New Rule for Bodybuilding #13

13. Stretch--after you finish lifting.

Stretching your muscles before you lift hard only makes the muscles weaker.

So this defeats the purpose of using creatine to boost available energy stores in order to lift harder and heavier, contracting as many fast twitch muscle fibers as possible.

Before the exercise, warm up the muscle by isometrically contracting it hard or doing a light warm up set. A warm up is sufficient.

Stretching is important only after lifting. Stretching the muscle(s) you've just finished contracting in your workout helps lengthen the muscle(s). After exercises that continuously and forcefully shortened the muscles, it's good to open them back up. When I stretch after lifting, I don't feel as stiff the following days and supposedly stretching helps improve the overall quality of fibers as they regrow.

Holding a stretch for 15 to 30 seconds is fine. More than 30 seconds is not much more beneficial; one gets diminishing returns. Stretching for longer, for minutes at a time, can be beneficial, but not after one just finished lifting/resistance training. Yoga or Pilates = good. A good article: "Now That's a Stretch! (And It Won't Hurt a Bit)." Another good reference