Stretching bad wrote:
Don't stretch. I stretched religiously for decades and I was injured for decades. Have been injury free since I stopped. I now jog for about 10 minutes, do drills, strides and that gets me ready for workouts and races.
^This.
Static stretching does not increase performance or reduce frequency of injuries. Studies show this. Instead, I only do what stretching bad wrote... slow jog to warm up, then several drills, and a few strides.
Here's an analogy. Take a warm rubber band. You can pull it and stretch it easily. Now, take a rubber band that's been in the freezer and it easily breaks when stretched.