Hi Toby, I’m stalking you! I’ve found that as I’ve grown older, I stretch less than I used to. I have heard that all those hard stretches from high school and army basic training could be the reason for a lot of the aches and pains now in the back and knees. There must be a happy medium.

I’m totally okay with being stalked!

I hardly stretch at all, and if I do, it’s during or after the exercise, never before. I prefer to stretch during, usually in between lifting sets. I flex and stretch to loosen up the muscle when I feel it getting ‘tight.’

Of course, I’m no acrobat, but I don’t seem to get many injuries.

That’s interesting. I’ve always hated stretching, but did it because it was always part of training. Now I stretch carefully, but briefly, and without pushing beyond the normal range of motion for each body part.

I think I used to do more harm to my body while stretching than in the actual workouts.

Me too, I can’t count how many pulled muscles I’ve had from being forced to overextend my hamstrings on stretches and then run really hard. Ugh.