Stretching

I was reading this article on stretching. I wanted to know if stretching before a work out is a good or bad thing. My ex-boss taught me that stretch before exercise is bad in that your muscles are relexed so you dont have power in them. The article I read was on the same lines. Here is the where you can find the article http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2646962/pdf/main.pdf if you wanted to read if for yourself. this is the part of the article I found Interesting "There are interesting studies in the literature pertaining to the effectiveness and efficacy of stretching. Some research demonstrates that stretching does increase joint range of motion and increases the speed of reaction of muscles (5). It is also seen to be superior to warming up and massage for increasing joint flexibility(6). One stretching technique studied in the literature is contract-relax stretching. Contract-relax stretching involves a passive stretch immediately following an isometric contraction of the same muscle. This has demonstrated to significantly increase strength and flexibility (7). This is different than static stretching, where in 1 study static stretching of the calf did not reduce resistance of the ankle joint (8). Contract-relax has also demonstrated to be significantly more effective than ballistic stretching (9,10). In another interesting study, stretching of the neck muscles increased range of motion of the lower limbs (11). In my opinion, this is caused by decreased tension of the spinal cord and interconnecting muscles and fascia and may be an explanation for why we treat the whole body and not just an isolated area of injury. Insight into how much someone should stretch may also be provided in the literature. One study demonstrated that there is equal effectiveness for stretching once a day when compared to stretching 3 times a day and that holding a stretch for 30 seconds is as effective holding 1 for 60 seconds (12). It has also been revealed that stretching muscles of the lower extremity had a resulting increase in flexibility for 90 minutes (13). Some evidence does not support the idea that stretching can help prevent injury. Pope and colleagues conducted a study involving 1538 male army recruits to investigate the effects of stretching. Recruits were allocated to a stretching or control group and both groups first performed an active warm up. The stretching group then utilized 20 second static stretching for 12 weeks. The subjects performed stretches to the gastrocnemius, soleus, hamstring, quadriceps, hip adductor and hip flexor muscles. The control group did not stretch. Within the 12-week period, both groups participated in 40 sessions totaling 50 hours of physical training. The activities included marching, running, obstacle courses, circuit training, swimming and battle training. All injuries were reported to medical personnel and all lower extremity injuries were assessed. The study indicated that pre-exercise stretching did not reduce the rate of injury. They did, however, find that the level of fitness did reduce the rate of injury (14)." 

So I challange you do try this: If you are person that stretches before your work out try not stretching until after your work out and see how you feel. Now if you stretch after you work out try stretching out after 5 mins of warm up and see how you feel. In both sceiro try it for about 4 to 6 weeks.