute to make me faster.

Additionally, the stretching can help offset things such as the "swimmers hunch". Swimmers use the anterior (front) deltoids (Shoulder muscles) much more than the rear, so if you don't take care to stretch it back out and also do compensatory exercises, you end up with rounded shoulders since your front delts get so much more work than the rear and they shorten up as well.

John

I see it like this...
Warming up before an activity prepares the body for the activity (for example, jog for a few minutes before beginning your run workout) by literally warming the muscles and increasing blood flow.
Stretching should come after the workout to help loosen the muscles that have been tightened during the workout.  Stretching after also helps increase blood flow to the used muscles, decreasing soreness the next couple of days.
If I don't stretch after a running or biking workout, my body feels tighter - like it's more susceptible to injury, and my muscles feel more sore than if I do stretch.

nice explanation.......

i can say that i learned more than one new thing today......

wow

If you know that you have areas that are tight that could cause problems when you run, stretching is absolutely beneficial. Tight calves, hamstrings, hip flexors - esp. if one side is less flexible than the other (ie, one hip flexor is particularly tight) - those things need to be dealt with or you could end up injured. Otherwise, you'll probably end up at the physical therapist or ortho who will tell you to...stretch.

Edited by wurkit_gurl 2009-08-10 12:51 PM

Pot.  Meet kettle.

That satement is less 'correct' than those who state that there is little evidence that stretching generally enhances performance or reduces over-use injury risks.  It might.  But there is scant evidence that it does.

The idea behind warming up has been described well in this thread.  It is preparing your body for the workout.  As a general rule, yes your swim would be a suiteable "warm up".  However, you may still find that your legs need some time to "warm up" to the run.  In other words, I would still spend my first 10 minutes of the run at a slower pace than the rest of the run. 

I don't know how to answer the "how long before it wears out" question.   IF you stretch prior to your workout, I recommend dynamic stretching as part of your warm up and I would consider it lasts as long as your hear rate is raised, but I don't believe this is a good answer to your specific question.

Michael



Edited by 2xtreme 2009-08-10 2:22 PM

Yes,  I agree, you are correct I should be more carefull in my selection of words.
I just find it difficult to believe that people actually promote the idea of not stretching since they consider it a waist of time.

Michael

Edited by 2xtreme 2009-08-10 2:27 PM

Not so difficult to believe.  Not much different than the people promoting it to enhance performance and reduce injury risk. 

People tend to promote what they believe to be true.  Whether it is 'objectively' true or not.

True. And in my case (n=1), while I don't necessarily believe it enhances my performance, I KNOW it's saved me injuries. I can stand straight on the outside edges of my feet with the soles of my feet touching each other. There have been several times when trail running that fact has saved me a severely twisted ankle.

I've had some bike crashes where I've almost done front splits, and good hamstring/quad flexibility has saved me some pretty severe muscle tearing. (Going around a corner in mtn biking at speed, foot/knee got caught on a mean, vicious bush with a bad attitude).

You can see it in hockey goalies, baseball players, etc. They'll go out and do splits to catch a puck/ball, without injury where someone less flexible either wouldn't make the play or get injured doing it.

A tight muscle has a much more limited range of motion, and once you get outside that range, you start tearing things up. The biggest impact in triathlon is in the swimming stroke. Most average swimmers that I see can't get their feet to form a straight line out from their shin, there is always a bit of flexion still evident. This produces a less efficient swim kick, even in the limited amount of kicking that triathletes do.

Is there evidence for this? Scant, as you say. But, with what I've seen in various sports and my own experience, flexibility is a HUGE factor in avoiding injury. (And as a martial arts teacher, I have spent a lot of time at the edge of the range of motion )

John

Pretty much. The idea behind dynamic stretching is to get increased blood flow (Higher HR, and dilated vessels) to the muscles, and this will in turn also increase the temperature of the muscle. Once you stop the activity, the vessels constrict, the HR drops and the muscle cools back down. That "window" of time will vary from athlete to athlete.

That's one of the reasons that I find people on their trainers before the start of a triathlon kind of amusing. Yeah, you get warm and your muscles loose (Albeit the wrong ones for swimming), and then they close transition. Unless you're one of the first waves, you're going to be standing around for 20-60 minutes (or more) and that warmup is pretty much wasted.

John

Those types of injuries are very different than the 'typical' triathlon injuries--mostly the overuse variety.  Were I engaging in soccer or ice hockey as a regular occurance, for example, I could see some potential benefits in both stretching and strength training to reduce some potential injuries.

Oh, agreed. I don't think stretching really helps much when you get ITBS or shin splint type stuff, nor do I really think that being flexible takes 3s / mile off my run time or anything. I do think it helps with recovery and can help prevent or mitigate acute injuries, though.

John

I have read several different opinions regarding stretching.  I know for me I had shin splints when I ran that hurt so bad I could barely walk much less run.  Talked to a guy at a running store about it and he suggested a couple of different stretchs for me to incorporate and my shin splints went away with a couple of weeks.  I do these stretches after a 5 minute fast walk to warm-up and then also do them again after a 5 minute cool-down. 

There are sports where being flexible is an advantage. I don't know that triathlon is one of those sports. There is at least one study that has shown an inverse relation between flexibility and running efficiency. So that would indicate flexibility being detrimental to triathlon performance.

Of course being flexible is important when the sport requires you to be in a stretched position like a goalie or a martial artist. except for swimming I don't see much of a benefit to being flexible in triathlon, and we all know how little swimming matters

The evidence of stretching reducing injury is questionable at best. Most of the studies I have read recently state that warming up, not stretching, is the thing that helps reduce injury. To my thinking the injuries that flexibility might prevent would be crash related injuries.

btw I take Tae Kwon-Do and I stretch a lot for that because it is required in order to be able to perform the kicks, I just don't think it helps my running and biking.

Here is an article, better written than I could every do, about this very subject, right here on our own site:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=...