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Stretching, or stretching, seems to have no effect on subsequent athletic performance. This applies to both static and dynamic stretching according to new research from Australia.
To stretch or not to stretch
For a very extensive background on stretching, I refer you to an earlier article in which I discuss the different forms of stretching and the associated pros and cons. In it, I describe exactly what happens in the body when you stretch muscles. This includes not only the muscles and attachments, but also the nervous system. I also describe the various intended goals of stretching such as preventing injuries and muscle soreness and improving athletic performance. This also distinguishes between the effects of regular stretching and the direct effects of a single stretching session.
This latest research focused on the immediate effects of stretching on subsequent athletic performance. Two forms of stretching were compared: static and dynamic.
Static vs. dynamic stretching
Here I will only briefly discuss the difference between static (passive) and dynamic (active) stretching.
Static stretching is the classic form of stretching where you hold a stretch in a fixed position for a certain amount of time. As a preparation for athletic performance, static stretching has been out of fashion for years. It can have a numbing effect, switch the nervous system to the rest mode, and reduce explosiveness by increasing elasticity.
Many athletes have therefore switched to dynamic stretching, where stretching is done in motion. Instead of, for example, sitting on the ground and bringing your nose towards your toes, the hamstring is stretched by standing and kicking the leg up. This is said to prevent many of the disadvantages of static stretching and at the same time serve as a warm-up.
Stretch test
Researchers at Edith Cowan University in Australia investigated whether dynamic stretching is able to (directly) lead to better athletic performance. For this purpose, they recruited 20 young, male athletes who participated in team sports such as soccer and rugby. Sports that require a lot of sprinting and sudden changes in direction. Activities for which a good warm-up is considered necessary.
To control for a potential placebo effect, all athletes were asked which form of stretching they preferred (if they had a preference). Almost all athletes mentioned dynamic stretching.
Now we come to a difficult point in these kinds of studies: the warm-up. In this study, an extensive warm-up was performed. In the previous article, I often found this to be a problem in evaluating studies on the effect of stretching. After all, how do you distinguish between the effects of the warm-up and the stretching? The Australian researchers see a problem in studies that are not combined with a warm-up. That would not be representative for most athletes, as they almost always do a warm-up before a match or training.
Therefore, they let their athletes jog quietly for a few minutes first before stretching. The warm-up was completed by 15 minutes of increasing intensity including sprinting, jumping, and zigzagging. This was done for four days, with only the stretching being changed:
- 9 short static stretches of different muscles for 5 seconds
- 9 short static stretches of different muscles for 30 seconds
- The same stretches, but now performed dynamically
- No stretches in the warm-up
After these warm-ups, the athletes performed various tests for their flexibility, jump strength, sprint ability, and agility. Subsequently, the results were compared.
“Stretching as preparation does nothing for athletic performance”
There was no difference in performance during the various tests after the warm-up. The athletes were just as fast, strong, and agile whether they had stretched or not, statically or dynamically.
There was also no placebo effect. Although almost all men thought that dynamic stretching would lead to better performance, this turned out not to be the case.
However, the main conclusions are that dynamic stretching does not improve performance, but that static stretching does not worsen it either. They therefore argue that as an athlete, you should mainly do what feels good for you. If you enjoy stretching before matches, then you should do it. If you don’t feel like stretching, then don’t do it.
At most a psychological effect, at most
I can’t really do much with that. I often try to make it clear that many people rely too much on their own subjective experiences, without taking other factors into account. For example, when people think a certain supplement works while they have also made other changes in diet and training. Research tries to control for and correct for these kinds of variables, partly by working with multiple test subjects.
Our subjects felt more prepared for the tasks when the stretching was included, and that psychological expectation might affect their confidence and play during an actual game
This is what the researchers cite as a reason to continue stretching, although they state that they
have not investigated this. I don’t fully understand that either, as I think we’re talking about the placebo effect that turned out to be absent. No, they did not test this in an actual soccer match, for example. That is also much more difficult to measure, of course. But even if you were to do it during an athletics competition, why would the result be different from these tests? Because the pressure is greater? Possible. But as an athlete, I would rather save the time and energy of a stretch and use it for methods that have at most a psychological effect.
You don’t want to rely on intuition, but on hard data. Isn’t that what those studies are for?
Finally, it is worth mentioning that we saw these results confirmed in the studies I referred to in the extensive article. They also showed that regular stretching can have positive effects in the long term.
References
- Blazevich AJ, Gill ND, Kvorning T, Kay AD, Goh AG, Hilton B, Drinkwater EJ,Behm DG. No Effect of Muscle Stretching within a Full, Dynamic Warm-up on Athletic Performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2018 Jun;50(6):1258-1266. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000001539. PubMed PMID: 29300214.
