Warm up before stretching
For example, use light jogging to raise your body temperature and prepare your muscles and tendons for activity. This can enhance the effectiveness of stretching and reduce the risk of injury from improper stretching. Do not hold your breath while stretching; breathe slowly and deeply. Holding your breath and tensing up increases oxygen debt, causes uncoordinated movements, and raises the chance of injury during stretching.
Stretch before and after exercise
Most people only remember to stretch before exercising, but after a tiring workout, they may not feel like moving at all. In fact, even though your muscles may be sore after exercise, it’s still important to do some gentle stretching to help realign muscle fibers, speed up recovery, and improve muscle condition for your next workout.
Stretch in a slow and gentle manner
Never force or rush the stretch. The goal of stretching is to use the elasticity and extensibility of your muscles and tendons to stimulate sensory nerve signals from muscle spindles and tendon receptors, gradually increasing your flexibility and tolerance. Whether using dynamic or static stretches (holding for over 30 seconds), as long as they are gentle, they will be effective. The most important thing to avoid is using sudden, forceful pressure on muscles that are normally hard to stretch, in an attempt to achieve quick results—whether by yourself or with external help. Improper force application can easily lead to injury.
Alternate the muscle groups being stretched
For the same movement, multiple muscles may work together as a functional group to complete the action cooperatively. However, due to their different anatomical positions, these muscles might require different stretching techniques to be fully stretched. In addition to synergistic muscles, antagonistic muscles—which have opposite functions—should also be stretched equally. Missing certain synergistic muscles during stretching may cause you to fail at extreme movements and risk injury. Likewise, failing to stretch antagonistic muscles may result in imbalance during strong contractions, also leading to injury.
Never stretch to the point of pain
The level of stretching should bring a sensation of slight “tension” or “soreness,” but absolutely not “pain.” Feeling “tension” or “soreness” indicates that your muscle sensory neurons are correctly responding to the stretch, showing its effectiveness. But stretching to the point of “pain” means you’re getting dangerously close to injury.