Anybody who's read this blog much (I don't know how many of those there are) knows that I love the New York Times health section. They've delivered once again with a rather interesting article on stretching before your workout.
I don't stretch before my workouts very often, unless there's a specific muscle that's been bothering me, or just feels too tight. I always warm up before getting into the core portion of my workout, but I usually save stretching for after the workout is done.
The article suggests that dynamic stretching might be helpful before a workout. From my own sprinting days (yes, I used to run the 100m, 200m, 400m, and do the long jump) I have my routine that I go through (butt kicks, striders, etc . . .) which sometimes gets me some strange looks on the starting line. If nothing else, the routine both calms me and psychs me up mentally. It may sound contradictory, but it's all about getting into the proper race zone.
So while stretching beforehand is not something I usually do, I highly recommend a set pre-race routine. Do it before your hard workouts too, and you might just find you get more out of them.
1 comment:
Just dropping you a note to say that, similar to you, I have pretty much abandoned livejournal. My new blog is http://lifewithoutdragons.blogspot.com , which I suppose you could have found out by clicking my name! Anyways, I have enjoyed reading about your running adventures. They are very impressive, and the pictures are great.
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