Eli5 why does doing stretches prior to working out make you perform better and less likely to be injured?
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Although stretching can reduce performance. It’s rare that a person has optimal ranges of motion and or posture. This could be as simple as being able to open up at the hips prior to squatting, or one side opening up more than the other.
Risk of injury is increased when warming up incorrectly. But when you get to know how your own structure tends to behave during movements. You can mitigate instabilities, or poor joint alignment, through dynamic or static stretches. Although static stretching is demonised by science as a hinderance prior to training. I’d confidently say that “corrective static stretching”, is not.
Like anything in exercise. Application is key. And what is correct for one person, may not be for another. Based on a broad range of circumstances. People may ask, “what should I do to mobilise before exercise”. That depends on the exercises you’re doing, positional issues, ranges of motion, injuries etc. A professional would need examine the way you move to answer effectively.
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