There are a lot of misconceptions out there about stretching. You see it all the time. You arrive at an event and people start cold, stretch quickly by trying to touch their toes a few times, hold it for three seconds and then try to start moving. Following their workout, they head home because they are beat. This is not a pattern you want to adopt, and you don’t want to be those people.
The muscles in our body don’t like to have a static stretch performed on them cold. Warm your muscles up by walking, going for a gentle short ride, or a few warm up strokes in the pool. Trust us, your stretching will be more effective if you are properly preparing for them.
Take your time, stretching shouldn’t be a quick cursory step you check off your list. When time is taken consistently to stretch as part of your normal routine you will see great benefits. Gently, take your time getting into each stretch. Hold it there for a while, then ease back out of them before moving on. NEVER bounce or be ballistic with stretching. This is not effective, you are not improving muscle length and you could be doing more damage.
Our biggest advice is that before your workout, warm up and then perform some dynamic stretches. Do some monster walking, toy soldiers, butt kickers, arm swings etc. When you are done with your workout take time to do some stretching. We have attached a copy of a stretching routine for someone doing triathlon events that we really like. We suggest this be done post workout and consistently. We don’t want to take undo credit for the file so here is our source, stretching name. If you ever have a persistent pain with training, or muscle soreness that isn’t typcial, make sure that you check it out with your doctor.