Is stretching good? Why is it good to stretch before exercising.

Why is stretching good? is a pretty common question for people starting out with an exercise routine. Good stretching means good muscle development, less chances of getting injured from your routine and better flexibility. Frank Sherrill says;

Life conspires to shorten our muscles. Every hour we spend sitting
or driving, every mile we run, every weight we lift helps make
certain muscles shorter.

Shorter muscles mean you'll have bigger tension against your muscle instead of having that tension work "with" your muscle to make them grow. You can do a routine without stretching, and you'll probably see results; but you'll see them slowly, you'll get strains, you'll get exhausted and you will probably get injured if you continue doing exercises in "the cold".
"But I keep getting sore after exercising, Is stretching good for sore muscles?" Stretching is not just the start of the routine; you have to "cool down" afterwards as well. Stretching helps with sore muscles and it's a great way to warm up.

What I do is stretch before my routine, do some warmup exercises and after the routine try to stretch a bit less but do a cooldown as well. 1 or 2 minutes of stretching is better than nothing.
There are a ton of videos and tutorials of good routines on the internet; you can find free ebooks about it (bullyxtreme's subscription by email will send you a great stretch routine for free) but all of them follow the same methodic principle; to stretch. Go figure.

Free exercise stretches aren't that hard to find. Here's diet.com stretching routine; good stretching for running too.

Abdiel Rodz

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