Before I go for a run, I always stretch my hamstrings. Am I hurting my performance?

A few weeks ago, I mentioned a couple of studies that would have made you respond with a yes. Personally, I would have disagreed, but like a lot of things, whether stretching before a workout is helpful or harmful is not a black-and-white issue.

As I’ve been told by Shelby Young, a personal trainer at Hampshire Hills Sports & Fitness Club in Milford, there are always questions to ask about every study that’s done, and for every one that says stretching before a workout is bad, there is one that concludes the opposite.

“The stretching studies are typically poorly designed, with subjects performing fairly long stretches and then immediately attempting to perform max effort vertical jumps or heavy weight squats,” Young said this week in an email. “This does not accurately reflect how someone should exercise, and an athlete would never perform very long stretches and then immediately attempt an explosive maneuver on the field or court.”

Young offered to show me something different: something called a dynamic warm-up. The warm-up prepares you for the demands of a workout or whatever other physical activity you’re getting ready to do. If you ever participated in organized sports, think of the drills you ran before practice.

First, I did a little bit of light stretching, working on my normal problem areas, such as my hamstrings, hip flexors and back. Young recommends doing some static stretching before a dynamic warm-up because it allows you to get into deeper positions.

The warm-up started simply enough, with high knee tucks, walking leg cradles and quad pulls, the last of which almost causes me to lose my balance. So when Young showed me the next warm-up, I thought at some point I’d be planting my face in the floor.

The SLDL reach – also known as the single leg dead-lift reach – looks a lot more complicated than it is. While focusing on a spot at the other end of the hallway, and with my arms outstretched for balance, I brought my knee up like I’d take a big step forward.

Instead, I kicked it out in back of me while keeping my eyes on that spot, moving backward. It’s really easy a lot easier than it looks or sounds.

That was followed by the inchworm. While down in a pushup position, I walked my legs in, the entire time keeping my knees straight, trying to fold at the waist. If my hamstrings weren’t already awake, that certainly did the trick.

The rest of the warm-up consisted of high knee runs, skipping in different directions and shuffling, all of which helped me feel looser when it was time to start my workout.

“The dynamic warm-up
offers an opportunity to work on the skills and movements that a client will be performing that day, but without any external load so we’re able to safely prepare,” Young said. “It’s also a second chance to practice skills that the client may be struggling with. And all of this while also achieving more work on flexibility.”

I’ve certainly felt that during my workouts, and I’ve felt it in the days following – not to mention less soreness.

Joe Marchilena writes a weekly fitness column for Hampshire Hills Sports & Fitness Club. For more information about the “90 Day Commit to Get Fit” program, call 673-7123 or email hhinfo@hampshirehills.com.

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