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Stretching has previously been considered an essential pre-exercise gym routine. However, this belief has lost some of its support as new scientific evidence about the human body has emerged. In this paper, I will discuss whether stretching is useful before running, which is the exercise I commonly participate in. I have concluded that stretching will only decrease my performance; therefore, instead of stretching, I should engage in a dynamic warm-up before running.
Stretching has been thought to reduce the risk of injuries. To evaluate this belief, one should look at how muscles respond to stretching. Muscles have the stretch reflex, meaning that they fight back or contract when they are suddenly stretched (Saladin, 2021). Muscles consist of sarcomeres – the bands formed by proteins actin and myosin, which either shorten when the muscle contracts or lengthen when the muscle is stretched (SciShow, 2018). Muscles also contain sensory nerves called muscle spindles that send a signal when they detect excessive muscle stretch, and muscles become tense in response to avoid tearing (SciShow, 2018). Stretching a particular group of muscles for a while helps muscle spindles get accustomed to this stretch and not to send the signal for increasing muscle tension. For this reason, stretching is useful before doing exercises that involve an extended range of motion. The muscles will not be as tense as they would be without stretching, thus protecting the athlete from an injury. Stretching is also beneficial for increasing the overall body flexibility if it is done regularly.
However, in the case of running, athletes perform within the normal range of motion, meaning that stretching is unlikely to bring them any benefits. Moreover, evidence shows that pre-workout static stretching can even be harmful to such activities as lifting heavy weights, jumping, or running as they may decrease athletes’ performance (SciShow, 2018). Researchers have some assumptions about why it occurs; for example, it is suggested that athletic performance decreases after stretching because muscle spindles become less sensitive (SciShow, 2018). Consequently, the muscles become less responsive and cannot hold as much tension as non-stretched muscles, which is counterproductive for running that involves a lot of muscle tension. Another suggestion is that after stretching, there is slack in the myotendinous junction, which is the region where the muscle is connected to its tendon (SciShow, 2018). As a result of this slack, the skeleton received less energy from the muscles, leading to a decreased speed of the run and lower height of the jump (SciShow, 2018). Therefore, stretching before running diminishes athletes’ performance, reducing their speed.
Instead of doing static stretching before running, an athlete should perform a dynamic warm-up. Research shows that athletes who used dynamic warm-ups ran faster, jumped higher, and generated more muscular force than those who performed static stretching before exercise (SciShow, 2018). The dynamic warm-up is beneficial before these exercises because it increases the muscle temperature. Increased muscle temperature leads to faster transfer of signals by nerves, faster consumption of oxygen, and higher engagement of muscle fibers (SciShow, 2018). Additionally, intense exercise increases the muscles’ need for oxygen, and the respiratory and cardiovascular systems need to catch up with this demand (Saladin, 2021). A dynamic warm-up can prepare these systems for producing more oxygen before transitioning to more intense exercise.
In conclusion, static stretching is not useful before running because it decreases muscle spindles’ sensitivity and reduces the amount of energy the skeleton obtains from muscles. Therefore, I should engage in a dynamic warm-up before running to increase my muscle temperature and prepare my respiratory and cardiovascular systems for this exercise. One final thought is that although choosing the right type of pre-exercise routine is important to avoid injuries, individuals also should engage in exercise gradually. They should not overload their muscles without achieving proper physical conditioning.
References
Saladin, K. (2021). Anatomy & physiology: The unity of form and function (9th ed.). McGraw Hill.
SciShow. (2018). Does stretching before exercise actually help? [Video]. YouTube. Web.
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