10 Common Mistakes Made by Individuals Who Engage in Stretching Exercise

1Not warming up before stretching. 

Because stretching

cold muscles increases your chances

of injuring yourself, you should always

warm up (i.e., perform activities that

will increase your body temperature

enough to ‘‘warm’’ you up sufficiently

to safely begin exercising) before

stretching. Contrary to popular belief,

stretching is not a warm-up.

2Not stretching the muscles

you’re trying to stretch. 

Too many people don’t stretch what

they think they’re stretching because

they don’t perform their flexibility

exercises properly. More often than

not, either they don’t know how to do

a particular exercise properly, or they

make an inappropriate adjustment in

their body position when stretching.

3Not watching how much

pressure you place on your

ligaments. 

Unfortunately, some

people stretch their ligaments too much

(rather than stretching their muscles)

when performing stretching exercises.

As a result, they develop excessive

ligament looseness. As such, when

you’re stretching, you should always

avoid holding your joints in a position

that places too much weight or

pressure on your ligaments.

4Not watching how much

weight you place on your

joint capsules. 

While stretching, if you place more weight

on your joints than they can safely

stand, you increase the likelihood

that you may damage them.

Accordingly, you should avoid

activities that can injure your joints,

such as standing toe touches.

5Not performing a balanced

stretching regimen. 

To avoid the consequences of stretching

unequally (e.g., the muscles that receive

inadequate attention tend to tighten

and shorten, causing such notable

conditions as rounded shoulders),

it is essential that you don’t stretch in

one direction without balancing out

that effort by also stretching in the

opposite direction.

6Not performing each stretching

exercise slowly and smoothly.

You should avoid using fast,

jerky, or bouncing movements when

performing stretching exercises. Doing

so may force your muscles to stretch to

an unsafe range of motion before your

nervous system has time to protect them

by signaling your muscle(s) to contract.

7Not stretching to the point of

maximum extension. 

When you stretch, you should move

your body or body segment at a

controlled speed through its maximum

range of motion. You reach this point

when you place a mild—but not

painful—stretch on the muscles.

On each subsequent repetition, you

should attempt to go a little bit farther,

while again avoiding pain and

overstretching.

8Not performing an

appropriate amount of

stretching exercise. 

A certain degree of subjectivity exists concerning

what constitutes too much or too

little stretching exercise. As a rule,

it is recommended that you perform

stretching exercises for each of the

major areas of your body. ACSM

recommends that individuals perform

static stretches with each stretch being

held for approximately 10 to 30

seconds each. Generally, static

stretches are preferred because the risk

of injury is low, and they require

minimal time and little assistance.

9Not stretching often enough.

At a minimum, most fitness

experts recommend that

stretching exercises should be

performed four to five times per

week, and preferably daily. As a rule,

because most flexibility gains are

(far too) easily lost, the basic rule

of thumb is that you should

stretch often.

10Not understanding that

being flexible is not

synonymous with being

in good shape. 

Flexibility is just one

of the essential components of

physical fitness. As such, you

should combine aerobic exercise,

strengthening exercises, and adherence

to sound nutritional practices with

your stretching exercises in order to

‘‘attain and sustain’’ a desirable level

of fitness.

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James A. Peterson, Ph.D., FACSM, is a

freelance writer and consultant in sports

medicine. From 1990 until 1995, Dr.

Peterson was director of sports medicine

with StairMaster. Until that time, he

was professor of physical education at the

United States Military Academy.