Stretching as religion
This is not medical advice.
This will surely piss of some people, but hear me out for a few minutes. This is not an article saying we should never stretch. It’s just about context.
And even if you stretch too much, and hurt your lower back and joints, that is still better than sitting and playing video games or eating junk food.
I say religion, because sometimes people get pissed off if you question the need for it. “You need to stretch” is something we have all been told from a very young age. Even the overweight PE teacher told us that when we were in 3rd grade.
Even without going into yoga or other stretching arts, the average armchair quarterback of health and fitness will say, “you need to stretch,” regardless of context. Did they mean stretch for sports warm up, to prevent injury, to cure an injury?
Sometimes religious beliefs do not want to hear alternatives. Curiously, Christians do not get angry at me if I am a non believer. They might think I’m doomed, and want to save me, but they’re not angry. Maybe they’ve moved on from the burning at the stake thing centuries ago.
But the stretching faithful do want to torture me on the rack, literally and figuratively. So that’s why I mention religion.
USA vs USSR
The fitness industry in the US largely focused on aerobics and stretching, especially in the 70’s. There has historically been an early underground of strengthening in the USA, however it was relegated to freak shows, the circus, and professional wrestling.
In the 70’s, aerobics and jogging became the cool yuppie thing to do in the USA, along with knee high tube socks, head bands, and Walkmans. Strengthening wasn’t all that cool outside of Pumping Iron, and the few who did it.
Conversely, the USSR always maintained a healthy respect for weightlifting and strengthening. Yes, thay had some pharmaceutical help, but their success wasn’t all steroids.
Times we need to stretch
I only ask that people are told to stretch with some context or reason. If we have a sport that requires more flexibility, stretching might be necessary to prevent injury. Running does not require extremes in joint range of motion.
If we are recovering from an injury or surgery, we may need to stretch to restore range of motion of prevent a frozen joint.
