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Is Stretching Useless Before Walking
- 1 hour ago
- 8 min read
This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in January 2024. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/1ImaiNbeGPY
Brad: I just got done with my morning walk, Mike. Years ago, and actually recently, most people accepted the fact that you should actually stretch and warm up before you go for a walk, but the big question is...
Mike: Is stretching prior to walking actually helpful? So, we're going to go over everything you need to know to have the perfect walking routine.
Brad: That's right. And then you'll know the real or the rest of the story. Now, let's get right to it, Mike. We'll talk about the research that has been coming up recently, and there are actually three points we're going to go through. You know the first one.
Mike: Research now shows that pre-stretching has little effect on actually reducing injury before going out for a walk, especially if it's longer than 10 minutes before you do it.
Brad: That's right. As well as post stretching. After you get done walking, if you stretch a little bit with the idea that your muscles will not be so sore, that has been debunked, according to research recently as well.
Mike: And the third point is static stretching, which means holding a stretch for 30 to 60 seconds can actually hinder the amount of strength you produce when working out.
Brad: That's right. So what is the bottom line of the myth? We should stretch before we exercise or walk. It is two letters.
Mike: What?
Brad: No. No. However, as therapists as me personally, I still think there are good benefits. You still should take a brief amount of time to do some stretching before walking. We're going to show you three stretches. The reason why has nothing to do with reducing injuries or increasing your walking time. But Mike, what does it have to do with?
Mike: Increasing your range of motion. So, how much motion you have naturally without it feeling tight, it can help with circulation within your body, and it keeps your joints healthy because moving your joints is good for them.
Brad: That's right. So it may not increase things all the time, but it will help maintain what you already have. If you have a normal range of motion, it's a wonderful thing. You will feel better if you do a little stretch warm-up before you walk, as well as afterwards. So I think it's worthwhile. Let's go through three stretches for walking that I think are most important. Are you ready, Mike?
Mike: I'm ready.
Brad: There you go. Let's go
Mike: For the first area we're going to stretch is the calf muscles and the ankle joint a little bit. Now my version is a little more extreme compared to Brad's version he's going to show here. But to stretch the calves, what you can do is just go to the edge of the step. The forefoot balls in my foot are on the step, and then I'm going to relax down, let my heels go towards the ground. I'm keeping good upright posture. I'm holding onto the rails for support. Otherwise, I'd probably tip backwards right now, if I'm being honest, you can hold this statically for 30 seconds. If you're not feeling much of a stretch or one side's tighter than the other, you can certainly try it on just one leg. This is going to be much more of a stretch, I feel, just doing a single, because all the body weight is now on one extremity.
Mike: However, if you don't want to just hold this for 30 seconds, you can kind of do a little oscillation. So kind of do some calf raises. This is more of a dynamic stretch. So I'm going into the stretch, and then I'm coming out of it as well.
Brad: Now, you might say, this looks pretty aggressive. I'm not hanging off the edge of a step. That's good. We're going to show you a much easier way to do it that a lot of people will probably appreciate more. When you do both of them, make sure you do this with your shoes on. Don't do it barefoot or in stockings. Let's go to the wall. You can never go wrong. There's always a wall available. It's cheap, and it works well. Both hands on the wall. Point your toes forward, not like this.
Brad: It is critical. Stretch there. Now I'm going to have my knee tight or locked out straight. I'm going to stretch forward. This is the dynamic. This is my favourite way to do it. I'll do about five when I stretch like this. You can do up to 10 or just hold it for 15 to 30 seconds. You know, if you want to go for a minute, you can, but that's a really long time. I don't have the patience for it, and it really doesn't help, according to that research. Make sure you do both legs.
Brad: If you want to do the advanced and easier option, you get an incline board; you can make one or simply buy one. They're quite cheap, and they make stretching much easier. This feels really good.
Brad: If you walk a lot and you don't have one of these, if you purchase one, I can almost guarantee you you're going to say it was a good investment, and you'll be looking forward to using it every time before or after you walk. Let's go to the next one. Hamstring stretch.
Mike: We're going to stretch the hamstrings in numerous different ways. So in order to stretch the hamstrings, you have to straighten your knee out. Start with something lower when standing, like the bottom of a staircase, like this. Hold on for support. If you're not feeling a good stretch, lean forward. Keep a flat back. Don't round your back. Again, you can either hold it for 30 seconds, or you can kind of do some dynamic stretching. Go forward for five seconds, come back out of it.
Mike: If this feels way too easy, just make the surface. Your foot is on a higher level. Just make sure you have good mechanics, and you're not straining too much with the stretch, you can get as high as you want. Brad could probably kick the ceiling. He's pretty flexible.
Brad: I don't, not anymore, but it is nice to use a steroid, particularly if there are handrails for balance. You have adjustable levels that you could use for stretching, and you can stretch your ankles as well. If you don't have that. And you find a place like on a chair, if you don't have something to hold onto, get a stick or hand against a wall and simply stretch the same thing. Pressure on, pressure off five or six times, or simply hold it and relax.
Brad: I forgot to mention we really need to relax and breathe while you do these stretches. And the last one is one. This is one of my favourite stretches is the knee deep knee lunge, which you can do on the stairs or you can do on a chair. Something solid. Go ahead, Mike. Start it out.
Mike: So for this one, you start on the first step. If this seems easy, you can progress to a higher step. So I'm going to bring my back leg back further, and I'm going to just lean forward and then come back out like this. For this stretch, I personally like to kind of just do oscillations or movements going forward and then back out. You can kind of hold it. Just try not to bend your back too much. You're not getting much of a stretch here. If I'm upright, I'm feeling much more stretch in my back hip flexor. So if I'm going this way, you're getting a nice deep motion in the front leg, and your hip flexors are stretching on the back leg. You're getting a double whammy with both legs on this one.
Brad: Ooh, the double whammy. But wait, there's more. I can show you a stretch that gives you the triple threat or the triple whammy. Hold on. This is the one I have a stool exactly like this at home, by the way. And this is what I use. You have to make sure it's steady, or you're steady hand on something steady. Now, when you do it like this, you're actually stretching the ankle and dorsiflexion, which is really important. You're getting the knee to end range. You're getting the hip to end range on both hips. So it is really doing three joints that you use with weight bearing, walking and stretching critical muscle groups as well.
Brad: It's a wonderful thing. Oh, what about noodling?
Mike: You can noodle, I guess I don't have any noodles with me.
Brad: Well, this is what I'm doing here, which can be referred to as noodling, and it really helps that hip joint, particularly maintain its range of motion, helps with arthritis, etc.
Brad: So once you go through these, you can get through all these in less than two minutes easily. And simply take your time with it. It'll definitely make you feel better before you walk. I'm feeling better already. How about you?
Mike: Me too. If you want to check out another video on how to improve your walking, watch "One Incredible Trick To Improve Your Walking."
Brad: Yeah, there you go. Enjoy your walking and don't worry about stretching, but we think it's a good idea.
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