How often should I stretch?

Q: How much time should I devote to stretching every day?

A: Your question should be rephrased as, “How often should I stretch?” It’s possible to stretch too much. Statistically, it’s been shown that cutting back from seven days a week of stretching to six reduces the probability of developing musculoskeletal injuries by an enormous margin. Just as your muscles may need a few days off to recover from a hard weight-training session, many soft-tissue structures need that day off each week to remodel.

Editor’s note: Charles Poliquin is recognized as one of the world’s most suc-cessful strength coaches, having coached Olympic med-alists in 12 different sports, including the U.S. women’s track-and-field team for the 2000 Olympics. He’s spent years researching European journals (he’s fluent in English, French and German) and speaking with other coaches and scientists in his quest to optimize training methods. For more on his books, seminars and methods, visit www.CharlesPoliquin.net.  IM