New Research on Stretching
April 9, 2013

You’ve heard it before: get your blood flowing before you stretch, yet many dancers still arrive to class and immediately plop down into their full splits. If you weren’t already convinced, new research indicates that using static stretches as a warm-up leaves muscles weak and wobbly during the following workout.

As particularly bendy athletes, dancers have to be vigilant about letting flexibility exceed strength. Use dynamic stretches and gentle leg swings to warm up at the beginning of class and save the big stretches for later on. Click here to read DT’s five rules of safe stretching.


Photo by Matt Karas for Pointe

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