I’m always reading about the importance of stretching to prevent muscle injury, but how much is too much? Should I doit between sets?
Michael Neumark, Merseyside

Jason Anderson answers: Stretching between sets feels good and is often done in the mistaken belief that it will flush out the lactic acid that accumulates during exercise and reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). But stretching ‘switches off’ the muscle’s awareness sensors that tell our brain exactly how long our muscles are and the position of our joints. When this happens, it reduces the muscle’s ability to produce force and to react, increasing the risk of injury.

Try exercises that train the muscles over a fuller range of motion to alleviate the need for stretching at all – stiff-legged deadlifts for the hamstrings, for example.