Monday, November 30, 2009

Stretching not healthy

The NY Times reports:
When the Nebraska Wesleyan researchers compared the runners’ sit-and-reach scores to the measurements of their economy, which had been garnered from a treadmill test, they found that, across the board, the tightest runners were the most economical. ... They also typically had the fastest 10-kilometer race times. ...

For years, flexibility has been widely considered a cornerstone of health and fitness. ...

In fact, the latest science suggests that extremely loose muscles and tendons are generally unnecessary (unless you aspire to join a gymnastics squad), may be undesirable and are, for the most part, unachievable, anyway. “To a large degree, flexibility is genetic,” says Dr. Malachy McHugh, ...
A small amount of stretching might help in warming up, but otherwise it is useless.

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