To stretch or not to stretch before exercise? Athletes put it to the test

At the end of each warm-up, the athletes completed a battery of tests of their flexibility

Should we stretch before exercise? A thought-provoking new experiment with athletes suggests that the answer could depend on how we feel about stretching and what kind of exercise — and stretching — we intend to do.
 

Once, stretching before team sports and other activities was almost ubiquitous, especially so-called static stretching, during which you assume a pose and hold it for anywhere from a few seconds to several long minutes.
 

But static stretching has fallen out of favor in recent years, after studies showed that prolonged static stretching might cause reactions in the nervous system that temporarily