{"id":92754,"date":"2025-07-26T00:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T00:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/92754\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T00:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T00:44:13","slug":"is-stretching-before-and-after-exercising-overrated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/92754\/","title":{"rendered":"Is stretching before and after exercising overrated?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Stretching is often considered a universal remedy for preventing muscle soreness, improving posture and speeding up recovery from a tough workout.<\/p>\n<p>But it might not be as effective as many of us believe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStretching works well in some areas, but in others, it is rather overrated,\u201d says Neuromotorics and Movement Chair Professor Dr Jan Wilke of Germany\u2019s University of Bayreuth.<\/p>\n<p>He notes that \u201ceven if stretching does not always deliver what it promises, it is an easy-to-apply, always-available and cost-free form of exercise\u201d \u2013 provided you know its purpose and how to do it.<\/p>\n<p>Prof Wilke, together with an international research team, has developed scientifically-based recommendations on stretching.<\/p>\n<p>These are intended to provide guidance for trainers, therapists and athletes.<\/p>\n<p>The research team recommends stretching for the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Short-term improvement in flexibility \u2013 at least two sets of five to 30 seconds each (any technique is fine).<\/li>\n<li>To combat muscle stiffness \u2013 at least four minutes of static stretching, five times a week in the long term.<\/li>\n<li>To positively influence the cardiovascular (heart) system and blood vessels \u2013 at least seven minutes of static stretching for acute effects or 15 minutes for long-term benefits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In other cases, stretching does not deliver the effects that are often attributed to it.<\/p>\n<p>For example, it cannot correct poor posture, such as a rounded back, nor is it as effective in preventing injuries during workouts as many believe.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, there are alternatives that are just as effective or even better.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, greater flexibility can also be achieved through strength training, provided it is performed across the full range of motion.<\/p>\n<p>The consensus paper by the 20 researchers was recently published in the Journal of Sport and Health Science. \u2013 dpa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stretching is often considered a universal remedy for preventing muscle soreness, improving posture and speeding up recovery from&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":92755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[1728,1198,210,61333,67,132,68,6666],"class_list":{"0":"post-92754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-exercise","9":"tag-fitness","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-stretching","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-workout"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114916770976423649","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}