Should you stretch before or after a workout?

The gym-class ritual, sit on the floor, hold your hamstring stretch, count to thirty, then go sprint, has been quietly overturned. Reviews of the research find static stretching before exercise does not meaningfully prevent injury, and long holds can temporarily reduce strength and power output. What actually prepares the body is a dynamic warm-up: five to ten minutes of movement that raises heart rate and rehearses the ranges you are about to use, leg swings, lunges, arm circles, a light jog, easy first sets.

Static stretching is not banished, just rescheduled. After exercise, or as its own session, long holds are fine and can improve flexibility over time; muscles also tolerate stretching better when warm. The evidence that it reduces next-day soreness is weak, so treat it as maintenance and pleasure rather than medicine.

Simplest protocol: warm up with motion, cool down or wind down with stretches, and mobility work counts as its own workout for people who sit all day, which is everyone.