How long should you spend on stretching exercises?
According to most surveys, lack of time is the number one reason
people give for quitting their exercise programs. Some exercise
professionals recommend that you do stretching exercises before
and after you train.
If you're trying to squeeze exercise into your lunch hour, it's
easy to spend most of your time just warming up and cooling down!
In truth, a lot of it is unnecessary.
Stretching exercises
In an attempt to establish the optimum stretching time needed to
improve flexibility, researchers from the University of Arkansas
examined the effects of four different stretching routines [1].
Previous studies show that stretching exercises lasting 30 seconds
improve your flexibility to a greater extent than stretching exercises
lasting 15 seconds. However, this group of researchers wanted to
know if a 60-second stretch was any better than one lasting 30 seconds.
Subjects aged between 21 and 39 years stretched their hamstrings
five days each week for six weeks. They were asked to place their
heel on an elevated surface, and bend forward from the waist until
they felt a "gentle stretch" in the back of their thigh.This
position was held for 30-60 seconds.
Each stretching session was supervised. Anyone who missed more
than four sessions was dropped from the study.
When flexibility was measured at the end of the trial, there were
no differences between three 60-second stretches and one 30-second
stretch. That said, all of the participants in this study were under
40 years of age. Longer stretches do appear to be more effective
than shorter ones the older you get.
For example, a study carried in Physical Therapy examined
the effects of stretching exercises in a group of 62 subjects aged
between 65 and 97, all with "tight" hamstring muscles
[3].
The results show that a 60-second stretch improved flexibility
more quickly than a 30-second or 15-second stretch. What's more,
participants who stretched for 60 seconds remained more flexible
for longer than subjects in the other groups.
There's also evidence to show that short (10 seconds) but frequent
stretches (6 times daily) are equally as effective as longer (30
seconds) stretches performed less often (twice a day) at increasing
flexibility [2].
In other words, regardless of the length of a single stretch, the
key to improvement is total daily stretch time.
The bottom line
The bottom line is that the length of time you spend on stretching
exercises depends on your goals. One stretch lasting 30 seconds
is just as effective as three stretches lasting 60 seconds. That
doesn't mean you can't stretch for longer than 30 seconds
- just that you don't have to.
Because total stretch time appears to be more important
than the length of a single stretch for increasing flexibility,
stretching your muscles while you rest between sets or exercises
is one simple way to save time. However, stretching
exercises do have the potential to reduce maximal strength.
This means you need to be careful about the amount of time spent
stretching if you're also training to get stronger.
Finally, remember that stretching exercises
are not the only way to improve your flexibility, and they're
certainly not as important for injury prevention as some people
would like you to believe.
About The Author
 Christian Finn holds a master's degree in exercise science, is a certified personal trainer and has been featured on BBC TV and radio, as well as in Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Fit Pro, Zest and other popular fitness magazines.
If you're stuck
in a rut with your current exercise and diet plan... fed up with
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References
1. Bandy, W.D., Irion, J.M., & Briggler, M. (1997). The
effect of time and frequency of static stretching on flexibility
of the hamstring muscles. Physical
Therapy, 77, 1090-1096
2. Cipriani, D., Abel, B., & Pirrwitz, D. (2003). A comparison
of two stretching protocols on hip range of motion: implications
for total daily stretch duration. Journal
of Strength and Conditioning Research, 17, 274-278
3. Feland, J.B., Myrer, J.W., Schulthies, S.S., Fellingham, G.W.,
& Measom, G.W. (2001). The effect of duration of stretching
of the hamstring muscle group for increasing range of motion in
people aged 65 years or older. Physical
Therapy, 81, 1110-1117
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