Reader NickChan used this website's contact with me on July 14, 2025 to inquire:
It seems that he saw the mayo clinic suggests stretching before and after exercise, but he also said that the current research has insufficient evidence to reduce injuries and pain. Will the professor do stretching before and after exercise/warming up/ cooling down? Thank you.I will first make a simple definition and explanation of several sports languages:
1. Stretching: English is Stretching. Please note that "stretch" ≠ "stretch".2.Warm up: This is done before the exercise. Chinese means "warm your body" or "heat your body".
3.Cool down: This is done after the exercise. Literally translated is "cold", but this is obviously not suitable for sports. Another unsatisfactory but acceptable translation is "sucking the fuck". I personally think we can consider translating Cool down into "paining".
4.Dynamic stretching: dynamic stretching. Let muscles and links perform all-round movements, imitating the activities you are about to do.
5.Static stretching: static stretching. That is, "stretch". A part is usually pulled for 20 to 30 seconds. The main purpose of
Warm up (hot body) is to prepare the body for the activities to be carried out, such as: swinging arms, stretching chest, kicking legs, stepping, jumping, twisting body, shoulders, waist, and other light movements. There are strong evidences that dynamic stretching is the most effective and beneficial type of hot body before exercise. Its benefits are:
1. Increase blood flow and muscle temperature: It can heat muscles, make the muscles softer, and prepare for exercise.2. Improve the scope of the joint activities: it can smooth the joints and help the muscles perform all-round movement.
3. Improve sports performance: It can improve explosive power, speed, agility and overall sports performance, especially in activities that require explosive sports (such as 100-meter sprint, high jump, and far jump).
4. Reduce injury risk: By preparing muscles and joints for exercise, it helps minimize the risk of strain or twisting.
5. Neurological Muscle Activation: Awaken your muscles and nerves to improve coordination and efficiency.
Please see the Dynamic Warm-ups Play Pivotal Role in Athletic Performance and Injury Prevention released this year. Dynamic Hot (DW) is increasingly used before running because it is believed to promote career gains and elite sports staff to prepare competitions, improve sports performance and reduce sports damage. DW has become a more popular hot body style than static stretching because it strengthens musculoskeletal, neural, cardiovascular and psychological systems before exercise, thus more likely to increase sports performance and reduce sports damage.
In contrast, current evidence does not support static stretching before exercise, especially before intense exercise or exercise requiring explosive power, as it can hinder the performance of the muscles. Please see the Mechanisms underlying performance impairments following prolonged static stretching without a comprehensive warm-up (a mechanism for long-term static stretching and no comprehensive warm-up will cause sports performance to be damaged). Over the past millennia, various pre-sports activities have been taken to "hot" before work, quarrel and sports, but over the past 25 years, the inclusion of static stretch (SS) into the hot-sports is no longer popular. Research has emphasized that long-term stretching and lack of proper dynamic warming activities may lead to subsequent sports performance sluggish. It is currently believed that potential mechanisms that static stretching lead to sports performance defects include neural factors (e.g., reduced autonomous activation, continuous inward current effects on sports neuronal excitement) and form factors (e.g., change in force-length relationship, reduced ionic sensitivity, and change in parallel elastic components). Psychological factors, such as insufficient mental energy and anti-suffering agent effects, may also have adverse effects on sports performance. The main purpose of
Cool down (smoothing, restoring) is to restore the muscles after being moved, and at this time, static stretching (that is, "string") is put on the use.
According to Collado State University, the benefits of static stretching after exercise are:
1. Helps achieve long-term goals, namely, strengthening the scope of related activities and helping reduce muscle soreness related to exercise.2. The time and purpose of static stretching at the end of the movement helps slowly restore the body to its pre-motion state.
3. It helps relax muscles and restores heart rate and breathing frequency to normal.
However, some studies have found that static stretching after exercise cannot promote recovery. Please see Static stretching does not enhance recovery in elite youth soccer players published in 2017.
Even, some research believes that doing Cool down after exercise is no benefit.. Please see the 2018 Do We Need a Cool-Down After Exercise? A Narrative Review of the Psychophysiological Effects and the Effects on Performance, Injuries and the Long-Term Adaptive Response (Do you need to receive exercise after exercise? Descriptive reviews on the effects of exercise on psychophysiological effects and its effects on sports performance, injuries and long-term adaptive responses).
Personally, I think that there is no need to do Warm up before gentle exercise, but it is best to do it for a few minutes before intense exercise. As for whether you need to do Cool down after exercise, I think it should be a personal choice, and there is no error.
Original text: Do you need to do stretching before and after exercise?Responsibility edited: Gu Zihuan