Stretches: Sorry about your high school gym instructors, but the stretching exercises (and a ton of other ones!) they tell you to do after every workout do little for your tight muscles.
Skip These Stretches
You know that stretching and movement have many benefits. (It’s even the main goal of some fitness classes.) But it would help if you still had a game plan when it comes to what stretches to do, how to do them, and what stretches and techniques to avoid.
“Stretching can be harmful if joints are locked, nerves are stretched, or supporting structures like ligaments are stretched instead of the target muscles,” says Rick Ritchie, a college instructor at the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). Stretching isn’t one-size-fits-all, but here are a few exercises that are literally wasting your time or could even put you at higher risk for injury (including those advanced stretches your gym instructor did for you).
Hurdler Stretch
You might remember this stretch from middle school gym class and the knee pain that followed. It’s a move in which your front leg is straight, and another leg is bent sharply behind you. Bending your non-straight leg behind your body puts more stress on the knee structure, says Richie, who explains why the stretch isn’t so hot. (Learn about other possible causes of knee pain and how to get rid of it for good.)
Sit and Reach Stretch
The sitting part has a real potential for muscle strain problems. “It’s easy to try to build a strong back (which defeats the purpose),” says Richie. “Plus, sitting and walking often stretches the nerves behind the knee and calf more than the muscles.”
Wall-Supported Calf Stretch
Depending on the strength of your tendons and muscles, “squeezing your foot into a wall can damage your arch and fascia,” says Richie.
Posterior Deltoid Stretch
In short, there’s really no need to twist your arms. “I’ve never worked or even seen anyone tense or active more than that muscle,” says Richie, and since the goal of stretching is to loosen up overworked muscles, you’re better off sitting out the stretch to find another tight spot. If you feel any tension in your upper back while stretching,
Hip Flexor Stretch
You can do this stretch to loosen up tight hip flexors. The problem is that lack of flexibility probably means you’re moving incorrectly: You’re more likely to arch your lower back and lift one hip as you do the stretch.
5 Steps to a Safer Stretch
Now that you know how to jump a hurdle and we’ve gotten the calves-to-the-wall argument out of the way follow these five tips to make every stretch safe.
- Assess the area that needs to be stretched. Has it been injured recently? If so, let it recover before fully stretching again.
- Warm up before stretching. Do flexibility exercises at the end of your workout, or if you are doing them as a separate workout, start with a few minutes of walking, jumping, or other cardio. This raises the temperature of the muscles, making them soft and flexible.
- Stretch slowly and carefully, and relax as you stretch. Avoid jumping or jerking.
- Just stretch until you feel tension. It should be relaxing and painless.
- Breathing increases tension, relaxes the muscles, and increases blood flow (which increases oxygen and nutrients).