Hot take: I used to think stretching before workouts was mandatory, but I ditched it and feel way better.

I spent years doing 10 minutes of static stretches before every gym session because that's what I learned in high school. Then I read a study from 2023 that said static stretching can actually decrease strength for up to 30 minutes after, especially for heavy lifts like deadlifts. I switched to dynamic warmups like leg swings and glute bridges instead, and my back pain dropped off within two weeks. Has anyone else tried swapping their routine like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

victor77924d ago

Yeah that study was actually about static stretches held longer than 60 seconds, most people's pre-workout routine is way shorter than that so it's not really the same thing.

skyler_jackson2724d ago

Wait @victor779 are you saying short static stretches before a workout are actually fine? I totally thought all static stretching was bad before but this makes way more sense.

avery_jackson24d ago

Wait, 60 seconds? That's basically forever in stretching time.