Stretching for new runners
Why stretch?
Stretching after exercise is very important for all runners. The benefits from stretching are that you may prevent injury, bring the shortened muscles back to their original length, and to reduce or avoid post exercise stiffness. When you stretch you are trying to increase the range of movement around a joint or a group of joints. This helps to strengthen the joint and to increase the flow of blood into the muscles around the joint.
Before exercise, in the warm-up, you want to prepare the muscle for activity. This is best done by using gentle mobility type movement exercises and not by doing static stretching exercises, as discussed on the jog leader course.
After exercise, in the cool-down, you want to bring back the muscles used to their original length. During activity the muscle shortens, you notice this when the muscle gets tight and hard. To reduce or even prevent post exercise muscle stiffness you are now trying to lengthen and loosen the muscle back to its pre-exercise level. You should hold the stretch for between 10 - 30 seconds.
"Tips for Stretching" gives some good examples of stretches we recommend after running. There are many more good stretches but the five exercises recommended are a good start to prevent you from getting injured.
