Why do we need to stretch our muscles? In the wild we wouldn’t have time to stretch before running from danger so shouldn’t our bodies be ready to move optimally whenever needed?
In: Biology
Warm up before, stretch after.
Warming up serves as a low intensity precursor to high intensity movement. It allows muscles to be oxygenated and warmed so that fibres can be stretched. Animals often move for periods at a time at low activity, keeping them warmed up in case of high activity because the need to conserve calories.
Stretching precents muscle shortening due to training or strain. Animals often stretch after rest but because we train for performance, we need to stretch ao that we do not lose range of motion.
Not all of our physiology is figured out yet but stretching afterwards prevents issues such as spasm and tears wgile warming up promotes range of motion and performance.
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