1)Does stretching while weight lifting benefit my muscles in any way, shape or form whatsoever?

2)Can a specific supplement(s) speed up the recovery and reduce recuperation time between my workouts that is neccessary to repair and grow muscle? In other words, what can I add to my already rich in protein and calory diet that will make the soarness and pain of my muscles after the workout go away faster, I am not interested in stimulants or pain relievers?

1. No. The lift occurs by contracting the respective muscle. By stretching, you elongate the muscle contributing to less of a contraction, thereby fatiguing the muscle and impeding the lift.
2. You might consider Surge or BCAAs and Glutamine, but soreness after lifting is natural if the lift you're performing is new.

1. refer to Cynic

2. mostly its rest, proper diet, and not over-doing it in the gym, although for a few weeks, new trainees always feel more sore than usual do to the sudden change in exercise. I always suggest 1 working set the first week, 2 sets the next week, 3 sets the 3rd week to avoid uncomfortable DOMS.

as for supplements, the only one I know of is ETS by www.atlargenutrition.com
I myself have not tried it, and ETS isn't anything particularly ground breaking in terms of what's in it.

but i think proper eating and a good nights sleep will do more for recovery.
oh, and avoiding stress, which increases cortisol, which hinders recovery. just shrug off stress. life's too short to worry all the time.

I would alternate on the #1 - some days weights, the other days stretching in that same time frame........which is exactly what I do!

Malkore, how close are you to taking the test?

Let me know how it goes. I have a few years before I get my degrees, but I'm seriously thinking of going for it.

I have a while Cynic. I just got the Essential Str. Training & Cond. book which I'm told is all I really need, aside from the practice tests to gauge myself.

next test is in december, but with holidays and stuff, I don't think I'll be ready, so likely next August is when I'll be taking it. I have to get my CPR renewed anyways. thankfully I graduated with my BA back in 2001, so as long as they don't change CSCS to require a sports medicine type degree in the next 12 months, I"m cool.

I could probably pass their CPT test today though

Stretching will definately decrease your chances of injury, both when lifting and when performing other activities.

So by stretching out before my work outs I am impeding my muscular growth??
I've always been an avid fan and member of some sort of martial art, so stretching is so natural. Why would I not want to stretch?

I recall you saying that about the CSCS exam, too

Clin J Sport Med. 1999 Oct;9(4):221-7. Related Articles, Links


Stretching before exercise does not reduce the risk of local muscle injury: a critical review of the clinical and basic science literature.

Shrier I.

Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies, SMBD-Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical and basic science evidence surrounding the hypothesis that stretching immediately before exercise prevents injury. DATA SOURCES AND SELECTION: MEDLINE was searched using MEDLINE subject headings (MeSH) and textwords for English- and French-language articles related to stretching and muscle injury. Additional references were reviewed from the bibliographies, and from citation searches on key articles. All articles related to stretching and injury or pathophysiology of muscle injury were reviewed. Clinical articles without a control group were excluded. RESULTS: Three (all prospective) of the four clinical articles that suggested stretching was beneficial included a cointervention of warm-up. The fourth study (cross-sectional) found stretching was associated with less groin/buttock problems in cyclists, but only in women. There were five studies suggesting no difference in injury rates between stretchers and nonstretchers (3 prospective, 2 cross-sectional) and three suggesting stretching was detrimental (all cross-sectional). The review of the basic science literature suggested five reasons why stretching before exercise would not prevent injuries. First, in animals, immobilization or heating-induced increases in muscle compliance cause tissues to rupture more easily. Second, stretching before exercise should have no effect for activities in which excessive muscle length is not an issue (e.g., jogging). Third, stretching won't affect muscle compliance during eccentric activity, when most strains are believed to occur. Fourth, stretching can produce damage at the cytoskeleton level. Fifth, stretching appears to mask muscle pain in humans. CONCLUSION: The basic science literature supports the epidemiologic evidence that stretching before exercise does not reduce the risk of injury.

Now now, I said I could "probably do pretty well" on the CSCS right now. And I did ace one section and score 4/5 on two other sections on the practice test, so that wasn't too shabby :P

hahaha Not too shabby at all. Probably better than I did, I'm sure!

stretching is very good fo ryour body

I am aware of the info stating that pre-workout stretching does not reduce injury, but what about post work out? Is it still thought to be beneficial?

Yes, but if you got big knots of scar tissue and adhesion, stretching won't do much at all.

Add foam rolling to your post workout cycle to break that stuff up and stretching will be more effective.