Is Stretching Before a Workout Bad for You?
By Details Magazine | Healthy Living by Mike Dawson , DETAILS Static stretching--flexing and holding a position, like bending over and touching your toes, has earned a bad rap lately. Sometimes it seems like the entire fitness universe, especially personal trainers, pooh-pooh this practice before a workout. They say it weakens your muscles and may increase your chance of injury. See also: Hollywood's Top Vanity Muscles This sentiment is understandable: It's based on a solid, and widely read, 2008 University of Nevada Las Vegas study that described how college athletes lost about three percent of their leg power if they static stretched before a super-short "explosive" sprint. Boom. Fact. Right? Hold on. You're not a college athlete whose three percent power loss may cost him an inch in a 40-yard dash. Our "performance" stakes are much lower-like a weights workout or a three-miler through the park (assuming it's sunny). Most of us will never noti...
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