How important is warming up before stretching?

[Corporal Hicks]

Hi,
I didnt want to put this in the thread I just created because I didnt want to be done for cross posting.
Anyway, before I go to bed at night (not warming up) I do stretches all over my body especially my hamstrings and legs, is this bad if I have not warmed up? What quick exercises could I use that would send the blood pumping enough to make the stretches safe/r?

Regards

 

[TigerWoman]

Well, you could do leg raises, side leg raises then do your stretching. Or you could take a hot shower or bath and then stretch. This is for max stretching. If you are doing just a little stretching, after a day's activities, I don't think it's harmful...just don't do it when you are sore, its better to stretch out after your workout to release lactic acid and then you won't be sore. TW

 

[lvwhitebir]

Stretching a warm muscles is better because it's more pliant, like a rubber band. You can easily see the difference between stretching a warm rubber band and a cold one. If you stretch a cold muscle, you won't harm it unless you overdo it. You will find, however, that you're a lot less flexible. Once it's warmed up, you'll be amazed at the difference.

Warming up consists of raising the core temperature of the muscles, raising heart rate to get the blood flowing, and raising your breathing rate to get oxygen moving. Current thinking believes that baths and saunas only warm up the surface temperature and relax the muscle, but don't give the deep-core temperature rise that is best for stretching. To warm up before stretching you need to maybe jog in place for 5 minutes or jump rope. Anything to get you breathing and sweating. Just make sure the intensity and range of motion are appropriate for "cold" muscles.

The traditional warmups in my art give a wide range of body movements that help to warm up the entire body. They last about 10 minutes, after which we do some dynamic stretching (typically leg raises) to get the bigger muscles stretched.

WhiteBirch