Never Stretch (ever)

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This is one concept you should be able to get in less than a second. That's good too, because you are going to have to work on it for your entire life.

The most repeated error in athletics is stating the absolute benefit (and necessity) of stretching.

Don't you dare do it.

Don't do it today. Don't do it tomorrow. Don't do it at the beginning of a workout. Don't do it at the end of a workout. Don't do it during a workout. Don't do it at the office. Don't do it at home. Don't do it anywhere.

Just don't do it—never ever never. Not at all.

Here's the problem. Stretching is the worst possible thing for your muscles, your tendons, and your joints.

Stretching is what you do to rubber bands and the truth, but it is certainly not what you want to do to any part of your body.

What you should be doing to your muscles is relaxing them.

Practice relaxing constantly. Practice relaxing in absolutely every situation mentioned above, but do not try to relax your ligaments, because they can't.

However, if you relax your muscles your tendons might follow.

You just need to relax your muscles long enough, which means (in a nutshell): forever and a day and all the time in between.

Relax each muscle group for at least 30 seconds (15 seconds minimum) a few times a day.

It is easy to know exactly the moment you stop relaxing and start to stretch, because it hurts, and if you ignore that pain, you will receive a sharper more dangerous pain from associated ligaments.

Bad, bad, bad. Don't do it.

A good way to learn relaxation exercises is by studying books on stretching. Do all the exercises in them, and do them just the way they are described, except don't stretch—relax.

The better books on stretching mention this.

Remember: Never ever never stretch. Relax.

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