Stretching, Stiffness and Time of Day

I’m trying to increase the ROM of my hamstrings to help with an injury (sciatica). I am always tight in the mornings (or if I have been sitting/lying for a long period of time), but usually more flexible at night and especially after a workout.

I have heard it is best to stretch post workout, so I want to know; is it a waste of time stretching when I am stiff, and only necessary to stretch when I am looser to begin with, or should I stretch a number of times through the day? Thanks.

I have definitely heard of people stretching many times throughout the day but I am under the impression that there is not much benefit to stretching unless you’re warm (from a workout) and stretching cold muscles could even be dangerous if they are tight. Even when I have done my entire warmup I still don’t static stretch before a workout- flexbility gains will be greater I think with post-workout stretching… when I wanted to focus on flexibility I would stretch for half an hour afterwards but my flexibility needs were not very great to begin with.

Especially with an injury history- wouldn’t think you’d want to stretch out cold scar tissue which I believe heals itself slightly shorter than the original tissue…

You shouldn’t feel stiff in the morning after a 10min jog, maybe your not warming up properly!
I also like to stretch in the shower if I have unlimited hotwater; furthermore, I have this unlimited hotwater at the College I workout at!

Stretch at least for 1 min per stretch i.e. first right side and then switch to the left side! Repeat this 3 times which makes one full cycle! Whether you want to break up that cycle and do at different times throughout the day is up to you! I find it beneficial however, to do all my stretching at once! The reason is two-fold; first it saves time instead of warming up twice, second you can get a deeper stretch on each succesive stretch (i.e. on your second and third stretches you should be able to go further)!

Jimbo, I stretch in the morning (when stiff after previous nights session) and find it helps alot with my ROM.

When I’m warmed up (or warming up) I have a far better range of movement than I had when i wasnt stretching in the mornings.

I do mainly light/slight stretches in the morning to loosing up. take the stretch to the point of slight tightness in the muscle, and hold for 90secs. This is classed as micro stretching i think, but find it very beneficial.