It’s 5:45 pm. You’ve arrived at volleyball practice early. You decide you should do a bit of stretching to warm-up. Maybe you bend over to touch your toes for 30 seconds (or, if you’re like me, you just aim for your toes and try to breathe through the pain of stretching for 30 seconds). Perhaps you cross one arm across your chest and stretch one shoulder. You repeat with the other arm. Then maybe you bump, set, and spike with a couple of teammates until everyone arrives. OK, so this is the routine. But, is any of this painful stretching going to prevent injury or help you perform better on the court?

According to the latest studies on stretching, “static stretching”—standing in place and stretching a muscle to the point of tension and holding—is no longer considered the best way to loosen muscles in preparation for sports activity.

Rather, “dynamic stretching”—using movement and active muscular effort to bring about a stretch—is gaining popularity as the ideal method for warming up muscles prior to sports activity. Dynamic stretching is especially effective when it’s relatively sports specific, and when the warm-up stretches mimic the activity to follow.

Before we get ahead of ourselves though, let’s clarify the goals of stretching. The point of any of the wacky maneuvers we do prior to exercise is intended to reduce the risk of injury and to enhance performance. To accomplish this goal, one needs to loosen stiff muscles and tendons and increase the blood flow to this tissue.

So what does the latest science tell us about the best way to accomplish this goal? A 2008 study conducted on 24 male NCAA Division I wrestlers at the University of Wyoming found that the 11 wrestlers who completed a four-week dynamic stretching warm-up program had sustained (long-term) performance enhancements in the areas measured, including power, strength, muscular endurance, anaerobic capacity, and agility¹. This was compared to 13 wrestlers who completed a four-week static-stretching warm-up intervention wherein no improvement was seen, and in fact decrements were observed in some measures of performance². A separate study of 30 U.S. Military Academy cadets compared the effect of dynamic and static warm-up stretches on short-term performance³. This study revealed better performance scores after the dynamic warm-up for all three performance tests, relative to the static warm-up group as well as the no warm-up group. Finally, a third study, out of the University of Oklahoma, looked at the acute effects of static versus dynamic stretching on rotational ability and various measures of hamstring muscle strength at four different knee joint angles. This study found that, “overall, an acute bout of dynamic stretching may be less detrimental to muscle strength than static stretching for the hamstrings.” ⁴

Where, then, does static stretching fit into a workout? Researchers seem to agree that it is best-suited as a post-activity cool-down to prevent muscle stiffness⁵. One study that focused on Achilles tendon reflex activity found that static stretching prior to activity resulted in a 5% reduction in tendon peak force, and an 8% reduction in the rate of force production⁶. In a more recent study out of Louisiana State University, researchers found that muscle strength endurance decreased significantly post-static stretching⁷. These researchers recommended that “heavy static stretching exercises of a muscle group be avoided prior to any performances requiring maximal muscle strength endurance⁸.”

What about injury prevention? Controversy still remains about the extent to which dynamic warm-ups prevent injury⁹. A review published in 2006 in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport¹⁰ found no conclusive evidence to either support or discourage routine warm-up for injury prevention prior to physical activity (they did not distinguish between dynamic and static warm-up). Like many other researchers in this area, the authors of this review recommended that further well-conducted randomized, controlled trials are needed to determine the role of warming-up prior to exercise in relation to injury prevention.

At this point you may be wondering, “So how do I do these dynamic stretches that will catapult my recreational sports career to the next level?” Check out this web tutorial on dynamic stretching or this entertaining instructional video on dynamic stretching produced by the New York Times. The exercises may look goofy, but they’re way more fun, and more effective, than the “hold and breathe through the pain” old-fashioned stretching most of us are used to.

Take home message: If you want to enhance your performance on the court or field, dynamic warm-ups are the way to go. Use the static stretches you learned during your varsity sports career post-workout, to cool down and prevent muscle soreness the next day. Coach Terrence Mahon of Team Running USA says, “You need range-of-motion exercises that activate all of the joints and connective tissue that will be needed for the task ahead.”¹¹ So try out the dynamic stretches in the links above, or look for others on the web, and enjoy kicking some booty at your next game or match.