Does STRETCHING Between Sets Help Build More Muscle?

Can stretching in between sets help build more muscle?

Stretching between sets isn't a new idea. Legendary bodybuilder Frank Zane states he used to stretch the primary muscle group worked in an exercise for 15 seconds between sets.

What does the research say on stretching between sets?

A study by Evangelista et al. aimed to determine just this.

29 untrained men were assigned to a stretching or non-stretching group.

Both groups trained the same exercises: bench press, seated row, dip machine, biceps curl, leg extensions, and leg curl, each for 4 sets of 8-12 reps, 2X per week for 8 weeks.

The non-stretching group rested 90 seconds between sets.

The stretching group also rested 90 seconds between sets. But during 30 of those seconds, they held a static stretch. All stretches were performed with the maximal range of motion participants could achieve pain-free.

Thickness of the elbow flexors, triceps brachii, rectus femoris, and vastus lateralis was measured before and after the 8 weeks for both groups.

Although there were no statistically significant differences in elbow flexor, triceps, and rectus femoris thickness between both groups, it's evident that the results do slightly favor the stretching group.

For vastus lateralis thickness, the stretching group did experience statistically significant greater increases compared to the non-stretching group.

Overall, I would say this study suggests that stretching in between sets may indeed help build more muscle.

It's important to consider the context of this Evangelista study when interpreting these results.

The participants were untrained, so it's not clear whether the results of this study would apply to trained individuals.

The participants also held the stretches at a pain free intensity. Previous research by Junior et al. found performing a quadriceps stretch that was painful for the participants, before leg extensions resulted in less vastus lateralis growth compared to performing only the leg extensions.

Furthermore, the participants held the stretches for 30 seconds.

Siatras et al. found that stretching the quadriceps for 60 seconds resulted in greater decreases in quadriceps force output compared to stretching 30 seconds. This more pronounced force loss with 60 seconds of stretching could mean the quadriceps receive less of a hypertrophic stimulus.

Lastly, at this current moment, this is the only published research paper to have assessed the effects of stretching in between sets on muscle hypertrophy.

I did actually find details about an unpublished paper by Silva et al. assessing how stretching in between sets impacts hypertrophy.

This paper was presented at a conference only in summary.

24 trained men were assigned to a stretching or non-stretching group.

Both groups performed 4 sets of 12 reps of calf raises on the leg press machines.

During rest intervals, the stretching group allowed the leg press machine weight to stretch their gastrocnemius.

The results show that the stretching group experienced greater increases in gastrocnemius thickness compared to the non-stretching group.

Although these results are interesting, especially as this study was supposedly done on trained individuals, these results should be taken cautiously, because this study was never published and peer-reviewed.

To wrap up, the Evangelista et al. study provides us with evidence that stretching in between sets could help build more muscle, albeit for untrained individuals.

Ultimately, regardless of your training experience, you may wish to experiment with stretching in between sets and see how it works out for you.

It's going to be difficult, if not impossible to actually figure out if it's helping you build more muscle. But if you enjoy it and you ensure stretches are held for 30 seconds or less, and at a comfortable intensity, I think at the very least there would not be a downside (but agian this is me just guessing based on a single study).

Additionally, you could implement stretching in between sets for only a few select movements or you could have intermittent training blocks where you implement stretching in between sets.

At the end of the day, hopefully more papers assess this topic, especially in trained individuals, so we can truly find out if stretching between enhances hypertrophy.
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References:
Frank Zane stretched for 15 seconds between sets - https://www.muscleandfitness.com/flexonline/training/zane-way/
Evangelista et al. - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30688865/
Juniour et al. - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28251401/
Siatras et al. - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18296954/
Silva et al., abstract can be found here - https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/fulltext/2014/12001/nsca_2014_annual_meeting.1.aspx

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