Research
Mixed
Trained individuals experience larger stretching-induced muscle gains compared to recreationally trained or sedentary individuals.
If you are already trained, static stretching may contribute more to muscle growth than it does for beginners or sedentary individuals. However, it is still not a replacement for resistance training.
GoodQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Subgroup analyses revealed that trained individuals (β = 0.424; 95% PI = 0.095 to 0.753) displayed larger effects compared to recreationally trained (β = 0.115; 95% PI = − 0.195 to 0.425) and sedentary individuals (β = − 0.081; 95% PI = − 0.399 to 0.236).
Why this rating
Based on subgroup analysis within a high-quality meta-analysis.
Source
Chronic Effects of Static Stretching Exercises on Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy in Healthy Individuals: A Systematic Review and Multilevel Meta-Analysis
Fabian Arntz et al. · Sports Medicine - Open · 2024
DOI 10.1186/s40798-024-00772-y
Meta-analysis · 25 studiesCited 7×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Chronic static stretching exercises produce an overall unclear effect on skeletal muscle hypertrophy in healthy individuals, with a trivial point estimate and a prediction interval ranging from trivial negative to moderate positive effects.Good
- Greater variety of stretching exercises, longer mean duration of single stretching exercises, and increased time under stretching per session, week, and in total are associated with greater skeletal muscle hypertrophy.Good
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