A Better Warm-Up Stretch

Author: Tommy Leung | 08/22/2008 | Fitness, Flexibility

I’ll admit it. I hate stretching. In fact, I don’t even believe the regular run-of-the-mill stretches are beneficial to your workout. They probably increase flexibility and that is important but why not do those stretches after a workout when your muscles are warm? Why do them when your muscles are cold? Seems pretty illogical to me to try and stretch something that isn’t really ready for it.

I’ve read Mark Verstegen’s Core Performance and take a lot of his ideas to heart. His training methodology is about creating useful bodies–I’m all about that. He preaches more active and dynamic stretches. Amongst my favorite of his stretches is the Inchworm–you’ll find it in his book. You’ll feel like you actually did something after doing this stretch.

The goal of this stretch is to start with your hands in front of your toes and then walking them slowly as far forward as you can and then slowly walking your feet to your hands. It pretty much mimics the movement of a cartoon worm. You should repeat for a set of five.  This move stretches your hamstrings, calves, glutes, and lower back. It sure beats any 30 second toe-touch holds–how boring are those?

If you still want to do the stretches they taught you in high school, do them after your workout.

By Tommy Leung