I don't stretch much, and not only can I not touch my toes, but I can barely get my hands below my knees. Yet, I've been running 60-100 miles per week for 4 or 5 years consistently now and I haven't been sidelined with an injury for even one day.
I don't stretch much, and not only can I not touch my toes, but I can barely get my hands below my knees. Yet, I've been running 60-100 miles per week for 4 or 5 years consistently now and I haven't been sidelined with an injury for even one day.
I’ve flip flopped on the stretching thing myself.
I’m grossly oversimplifying, but I see it this way: we are essentially a bunch of rubber bands strung across a framework, like a tennis racquet.
Each person is unique in the tension they are “strung”. And like a racquet, if strung too tightly you get a frayed or broken string. Too loosely and you lose power.
So, the results are all over the place because everyone is unique. Some people benefit from stretching and some do not. We are all not the same and our interpretation of “stretching” varies wildly.