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If you’re still doing static stretches before a run, it’s time to reassess your warm-up if you want to run faster for longer. That’s because new research found that doing five lower-body static stretches - where you fully extend a muscle and hold it in this stretched position for up to 30 seconds or longer - in a 16-minute warm-up impairs running performance and increases the energy cost of running. In the study, published in the Journal Of Strength And Conditioning Research, non-stretching subjects ran on average 200m further in a 30-minute treadmill run than those who had stretched.