Do you really need to stretch? If so, when should you stretch? How much? Why? The answers will probably surprise you.

Static stretching is the classic style, where you stretch and hold it for a certain period of time. This type of stretching temporarily lengthens and relaxes muscles and connective tissue, making it easier for blood and nutrients to travel through them.

Therefore, this is typically not the type of stretching you want to do before your workouts unless you’re extremely tight in certain areas. In fact, because static stretching relaxes your muscles, it will temporarily reduce your strength and power output. So if increasing strength or building muscle is important to you, static stretching before your workouts may be counterproductive.

Dynamic stretching is light exercise that takes your joints through a full range of motion without stopping. It does a great job of preparing your body for exercise by combining stretching and warming up. You can move slowly or quickly, depending on the movement and the goal. Some examples are trunk twists, arm circles, toe touches, etc.

This type of stretching can even be sport specific. You’ve probably seen a kicker on a football team warming up by practicing his kick without hitting a ball. Or a baseball pitcher warm up by throwing lightly at first, then increasing the speed.

Dynamic stretching before working out or playing a sport is a great way to reduce your chance of injury.

Static stretching is not a warm-up and does not, by itself, prepare you for exercise. Warming up, on the other hand, is crucial no matter what shape you’re in. As your muscles and tendons get warmer, they get more resilient and are better prepared for the stress of exercise. Ever notice how much more flexible you are when you’re hot? Whereas the colder you are, the more brittle and prone to injury your tissues are. So when you do stretch, you’ll stretch better if you’re warmed up first. The end of your workout is an ideal time to stretch so that the muscles relax and open up to allow blood to flow in and begin the recovery process.

I agree… it depends on what it is! As far as stretching goes, though, the answer depends on you. Sometimes stretching is exactly what you need, but it’s not always a good thing.

There is such a thing as being too flexible. Plenty of research has been done showing that the 20 percent most flexible people and the 20 percent least flexible people get injured twice as often as those of average flexibility. This makes perfect sense when you consider that if you’re too tight, your muscles and tendons tend to get strained. If you’re too flexible, however, your joints will sprain easily because the muscles designed to protect them have a greater range of motion than the joints do.

Therefore, those with very tight muscles should stretch more often, while more flexible people should stretch less often. Typically, a person will have a few muscle groups that are tight, while the rest are fine. In this case, that person should devote extra attention to those tight muscles to get them to loosen up. On the other hand, if you’re very flexible in certain muscle groups, avoid stretching them too often or too aggressively.

Yes, it is possible to increase your flexibility, but it takes some work. Here’s the short answer: Stretching a few times a week or even once a day is good enough to maintain flexibility, but if you really want to increase it you need to be diligent.

Some therapists will have their patients stretching a particularly tight muscle as often as every half hour for a couple of weeks! Muscles are very resilient and like to return to their previous length unless you can show that you’re serious about stretching them out.

So stretch more often… or less often, depending on your body. The “everything in moderation” adage applies here. Good luck!

Send your questions and comments for personal trainer Matt Stringer to editor@uptownpub.com.