The Pros and Cons of Static Stretching
- Kari Smith
- May 2
- 2 min read
How you can safely integrate static stretching into your lifestyle and enjoy the benefits.
In last month’s newsletter, the exercise of the month focused on dynamic stretching. This refers to stretches where your body is moving through the stretch. Dynamic stretching is a great way to warm up your body before jumping into exercise.
This month we want to highlight another type of stretching: static stretching. This type of stretching occurs when you hold a position that isolates specific muscles for an extended amount of time, usually varying from 15-45 seconds. Here are some examples of common static stretches:
It is crucial to warm up the body before doing any kind of static stretching. Therefore static stretching is often done after dynamic stretching or at the end of a workout. Jumping straight to static stretching can strain and injure your muscles. Although it is ok to feel tension or stiffness, you should never feel sharp pain during static stretches.
The biggest benefits of static stretching are flexibility and increased range of motion. The enemy of flexibility is stiffness, which is something everyone experiences at some point in their life. The second benefit, increasing range of motion, means being able to move your joints further in all directions. This can improve mobility and lower the risk of injury from things such as falls, especially as we age.
Static stretching can also reduce pain, especially if one is struggling with stiffness due to tight muscles. This type of stretching can also be combined with mediation or mindfulness, which can reduce stress and anxiety. Although it might not feel like you are doing much when you engage in static stretching, the mental and physical health benefits are undeniable.
In review, static stretching shouldn't be the first exercise you jump into because it can cause injury if you have not properly warmed up in advance. However, when done after dynamic stretching or the end of a workout it can be very effective at increasing flexibility. Here is a simple graphic that compares the two types of stretches and summarizes when and how you should use them:
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