Ask Shannon: Fitness & Nutrition Q & A

Posted May 2, 2008 at 12:00 PM by Shannon Clark

Section: Her Fitness, Training Programs, Special Features, Q & A

With years of training under her belt, resident fitness and nutrition expert Shannon Clark is ready to help you on your way to a healthy, informed lifestyle. Got a question? Email her your inquiries, and be sure to check back every week for the latest Q&A. Q: I know stretching is important, but I’m not really sure at what point in my workout I should be doing it.  Some people I see stretching before, and then others stretch during.  I used to always stretch afterwards, but now I’m not so sure.  What’s best?

A: I’m happy you’ve realized the importance of stretching! Far too many people overlook this critical factor of their fitness program and it’s unfortunate because the benefits of stretching are tremendous.

As for when you want to do your stretching, all three times can actually make sense, depending on your goal at the time and what you’re trying to accomplish.

When you’re stretching at the beginning of a workout, it’s going to be really important to do some type of warm-up exercise first, even if it’s just some gentle moving around or a brief walk.  This is especially the case if you happen to be working out in the morning because your body will be even more stiff and tight.

The benefits to stretching beforehand are that it will warm you up better than if you hadn’t and it will help to increase your range of motion during your exercise session.

With weight training you want to utilize the greatest range of motion and since this calls into play the largest numbers of muscle tissue fibers, you can easily see why stretching would be a good choice. When doing this stretching though, it will not be meant to really improve flexibility so much as just to get the blood flowing through the muscles and reduce any stiffness.

Moving on, the reason for stretching in between your weight lifting sets will be to help reduce the accumulation of lactic acid, help prevent soreness from developing, and help to get the muscles recovering better overall.

Generally with this, you will stretch the muscle that has just been worked, holding it for twenty to thirty seconds before doing another set.

This is not the time to get into a lengthy stretching session, however, because you shouldn’t be resting more than a minute or two between each set.

Finally, stretching at the end of your workout should be aimed at increasing your overall flexibility and pushing your muscles slightly further.

At this point you can dedicate a good 20 to 30 minutes to stretching, if you have the time.  If you don’t, that’s fine, even ten minutes at the end of each workout will do wonders for improving this aspect of your fitness level.

When doing these stretches, be sure to stretch far enough so that you do feel a good ‘pull’ on the muscle, but not so far that it becomes intolerable.  That would be a strong signal you are pushing too hard and could wind up pulling a muscle if you aren’t careful.

Also, think of breathing deeply at this point as that will also really help to relax the muscles, allowing them to become more limber.

So, be sure to evaluate the purpose of your actual stretching session when determining what time it should fit in with your overall workout.