Flexible muscles are strong muscles

People really seem to under rate the value of flexibility. You don't have to be able to put your feet behind your head but being able to touch your toes without bending your knees is something I think everyone should try to achieve.

Flexibility is important because flexible muscles are less prone to injury. Have you ever heard the saying "The tree that does not bend breaks"? You want to be able to bend so you don't break. Pulling a muscle is the result of that muscle stretching beyond its flexibility. People who are more flexible pull muscles A LOT less or almost never. I can't remember the last time I pulled a muscle.

To increase flexibility and help guard against injury during a workout or some other physical activity be sure to stretch before and after your workout. I know, I know, you don't have time to stretch or you don't want to. I understand, occasionally I skip a stretching session for want of time or for presence of laziness. However, more often than not I stretch as a part of every workout. The key is to do dynamic stretching before the workout and static stretching after the workout.

Dynamic stretches are stretches where you move as you stretch and you work up a bit of a sweat too. Here is a pretty good video of a bunch of different ones. I don't do all of those but I hit all the major muscle groups. Also note his video is only about 6 minutes so if you wanted to do all of those that times isn't unreasonable as a warm up. The point of those is to stretch as you warm your muscles so you don't tear or pull anything. That is really important to do otherwise you could have some injuries and nobody wants that.

Static stretches are stretches where you stretch without moving and typically hold it for a period of time, usually 30 seconds. Those types of stretches are best suited for after a workout as a cool down. The reason is because static stretches stretch the muscle then after you stop the muscle shrinks for a bit. This is a problem if you plan on pushing that muscle to its limit later. Also you have probably noticed this but when you do a static stretch you are often calmed. I don't know about you but I stretch sometimes when I get our of bed (the big reach for the sky stretch) and afterwards I'm chill and relaxed. While that is all well and good its not quite the mood you want to be in before you workout. Taht feeling is exactly what you want after though. Sometimes I static stretch just before bed to calm myself and help me sleep.

If you really can't find time to stretch as a part of every workout then do some dedicated stretching days or pick up yoga. Or you can do what I like to do and dynamic stretch right after waking up and static stretch before bed. The morning stretch helps me wake up and get ready for the day by warming up my muscles and the static stretch helps me sleep by calming me down.

There is plenty of literature on stretching so check it out if you want to form your own opinion.