Stretching Myths-Buster: What 20 Experts Actually Agree On

Whenever I scroll through the internet, I feel like everyone is telling me a 100 different opinions about stretching and how to do it corrcetly. Opinions, on what will give me “more flexibility” and videos showing normal dynamic stretching labelled as “mobility training”. It can get really overwhelming to understand what is actually rooted in science.

Now there finally is a peer-reviewed study summarizing the consensus on the topic.
Maybe you’ve been stretching before workouts your whole life because it "prevents injuries" or "helps you recover faster"?

The study was published in 2025 by the Journal of Sport and Health Science. A panel of 20 international stretching researchers spent nearly two years using a rigorous consensus process to finally settle the great stretching debates. Here's what they found.

Stretching Actually Works For...

Getting more flexible, short-term and long-term

Even just two bouts of 5–30 seconds can improve your range of motion right away (temporarily). For lasting flexibility, static or PNF stretching beats dynamic stretching. The experts recommend to aim for 2–3 sets of 30–120 seconds daily. Besides that also eccentric training was mentioned to improve fascicle length & flexibility. Eccentric training means contracting the muscle while lengthening it, so for example when you do a pull up, but concentrate on extending your arms slowly on the way back down.

Side note coming from me :)
If you want to be flexible but also able to use that range of motion (instead of only passively sitting in a stretch), it helps to train strength and control at the end of your range. As a mobility specialist, I integrate mobility techniques of the Functional Range Conditioning (FRC®) System into my yoga flows to train that. One of these are CARs, PAILs and RAILs: mobility exercises that combine stretching with isometric muscle contractions to build strength and control in newly gained ranges of motion, making flexibility more usable and resilient long-term. Here you find more info of how I combine Yoga with mobility training:

Reducing muscle stiffness BUT also decreasing muscle tone

Stretching does loosen you up, but here’s the thing: that's not always a good thing. Stiffer tendons store and release energy like springs, so making them floppier before explosive activities can actually hurt performance. Therefore, stretching in static positions for longer periods of time BEFORE sports (such as for example bouldering), might not be beneficial. Instead, you could opt for short, dynamic forms of stretching to warm up your muscles. This is done in my “Move & Mobilize” warm-up Flow.
Flexbility training should rather happen in a seperate training or AFTER the activity requiring explosive muscle strength. This is what I designed my “Deep Range Reset” Yin-style Flow for. :-)

Heart and blood vessel health

Stretching may reduce arterial stiffness and improve circulation, with effects comparable to resistance or endurance training. The catch: research is still thin, so the experts say "promising, but not yet proven."

Stretching Does NOT Work For...

Preventing injuries

This is the big one. Despite being the entire reason most people stretch before sports, the evidence just doesn't support it as a general injury prevention strategy. Static stretching might reduce muscle injuries slightly — but possibly at the cost of more bone and joint injuries. A net win? Not obviously.

Recovering after workouts

All those post-run stretches to beat soreness? The panel reached 100% agreement that this doesn't work. Interestingly, delayed muscle soreness probably originates in the deep fascia — not the muscle itself — so stretching the muscle is addressing the wrong target entirely.

Building muscle

You can technically build muscle from stretching, but you'd need to do 15 or more minutes per muscle, five days a week, for at least six weeks — for small effects. The experts say it's only worth considering if weight training is completely off the table, such as during rehab or for sedentary elderly people.

Fixing your posture

The classic "stretch your chest, strengthen your back" advice? Stretching alone does nothing for posture. Strengthening, however (such as in certain yoga poses or in Functional Range Conditioning), does help. So keep the strengthening and ditch the idea of stretching to fix posture.

Is a Pre-Workout Stretch a good idea ?

If you hold a static stretch for more than 60 seconds per muscle before lifting or sprinting (or climbing/bouldering), you will temporarily make yourself weaker and slower. Short stretches under 60 seconds, or dynamic stretching, are a better idea and won't hurt performance — but the long holds in static stretching poses should be saved for AFTER your workout.

Side note :)
Using this evidence I created the “Move & Mobilize” flow, where we do dynamic stretching to warm up + ensure healthy, strong performance. Longer, slower stretches that help restore range of motion are explored in my “Deep Range Reset” Yin-style flow, designed for recovery after training. :-)

The Bigger Takeaway

Stretching is genuinely useful - just in different ways than most people think. It's free, requires no equipment and can be done almost anywhere. It’s great for improving range of motion or as a gentle option for people who can't do more demanding exercise.
But it's not a magic recovery tool, injury shield or muscle builder.

Another observation by the experts: most coaches and fitness professionals aren't even aware of what the evidence actually says about stretching. By reading this, you're now a bit better informed.

Read more about the study here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095254625000468