Many people strain too much when they stretch. Stretching should not be a “forcing” of our joints to bend, and our tendons to stretch. It should be gentle, and it should be done AFTER we have warmed up our muscles, ligaments, and tendons. One way to warm up is to run, starting out slowly and going a bit faster as we warm up. This is the reason many experts now agree that stretching is best done AFTER finishing running, rather than preceding running.
Personally, I believe we should not be stretching for running, we should be stretching for life. Rather than waiting until you go for a run, we should simply be moving and flexing our bodies throughout the day, starting when we wake up with a gentle cat-like stretch BEFORE we leap out of bed, and then do NOT leap out of bed, get up gently and gracefully.
Posted in: Warm-Up