Muscle for Life

You’ve probably heard that stretching is one of the pillars of an effective fitness plan, right up there with strength training and cardio. This same message is shared by personal trainers, group fitness instructors, and coaches around the world: You need to stay flexible to avoid injury, properly perform various exercises, and stay healthy into old age, and stretching is the best way to do this. Others disagree. Some say that stretching isn’t all that important for improving your fitness, and that it can negatively affect your performance and might not be as helpful for protecting against injuries as was once believed. Others say that while stretching may have some merit in certain situations, it’s unnecessary for most people. Who’s right? Is stretching really an essential aspect of an effective fitness routine, or is it just an outdated ritual based on faulty past assumptions, like the idea we need to eat immediately after every workout or that doing more reps automatically leads to more muscle growth? You’