10 Rules of Stretching

Stretching, both static stretching and dynamic movement, can be very helpful for a variety of reasons, as long as it is done properly. To ensure that you’re correctly performing static stretching to improve overall flexibility in the long-term, here are the 10 rules of stretching.

1.   Never stretch a "cold" muscle.

It is imperative that you warm-up before you stretch. This does not mean that you can just slap on a heating pad, you actually need to physically warm-up. Stretching a “cold” muscle will not improve your flexibility as well as stretching a properly prepared muscle would. Additionally, stretching an unprepared muscle can lead to injury, like a strain.

2.   Stretching should never be painful.

Static stretching to improve flexibility needs to take the muscle to the point of discomfort and hold it there. This is completely different from pain. Pain is the body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. Stretching should not produce pain in the muscle, tendons, tendon-bone attachment sites, or the surrounding joints.

3.   A stretch's quality should be based on how your muscle feels, not on how you look while doing it.

This is important because hypermobile (overly flexible) parts of your body will compensate for hypomobile (under-flexible) parts next to them to achieve a specific body position. A person with tight hamstrings can still look like he or she has good flexibility in the hamstrings if his or her back is flexible. So, when stretching your hamstring, it doesn’t matter if you can touch your toes or not. It matters that you feel the stretch in your hamstring. Focusing on how the stretch feels instead of how it looks ensures that you’re actually benefitting from the stretch. You may not like looking like you suddenly lost a ton of flexibility (compared to what you used to look like while stretching), but basing your stretch on how you feel will actually ensure that you get a much better stretch.

4.   Hold your stretch.

To increase your flexibility over time, you must hold the stretch for a given amount of time. Due to the wide variety of research results, the experts have a hard time of deciding on a clear-cut recommendation, but most would agree that you should hold a static stretch for at least 30 seconds at a time to improve flexibility. This 30 seconds needs to be 30 complete, continuous seconds of an actual, quality stretch – not 5 seconds of stretch, repositioning, 7 seconds of stretch, relaxing the stretch while you fix your hair, 4 seconds of stretch, leaning away to grab your phone to read your new text message….

5.   Do not start your stretch by suddenly pulling the muscle into a full stretch.

Rapidly placing a stretch on a muscle actually makes it contract in an effort to protect itself against severe injury. A contracted muscle will not benefit from static stretching because the contraction will resist any stretch you put on it. Causing a sudden, protective muscle contraction right before you attempt to improve your flexibility through static stretching is counterproductive. Instead, gently position your muscle in correct alignment and then gradually increase the stretch on the muscle until you have reached the point of discomfort.

6.   Remember to breathe.

Passing out is bad. So don’t do it while you’re stretching.

Seriously, though, many people “forget” to breathe normally while stretching. Oftentimes, this is because the stretch is intense or their body is crunched over, limiting their lung capacity. However, when you hold your breath (especially during an intense stretch), you actually prevent your muscle from relaxing all the way. By holding your breath, you’re effectively telling your body to brace for something, which can cause a muscle contraction (the opposite of what you want to have happen). Breathe normally throughout your stretch or even practice mindful breathing once you’ve positioned yourself correctly and are feeling a good stretch.

7.   Know your muscular anatomy to get a better stretch.

This doesn’t mean that you need to memorize the names of all of the muscles in the body, but if you’re particularly tight in a given muscle or muscle group (or you always have minor injury problems in the same muscle), take the time to look up where the ends of the muscle attach to your bones. Stretching a muscle simply involves moving these attachment sites as far away from each other as possible (without pain, of course). Instead of learning the correct way to do every single stretch you can possibly perform, just know your anatomy (or at least look it up when you need to). Knowing where the muscle attaches at both ends makes it so much easier to position yourself for an effective stretch.

8.   Pay attention!

You need to be paying attention to what you are doing to perform safe and effective stretching. Plus, if you’re not paying attention to what you’re doing, you may not be following 4 of the previous rules (feeling the stretch, holding your stretch long enough, not pulling your muscle into a stretch too quickly, and remembering to breathe). If you’re not paying attention, you may end up just going through the motions, which is a huge waste of your time, since your body won’t get any improvement in flexibility from this.

9.   Don't "sit in" your stretches.

Continuously holding a position of “stretch” for a few minutes actually starts to cause plastic deformation of the connective tissue in ligaments and joint capsules. This “stretching out” of the ligaments cannot be undone. Ligaments are designed to stabilize and protect joints, so when they get stretched out, the joint becomes unstable and is at higher risk of suffering a traumatic injury. A ballerina is going to have a very difficult time standing en pointe on one leg if that leg’s ankle or knee ligaments have become weakened and stretched out due to “sitting in” stretches that are supposedly designed to improve the dancer’s splits or foot flexibility.

10.   Remember to stretch after activity, too!

Stretching after activity not only feels good, but it can help maintain or improve your overall muscular flexibility. When you’re stretching after activity, all the rules listed above still apply.