How long do you normally stretch for before doing and activity? I normally stretch for 2 minutes.

Honestly I pretty much only stretch when I am told to. I think I should start.

Stretching can lengthen your muscles and make daily living activities easier. You should include Stretching in to your daily routing. But unfortunately many people are not aware of the benefits of it. You need to stretch for 2-5 minutes everyday. It is very important to stretch every part of your body including the neck, upper body and the lower body (hands, shoulders and legs).

Before stretching it would be better to warm up first. It does not have to involve a huge time commitment, but stretching can bring you unbelievable results.


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Alert 1

Well, I usually stretch 15 minutes before my swim practice and right after I do my dryland workout.
I don't stretch before races because then you lose the power in those muscles by obviously trying to stretch it out.

Stretching requires whole body to be moved, I usually do 5 mins, more than that I can't do. Excercise keeps you fit throughout the entire life. Don't just go for the excercise directly, initially have a warm up.

My stretches last for about 10 minutes. The shoulders, legs, sides and the occasional yawn stretch lol

I've only been stretching for a minute or two, mostly focused on my legs. Reading this thread, looks like I needs to increase my stretching time and work on my whole body.

Stretching time definitely needs to be increased to about 10 minutes for a true positive effect. Make sure that you do each stretch for about a minute (several deep breath cycles), and you should find that over that minute you can extend longer and longer - the point of stretching is to make your muscles just a little tired so that they are looser.

Remember that after warmup, you should never do static stretching (any stretch involving sitting down, crossing your arms). Dynamic stretching is much better before your race (leg/arm swings, jumping up and down).