Experts Say You Don’t Need To Stretch Before You Workout

Remember in elementary school before you would do something fun in the gym class, the teacher would make you stretch?  It appears that that may have been a complete waste of time and potentially bad for you!

New evidence suggests this common bit of exercise wisdom may be false. Now, experts think stretching before exercising could even result in injuries. The Mayo Clinic weighs in.

“Don't consider stretching a warmup,” said the clinic. “You may hurt yourself if you stretch cold muscles.” “Cold” muscles are muscles that have been inactive for some time before physical activity begins. 

For muscles in this state, static stretching, or stretching with positions are held for a period of time, could be especially harmful. You can even teat a muscle.

According to the Mayo Clinic, static stretching may actually be best right after a workout, when muscles are already warm.