Fitness Fact or Fiction?

MSN Health & Fitness—April 21, 2010

Stretch before you run.

Fact.
Robert Maschi, a physical therapist at New York's Hospital for Special Surgery and author of RunMetrics, tells his clients to do five to 10 minutes of a slow jog before increasing speed to a normal training pace. After the run, he recommends static stretches held for 30 seconds to a minute. "[Do] a comfortable stretch that's not overly aggressive," he advises.